Researching Your Catholic Ancestry
with Jari C. Honora
July 11, 2025, 12–1 p.m. CDT
Online via Zoom
Free admission, registration required
Learn how to uncover your Catholic family history in this free virtual presentation, featuring HNOC family historian and genealogist Jari C. Honora. A Certified Genealogist®, Honora recently made international news as the first historian to uncover the Creole heritage of Pope Leo XIV.
Whether you are just getting started or need help breaking through “brick walls” in your research, this presentation will introduce tips for searching and understanding sacramental records. Honora will also share effective research strategies, highlight key resources, and provide practical advice for engaging with the diocesan and religious archives.
Admission is free with registration required. This virtual event will be hosted via the video conferencing application Zoom.Opens in new tab
Meet Your Host
Jari C. Honora
Jari C. Honora
Jari C. Honora, a Certified Genealogist®, works as Family Historian at the Williams Research Center of the Historic New Orleans Collection. He is a native New Orleanian and graduate of St. Augustine High School and Tulane University. He also does historical and genealogical research professionally, including previous research for the TV programs “Finding Your Roots,” “We’ll Meet Again,” and the Georgetown Memory Project. He is a trustee of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and board member of the Louisiana Historical Society and Genealogical Research Society of New Orleans.
Jari and Pope Leo XIV
Learn how HNOC’s Jari Honora discovered the new pope’s Creole lineage.
CBS Mornings: What to Know about Pope Leo XIV’s Ancestry
From the French Quarter to the Vatican
Shortly after Robert Francis Prevost was announced as the first American pope, HNOC’s Jari C. Honora uncovered a surprising New Orleans connection, revealing the pontiff’s maternal grandparents to be Creoles of color from the Seventh Ward.
Genealogy Resources
Our experts at the Williams Research Center are available to help you dive into your family history.
Related Stories
From the French Quarter to the Vatican
Shortly after Robert Francis Prevost was announced as the first American pope, HNOC’s Jari C. Honora uncovered a surprising New Orleans connection, revealing the pontiff’s maternal grandparents to be Creoles of color from the Seventh Ward.
Reading Between the Lines of the Ursulines Nuns’ Prayer Books
The Ursulines brought education and health care to New Orleans, but they also helped to build and enforce Louisiana’s nascent racial caste system.
Related Collection Highlights
Ursuline Communion Wafer Iron
What this waffle iron look-alike tells us about female agency and spirituality in colonial New Orleans
Le Spiritualiste
When séances were all the rage, New Orleans produced the nation’s first and only French-language publication devoted to Spiritualism.
Related News
Video: How A Historian Discovered Pope Leo XIV’s New Orleans Roots
NY Times: New Pope Has Creole Roots in New Orleans, Genealogist Says
NOLA.com: Pope Leo XIV has Roots in New Orleans’s 7th Ward
Related Books
French Baroque Music of New Orleans
edited by Alfred E. Lemmon
with essays in English by Jennifer Gipson, Andrew Justice, Alfred E. Lemmon, and Mark McKnight, and in French by Jean Duron
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