OLD CAPE OBSERVED EASTER MUCH LIKE TODAY

Churches in Cape Girardeau begin to plan for Easter soon after the Christmas and New Year's holidays end.

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, and in old Cape Girardeau most of residents were Catholic. Even those who were non-Catholics joined in the observance of Lent. The Catholic religion was the only faith allowed in Louisiana, as it was the state religion of both France and Spain, the two countries that controlled the land west of the Mississippi until it was purchased by the united States in 1803.

The history of the Catholic Church in Cape Girardeau is not only interesting but remarkable. The young priest who came to administer to the settlers was Father John Timon, C.M., from St. Mary's of the Barren in Perryville. He took a great interest in all the settlers and endeavored to give them the spiritual strength they needed to face the difficult tasks that lay before them.

Since money and supplies needed to build a proper church were lacking, Timon held services in the parlor of Daniel F. Steinback's home on the northeast corner of what is now Main and Themis. Steinback's wife was Agatha Lorimier, one of Commandant Louis Lorimier's daughters. Timon also conducted services in Jackson and held them in the first courthouse built on the Square.

The Steinback parlor soon became too small for the Cape Girardeau congregation, and the priest decided to make a chapel. He worked very hard. With help from members of the settlement, they remodeled a vacant, frame warehouse belonging to Steinback on the Cape Girardeau levee into a chapel. The day before the Sunday worship services were scheduled to be held, he worked all night to finish the chapel. When the congregation arrived very early on July 8, 1833, for mass, it was an unusually large group and mostly Protestant.

Since Lorimier had officially started the settlement of Cape Girardeau in 1793, Cape Girardeau had no church building for 40 years. This old frame warehouse chapel served the settlement, which had by that time become a small village until the St. Vincent's church was erected. The cornerstone was laid April 30, 1838. Easter services for many years were held in the frame chapel near Lorimier's Red House facing the river. This site is one of the city landmarks today and is marked for visitors and residents to read.

Easter was a time when flowers were brought to the church, and young children made their first communion and youths were confirmed. Girls wore long white dresses and head veils, and boys wore dark suits and white shirts. Following the service, family reunions in homes joined in a celebration dinner and appropriate gifts were received by the youths.

The Protestant denominations were permitted after Louisiana became part of the United States and the Baptists were the first to establish a log church just outside of Jackson in 1806. The other denominations followed and Easter services were held in the log churches until more substantial buildings were erected when congregations were able to build.

Southeast Missouri has been a cradle of religion for many faiths, and Easter was a favorite time for individuals to affiliate with a church, babies to be baptized, special musical programs presented, daily and weekly services held during lent, and communion observed. Some churches presented programs dramatizing the Last Supper or the last days of Christ. This still takes place.

Like the practice of giving and receiving colored Easter eggs, new clothing for Easter is the realization that new life began with Easter. That realization continues in the minds and hearts of Christians.

Although the milliners and shoe shops have for years enjoyed their busy season at Easter, the old spiritual, "All God's Children Have Shoes," expresses the new road that lies ahead for Christians to walk with heads covered as directed in the Bible. The custom was faithfully observed by southeast Missourians, as noted by many writers who have researched the state's history.