Why is St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church “historic”?
FEMA, in consultation with the Louisiana State SHPO, has determined that Cabrini Church is one of New Orleans’ most architecturally significant religious buildings erected during the post-World War II era. Its innovative design includes the construction of three shallow barrel vaults of thin-shell reinforced concrete, which shelter the worship space. FEMA also determined that the church’s interior plan was developed in response to the drive for liturgical reform that culminated in the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965. Today, the church is considered by architectural historians to be on the “front line” of architectural designs for Roman Catholic Churches in New Orleans. Finally, FEMA determined that the church is also an exceptional example of the work of the architectural firm of Curtis & Davis, who, in their own time and in retrospect,
