The establishment of Columbianism on the Mississippi Gulf Coast was due largely in part because of a New Orleanian by the name of James F. Durel who on one spring day in 1907 stepped off an excursion train in Biloxi to visit with his son. Having been organized, it was then called the Gulf Coast Council 1244, and on Sunday, June 2, 1907, fifty applicants were the first to receive the rites of exemplification. The Biloxi Council works closely with each of the five Parishes of the coast, but is closely associated with Nativity B.V.M. Cathedral and Parish.