The Church of the Nativity of the
Blessed Virgin Mary at Campti,
Louisiana, is a daughter of the
venerable, pioneer Church of St. Francis
of Assisi at Natchitoches, just as the
town of Campti is an offspring of the
old colonial settlement of the Post of
Natchitoches that grew up around Fort
St. John the Baptist.
The Church centers developed in that
area early in French colonial days--the
St. Francis Church at the French post
and the Mission of Los Adayes, with the
chapel of Fort St. John the Baptist.
Colonists followed in the wake of the
establishment of the French post in the
Red River, and soon immigrants from
France and the discharged soldiers took
up lands above and below Natchitoches
post, which became the center of civil
and Church activities in the upper Red
River Valley.
French Capuchin missionaries were
placed in charge of St. Francis Church
at Natchitoches, and Spanish Franciscan
Friars directed the mission of San
Miguel at Los Adeyes. Both these groups
ranged far and wide in central and
northwesern Louisiana in the colonial
days, Ministering to the scattered
Catholic settelers and to the Indian
tribes. The latter were the special
interest of the Spanish Friars from San
Miguel. Father Maxian, the French
Capuchin, was the pioneer French
missionary of the Natchitoches area,
beginning his labors in 1729. Father
Pierre Vitry, the French Jesuit
missionry, served Natchitoches and its
environs from 1734 through 1738. Those
who served longer and did much for the
surrounding communities in succeeding
years were Father Barnabe, Father
Eustache, and Father Valentin, all
French Capuchins in the period between
1744 and 1762. Father Valentin was
particularly zealous in visiting the
growing settlements along the Red
River.
One of these was the community of
Campti, on the nothern bank of the Red
River, northwest of the Post of
Natchitoches. Tradition has it, says
the "Louisiana State Guide" that the
town got its name from the chief of an
Indian tribe which lived on a nearby
hill. His name was "Campte", and as he
was highly popular with the white
settlers, the small colonial settlement
of white people took its name from
him.
The Spanish Capuchin and Francisan
missionaries who replaced the French
Capuchins after Spain took over
Louisiana in 1769 also visted regularly
the offspring settlements of
Natchitoches along the Red River,
including Campti. Among these were
Father Luis de Quintanilla, Father
Francesco de Caldas, and Father De
Veles.
After the French Revolution, a number
of French refugee priests came to
Louisiana and served a number of the
parishes. Some of the Spanish priests
came from Nacodoches and looked after
Natchitoches and its missions for a
time. The visiting priests, when making
calls at settlements and at plantations,
completed Baptism ceremonies for the
many children and even adults who are
entered in the registers as having been
"ondoyes"; that is, having received lay
Baptism in the absece of a priest.
One of the French priests who
visited
Campti in the past decades of the 1700's
was Father Jean Delvaux, who was the
pastor of Natchitoches from 1786-1793,
and again in 1795. For the next 11
years, it was Father Pierre Pavie whose
journeys around the vicinity of
Natchitoches can be traced in his
entries for Baptisms, marriages, and
funerals. For the conducting of
ceremonies in private homes, he stated
in his entries that he had the
permission of Bishop Penalver, the first
Bishop of New Orleans. His tours
included Grand Ecord, Campti, Ile
Brevelle, Riviere aux Cannes, the
Appalache Villiage. At Ecord he visited
the homes of Jean Baptiste Cloutier and
the Widow Monet.
