Hello and welcome to American Catholic History, brought to you by the support of listeners

like you. If you like this podcast and would like to support our work, please visit

American Catholic History.org slash support. I'm Noelle Heister Crowe. And I'm Tom Crow. Today we're talking about Charlene

Richard, who is known as the Little Cajun Saint. Richard died at just 12 years old after a brief

but painful illness. And this is a fairly short episode because frankly, there's not a lot to tell,

but what there is to tell is pretty

cool and dramatic. Right. She lived a fairly ordinary life very much like the other children

in her neighborhood. By all accounts, her life wasn't filled with extraordinary acts of piety,

but it was the way she accepted her illness and suffering that made all the difference for her,

and since her death, for so many others.

So many miracles through her intercession.

Dramatic ones, too.

Right. Reminiscent of St. Teresa's of the Sioux.

Don't jump too far ahead.

Let's start by telling her story.

She was born January 13, 1947 in Richard, Louisiana. Richard is an unincorporated

community in Acadia Parish, Louisiana. For those listeners unfamiliar with Louisiana, what most

states call counties, Louisiana calls parishes. Now, I must take a bit of a side road here, because the

name of the parish and the

territory where she was born are just two interesting to just walk past. A family named

Richard lives in Richard, Louisiana, and the parish is Acadia. In a podcast about Catholic

history in North America, we've got to give at least a thumbnail sketch

...