St. Leo’s Catholic Church

Catholicism was first introduced to this region in 1540 by the priests who accompanied Hernando DeSoto. Napoleonic exiles of the Vine and Olive Colony held religious services and attempted to establish a Catholic mission in Demopolis in 1817. Services were held in homes and in a small frame structure before the present building was constructed in 1905. This church remained a mission until St. Leo’s Parish was permanently established in 1936.