St. Anthony's Garden (New Orleans, Louisiana)

 park, garden, cemetery

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The little square was created in 1831 from a bigger garden used by the cathedral's monks to grow food. In 1941 the garden paths and boxwood hedges were laid out by the architect Richard Koch in collaboration with landscape architect William S. Wiedorn for Mrs. J. Cornelius Rathborne who presented the garden work to the Cathedral. The garden was landscaped in 1987 prior to the visit of Pope John Paul II. In the center of the garden is a white marble statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus which, placed there as a memorial to New Orleans banker J.E. Merilh and his wife.

Another white marble obelisk, topped by a funerary urn erected near the Royal Street side was originally erected in August, 1859. Originally this monument was erected 70 miles down the Mississippi River, dedicated to 30 crew members of the French ship of war, Tonnerre (Thunder), who had been buried following an outbreak of yellow fever. In 1914 Pierre Lacaze, Vice-Consul of France, and Andre Lafargue discovered and relocated the broken monument and the remains of the buried to this location.

The high winds of Hurricane Katrina managed to displace two large oak trees in St. Anthony's Garden, dislodging 30 feet of ornamental gate, and causing the statue of Jesus Christ to lose a forefinger and a thumb.