Cathedral parish's 320-year-old-history

In 1699, the French government sent an expedition of 200 settlers led by two brothers, Iberville and Bienville Le Moyne, from Canada to establish a French colony on the Gulf Coast. The brothers built a fort on what is now the Mississippi Gulf Coast. After exploring the area, they decided in 1702 to establish their capital on a nearby large bay. They named their capital and the bay “Mobile” after a local tribe. They named the colony “Louisiana” after the King of France. So Mobile was the first capital of Louisiana.
The brothers were authorized by the Bishop of Quebec to establish a parish in their new capital. Our archdiocesan archives possess the original 1703 document, signed in the presence of Iberville, establishing our cathedral parish. The parish began recording baptisms in the parish register. The first baptism was celebrated in 1703. It was the baptism of a young Native American woman of the Apalache tribe. 
Founded in 1703, our cathedral parish is the oldest congregation of any denomination anywhere in Alabama. It is the first congregation where the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was worshipped. 
There were more than 150 baptisms celebrated in the parish during its first 10 years. Europeans and Africans were baptized but the largest number were Native Americans. For example, the Chief of the Catto tribe had his son baptized and later was godfather in three other baptisms.
Mobile grew. In one year between 1748 and 1749 there were about 80 baptisms celebrated but only three were Native Americans as the local tribes began to relocate elsewhere. Almost two-thirds of those baptized were Africans.
In a peace treaty in 1763, France gave Mobile to England. However, in 1780 the Spanish attacked and defeated the British in Mobile and later attacked Pensacola where the Spanish forced the British army to surrender. Mobile would remain Spanish until transferred to American authority in 1813. Mobile would continue to grow under American rule and Alabama would become a state in 1819.
During all these years, however, our cathedral parish was the place where people came to worship God. The parish church was located at different sites at different times. It was first located in the original location of Mobile a few miles upriver from today’s downtown. When Mobile relocated, and Fort Conde was built, the church was built just outside the gates of the fort. The road from the church into town still bears the name of Conception Street to this day. The church eventually was located on Royal Street and in 1835 construction began on the present Cathedral Church of the Immaculate Conception.
Interestingly, for the first 120 years of Mobile history, the church of La Purisima Concepcíon, as it was called in Spanish, or the Immaculate Conception as it is known today, was the only church in town. Historical records indicate that it was the church where everyone in town came to worship. Whether they preferred to speak Spanish, English or French, whether they were Catholic or not, whether they were European, African or Native American, whether they were slave or free, all came to the one church in town to pray and worship God. I recall hearing a passage from a document written by a non-Catholic judge in Mobile in the early 1880s in which he stated that, even though he was not Catholic, he went to the Catholic church on Sundays because it was the only church in town. Even today, we feel our cathedral is called to offer itself as a place and a sign of unity among all.
Our cathedral parish has a rich history. This short article is a very brief and simple account of its story of its first 100 years, but I hope that this short article may give a sampling of the history of our 320-year-old cathedral parish.