Saints and the Spiritual Churches

“You see , the saint ain’t no good if you don’t burn this light .” That was a New Orleans worker explaining to Hyatt why the candle comes first (Hyatt 3020 · New Orleans, La. · informant 786).

In Louisiana, hoodoo took the Catholic saints off the church wall and put them to work. Hyatt gave them a whole sub-section of Volume 1, and what his informants describe is not devotion as the priest taught it. It is a working relationship, with offerings, colours, days of the week and a hard bargain.

What it is

Hyatt notes that coloured candles and privately owned home altars are what mark hoodoo’s treatment of the saints. The statue or the printed picture is bought, often blessed by a priest, set up at home and kept awake with light.

The deal runs both ways. Promise a saint something and you pay when your wish comes, or you fall into bad luck (Hyatt 3007 · New Orleans, La. · informant 845).

What Hyatt’s informants said

St. Expedite was the busiest saint in the collection, spelt and spoken as Espidee, Espidy, Expedee and ‘Spedee. One man described the image he worked with: “Expedite saint is on a horse with swords in his hand and a whole lot of snakes around him .” He was nailed up inside the door where everyone has to come in, given a toy hammer, a nail and a black candle (Hyatt 2995 · New Orleans, La. · informant 797).

His work varied with the worker:

• Luck, jobs and money, with green candles, flowers and anything green (Hyatt 3002 · Algiers, La. · informant 1577).
• Gamblers, with a nine-day novena and a promised dollar (Hyatt 3001 · New Orleans, La. · informant 874).
• Court cases, with a white candle and a glass of milk or white rum (Hyatt 3003 · Algiers, La. · informant 1584).
• Keeping the police away, nailed over the front door (Hyatt 2998 · New Orleans, La. · informant 851).

Not everyone trusted him. One informant said St. Raymond was the saint for luck, while Expedite was for devilment (Hyatt 3008 · New Orleans, La. · informant 814).

St. Joseph was the married woman’s saint, given a white candle and an altar on his day, 19 March, and asked to bring an absent husband home (Hyatt 3009 · Algiers, La. · informant 1577). Another worker set him a cup-light over a name paper in Toulouse syrup and steel dust to draw a man with money (Hyatt 3010 · New Orleans, La. · informant 1568).

St. Michael split opinion. To some he was the archangel who cast out Lucifer and kept evil spirits from the house (Hyatt 3013 · Algiers, La. · informant 1577). To others he was an evil saint, prayed to for dirty work, his foot and spear used to hold a person down (Hyatt 3016 · New Orleans, La. · informant 855; Hyatt 3017 · New Orleans, La. · informant 824).

The bad saints and the spiritual churches

Black Hawk is the clearest sign that this was not church Catholicism. An informant counted him among the old evil saints, burned black candles (Hyatt 2993 · New Orleans, La. · informant 816). Another said of him: “Absolutely, he’s one of the devil’s servants, see.” (Hyatt 2994 · New Orleans, La. · informant 879).

Black Hawk, the Sauk war leader, was the great spirit guide of the New Orleans Spiritual churches founded in the 1920s by Mother Leafy Anderson. Mother Catherine Seals, whose picture one informant burned a job candle to, led her own Spiritual church in the Lower Ninth Ward (Hyatt 3020).

Hyatt’s people moved easily between those churches and the workers’ rooms. Holy water came from the Spiritualist church for bathing off a trick and washing a crossed house (Hyatt 1081 · New Orleans, La. · informant 783).

One woman described a dark room of little lights, saints on altars and a reader in a lavender robe and crown. Asked what the reader called herself, she said a spiritualist (Hyatt 2753 · New Orleans, La. · informant 791).

In their own words

“St. Joseph is a saint he don’t lak no single wimmins .”

(Hyatt 3009 · Algiers, La. · informant 1577)

“Now, the biggest thing you can give St. Peter is a key .”

(Hyatt 3028 · New Orleans, La. · informant 832)

“that is the way he’ll have your enemies down under your feet .”

(Hyatt 3012 · New Orleans, La. · informant 783)

“He’s gotta git up on de stand an’ he’s gotta talk fo’ yo ‘ .”

(Hyatt 3003 · Algiers, La. · informant 1584)

How it’s worked today

Saint work is still central to New Orleans practice and has spread well beyond it. St. Expedite remains the saint for speed, money and urgent cases, and is traditionally paid with pound cake, red candles and flowers once he delivers.

St. Joseph is still buried upside down in yards to sell houses, and St. Joseph’s altars are still built across Louisiana on 19 March. St. Michael is worked for protection and for holding down enemies. St. Peter is still given keys to open the way.

The Spiritual churches survive in New Orleans, and Black Hawk is still honoured in them as a protector and fighter. Home altars of statues and pictures, with coloured candles on set days, are kept much as Hyatt’s informants described.

Learn the work

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Source: Harry Middleton Hyatt, Hoodoo – Conjuration – Witchcraft – Rootwork, 5 vols., 1970-1978. Numbers refer to Hyatt’s own item numbers; the town and informant number follow. Written by Hoodoo Witch in our own words, with short quotations from Hyatt’s informants for reference.