In 1785, St. Bernard Catholic Church was established to serve the colonist from the Canary Islands that settled along Bayou Terre aux Boeufs. It was the first church below New Orleans, thus becoming the mother church for St. Bernard and Plaquemine Parishes. Construction on the first church began in 1787, and the founding pastor was Mariano de Brunete. The second church on the site was built in 1852.

The second church burned down on February 13, 1916, and was not rebuilt until 1925. St. Bernard Catholic Church was without a pastor from 1916 until 1968. Following the 1916 fire, St. Bernard Catholic Church, and the churches below, became missions to Our Lady of Lourdes, and were served by various priests assigned to Our Lady of Lourdes in Violet, Louisiana.

St. Bernard Catholic Church became a parish again in 1968. It remains a very faithful community today even though the size of the church is small, and the members are not large in number, they are large in faith.