Ochs, Stephen J.

PERSONAL:

Male.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Silver Spring, MD.

CAREER:

Georgetown Preparatory School, North Bethesda, MD, chair of history department.

WRITINGS:

Academy on the Patowmack: Georgetown Preparatory School, 1789-1927, Georgetown Preparatory School (Rockville, MD), 1989.

Desegregating the Altar: The Josephites and the Struggle for Black Priests, 1871-1960, Louisiana State University Press (Baton Rouge, LA), 1990.

A Black Patriot and a White Priest: André Cailloux and Claude Paschal Maistre in Civil War New Orleans, Louisiana State University Press (Baton Rouge, LA), 2000.

SIDELIGHTS:

Stephen J. Ochs has written historical studies focusing on the priesthood and blacks. In his second book on the subject, A Black Patriot and a White Priest: André Cailloux and Claude Paschal Maistre in Civil War New Orleans, Ochs tells the story of André Cailloux, who was considered the first black Civil War hero, and Claude Paschal Maistre, a white abolitionist priest. After Cailloux was killed in battle, Maistre went against church and local southern government policy to preside over the funeral of the former slave. As Ochs tells the life stories of Cailloux and Maistre, he weaves into their histories the life and times of New Orleans from the early nineteenth century through the Civil War, during which time New Orleans was occupied by Union soldiers who patrolled a city that harbored deep racial, religious, and political divisions. Writing in the Journal of Southern History, Michael A. Ross noted that the author presents "a fascinating and complex tale of two men who fought for racial justice and paid dearly for their efforts." Sherri Barnes referred to A Black Patriot and a White Priest in the Library Journal as "a solidly researched and documented text." Church History contributor Stephen R. Haynes concluded: "Ochs's book is well written, thickly documented, and provides an excellent introduction to Catholicism in southern Louisiana."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Church History, December, 2002, Stephen R. Haynes, review of A Black Patriot and a White Priest: André Cailloux and Claude Paschal Maistre in Civil War New Orleans, p. 913.

Journal of Southern History, November, 2001, Michael A. Ross, review of A Black Patriot and a White Priest, p. 869.

Library Journal, June 1, 2000, Sherri Barnes, review of A Black Patriot and a White Priest, p. 154.