The Official Newspaper of the Diocese of Little Rock
PINE BLUFF -- At the end of St. Raphael Road in Pine Bluff sits a small church with a stone crucifix standing witness to the history of St. Raphael Mission.
Since 1932, the mission has remained an anchor for the church community.
It's a community that still survives with the descendants of the original founding families.
Families like the Martins, Gales, Gables, Pierres, Dixons, Nichols and Beardens. The Bunting family later became part of the mission community, even serving as caretakers for a time.
"It's a community church. It's the community that we grew up in. Most of the people that went to St. Raphael was from Louisiana. Our family was from New Roads," Jeanette Martin said.
The Martin's father, George, spoke with a heavy Louisiana accent. He married Margaree Bearden in 1934 at St. Raphael.
Many of the families who came from Louisiana spoke Creole and French.
Five of the Martin children, along with Veronica Bearden and her grandchildren, gathered Nov. 13 to reminisce and share their history with Arkansas Catholic.
That's our mother and father. That's my brother, that's my brother, that's my brother, that's my sister -- it was a whole bunch of us -- it was 13 of us," Mary Edwards said laughing after pointing out her family members in a photograph.
At a recent Saturday Mass, the family atmosphere was evident. Houston Martin acted as usher and took up the collection; Arthur Martin worked as lector; and, C.J. and Alynsia Anderson, grandchildren of Bearden, were altar servers.
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Anthonette Akins knows many of the founding family members well, as she often attends Mass at St. Raphael.
"We're so happy to have some of that family left. Not only do they take care of St. Raphael. They help out at St. Peter too. They have a very good love for this church."
The history of St. Raphael and St. Peter in Pine Bluff is intertwined. The original priest, Father Bruno Drescher, SVD, who oversaw the St. Raphael orphanage, was pastor at St. Peter, also in Pine Bluff.
Akins is the resident historian of St. Peter and St. Raphael. She became a Catholic in 1953.
"I guess they call me the historian. I don't know how I got that, but Father Tom (Mullally, SVD) gave me all this when he left. I've gathered what I could. I do what I can and that's all," she said.
In 1931, Bishop John B. Morris purchased a plantation of approximately 600 acres (reported as anywhere between 582 and 700), the Begley Place on Bayou Bartholomew south of Pine Bluff. St. Raphael Mission began in 1932 as an orphanage for African-American children.
The original building was multi-purpose with dormitories, classrooms and convent for the sisters from St. Scholastica in Fort Smith who cared for the children.
The orphanage closed in 1938 and the Poor Brothers of St. Francis took over work at the mission. St. Raphael changed its mission to that of a school and community center.
The brothers were well known for their dairy and hen house, in addition to the farm.
Through the years, the mission helped families with cooperative farming. The mission would give them a parcel of land, and the family received the proceeds from the farm plot. The mission also helped them with irrigation and learning trades and advanced farming techniques.
In 1953, the Franciscans returned administration of the mission to Father Joseph Kempinski, SVD, with several brothers remaining to teach at the school. Father Kempinski was the only resident pastor at St. Raphael. Previously he had served as pastor of both St. Raphael and St. Peter.
On April 14, 1958, fire devastated the original building. All that was left was the Calvary monument that stood in front of the church and some of the farm and dairy buildings.
"I've been here all my life. I even went to first grade in the church building that burned down," Houston Martin said.
Arthur Martin remembers that day. He attended school at St. Raphael and was in his fifth- grade classroom when lightning struck.
"It was deafening. I think it was Brother James; he came in and told us lightning had hit the bell tower, so they let us out early," Martin said. "We lived right up there on the right, first house on the right. I was sitting out in the yard doing my homework when the fire engine came by. I walked out there and could see the flames."
Nothing survived of the mission building. Father Kempinski was able to save the Blessed Sacrament from the chapel.
The school closed for the remainder of the year.
"To me, it was a kid's thinking. They let us out of school the rest of the year. It was pretty close to the end of the year."
Until the church was rebuilt and dedicated around 1960, they held Mass in the dairy.
A small church replaced the original building, along with homes for the farm caretaker and a rectory. Arthur Martin is now the caretaker for St. Raphael.
St. Raphael School never reopened after the fire and the children went to school at St. Peter. Jeanette Martin remembers riding the bus.
"It was an old model bus with bench seats opposite and down the side. It was really old. I never seen anything like that since then," she said laughing. "It was the blue bus."
The crucifix is all that is left now of the original St. Raphael Mission building. It was once part of a Calvary monument in honor of veterans of the Korean War and World Wars I and II. The monument included the crucifix and base; statues of Mary, Jesus, Mary Magdalene and angels; and 450 outdoor, candle-lit lanterns. Vandals destroyed the statues over the years.
"They took trucks and ropes and dragged them off," Houston Martin said.
The candles were taken down because of vandalism as well. The church itself was not immune.
"It was real bad, especially at Halloween. Many times I had to come wash eggs off the front door," Bearden said.
A portion of the new highway is under construction up the road from the St. Raphael. It won't affect the church much, Arthur Martin said, as the plans are only for a bypass and not an off-ramp.
Despite tragedy and change over the years, the spirit of St. Raphael lives on in the community of believers who support and care for the rural church.
"It is a community church, because we have some from St. Joseph and also St. Peter," Akins said. "We're just one big family and have a lot of parishioners from each church. We all love St. Raphael's like it was our own."
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