The Sacred Heart of Jesus statue is also known locally as “Touchdown Jesus” due to the shadow it casts on the Cathedral walls at night when lit from below. The inscription on it is in French, and translates to “Sacred Heart of Jesus, I have confidence in Thee.”
In the mid-1920s, when a priest at the St. Louis Cathedral told the congregation of the Oblate Fathers’ desire to have a Sacred Heart of Jesus statue placed in the cathedral’s gardens, one family took note.
Banker and financier J. E. Merilh was a native of Navarrenx, France who studied in Paris, London, and Buenos Aires before coming to the US. After a few years in New York, he came to New Orleans, where he found a similar atmosphere of his native France and made it his home.
Merilh was instrumental in the establishment of the Germania Bank on Rampart St. in 1881 and with $200 was the first depositor at the bank. Under his direction as president, the bank grew slowly but steadily and was brought under the Commercial Trust and Savings Bank umbrella in 1905. He resigned his presidency at that time and became a director of the Canal-Commercial bank.
Socially, Merilh was one of the best-known men in the French population of New Orleans. He was fluent in several languages, a quiet but active philanthropist, involved with various social clubs and Carnival organizations, and was renowned for his skill at billiards.
He died at home in his mansion at 1029 Bourbon St. in 1925 at age 79. His wife had died 10 years prior, and they left 5 adult children.
A year later, Merilh’s children donated the Sacred Heart of Jesus statue to the Cathedral in memory and honor of their parents.
The statue, carved by famous Italian sculptor S. Lenzi of Pietrasanta, Italy, is made from Carrara marble from Italy’s Apuan Alps. It was unveiled in the garden on May 7, 1926, by the Merilhs’ sole grandchild, Miss Louis Georgette Tusson. The Very Rev Father Albert Antoine of St Louis Cathedral gave the blessing.
The statue sustained some damage during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Several fingers were knocked off as trees fell all around the gardens. In 2015, the hand was repaired. Archbishop Greory Aymond gave the blessing, acknowledging the repair as a symbol of hope as the city continued on its path to recovery.
