Background
Mother St. Croix (Marie Souraut) was born in 1855 in Clermont-ferrand, Auvergne, France.
Mother St. Croix (Marie Souraut) was born in 1855 in Clermont-ferrand, Auvergne, France.
Marie Souraut entered a convent about 1872-1873 and came to New Orleans to join the Ursuline convent there in 1873. She first taught needlework, and in 1899 obtained her first camera from the Zion Company in Paris. Working in a large format from 4x5 lantern slides to approximately 16 x 20 plates, she photographed the second and third Ursuline convents, a cloistered order at that time, including many images of the students. In the 1980s the New Orleans Museum of Art was preparing a monograph on her work.