The September 7 Museumgoer story in the Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate visits the Old Ursuline Convent Museum exhibit “Rooted in Faith: Pope Leo XIV’s Louisiana Lineage,” which includes a family tree and reproductions of the documents Sarah Waits, research archivist for the Office of Archives and Records at the Archdiocese of New Orleans, used to build the tree.
Jari Honora, family historian and genealogist at the Historic New Orleans Collection, published the first notice that the new pope had 7th Ward Creole roots. Waits then dove into sacramental records, kept since the early 18th century, to look for more,
“It sort of was a no-brainer that we would probably be able to find at least some records of his ancestors,” Waits said. “Looking into the civil records and looking at the work that Jari had already done (and) having rough dates of birth and marriage information, we were able to go through our sacramental records and actually find those sacraments associated with his ancestors.”
Read the story here. Listen to a podcast interview with Waits here.
Thanks to Sarah, and thanks to you for reading and maybe listening.
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