Pope Leo XIV, the first Catholic pope from the United States, has a rich ancestry intertwining Creole and free people of color from Louisiana, shedding light on complex racial and class dynamics in American history. Genealogist Alex DaPaul Lee, who researched Pope Leo’s background, unearthed documents affirming that he descended from a prominent Creole family in New Orleans. Lee, initially skeptical of this connection, discovered that the pope’s great-great-grandmother, Celeste Lemelle, was the daughter of two free people of color who married in 1798, classified as “quadroons.”
The Creole community arose in Louisiana through cultural blending among French, Native American, Spanish, German, and West African influences during the pre-colonial period. Racial categories in 18th-century Louisiana included enslaved people, free people of color (Gens de Couleur Libres), and the white planter class. Many Creoles of color owned enslaved individuals, and the Lemelle family, known for participating in cattle ranching, was among the wealthier families during the Antebellum period.
Documentation reveals that Celeste Lemelle owned property and earned income from business dealings in the 1830s, highlighting the legal rights of women, particularly free women of color, in Louisiana. The evolutionary racial identity of the pope’s family is notable; a census record shows Celeste’s son being classified as “mulatto” in 1870 but as white a decade later. The family’s subsequent migration to Illinois, part of the Great Migration, likely provided better job opportunities and civil liberties.
The pope’s diverse ancestry challenges the binary perception of race in America, reflecting a more inclusive understanding of Catholic identity and what it means to be American, particularly with Louisiana Creole heritage.
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