A Catholic Film Theory: A Catholic Disney Princess?

I finally got around to watching Disney's The Princess and the Frog.  It was my wife's doing, and Disney usually has good animated movies, so I was ok with it. The film was enjoyable.  The main lead in the piece, Tiana, paved the path for future Disney princesses as an independent and spunky female heroine -- I'm looking at you Moana and Elsa.  As someone born and raised in New Orleans, I particularly enjoyed seeing Disney's portrayal of the city and the Cajuns with a little homage to the three stooges and the accent given to Raymond the FireFly.  Disney did better with the accents of NOLA and the Cajuns than Kevin Costner could come up with on a good day.  Sadly, the film lacked a memorial ballad or a catchy showstopping tune.  I can't hum one melody from the film and don't recall any of the lyrics. 

However, what I did notice in the film was that Tiana was married in the St. Louis Cathedral, which got me wondering.  Is Tiana Catholic?  The evidence for saying that Tiana is Catholic is anecdotal at best but to me, it is interesting if not compelling.


1.  She is from New Orleans and it was common for the Ursulines and the Jesuits of the area to have their slaves baptized into the Catholic Faith -- as well as the Catholic slave owners (those that had them).  It is a very strong likelihood that Tiana was descended from those very slaves and that the Catholicity was passed down to her.  Whether or not she and her family were practicing is another story.  However, we know for certain that there is at least one well known African American who lived during the same time period as Tiana (late 20's early 30's) who was a baptized Catholic and also descendent of slaves and also from New Orleans: Louis Armstrong. Tiana may be like Louis Armstrong.  She may be Catholic.

2. Her best friend was of French ancestry, Charlotte La Bouff, and they were living in a period of time when not only did people not associate with each other based on color, but also creed, cultural status, and even nationality.  There is a reason one can find Catholic Churches built across the street from each other in New Orleans.  Its because the Germans didn't want to go to Mass with the Irish or the Italians.  All the ethnicities wanted their own Catholic Church.  In other words, the likelihood of Charlotte and Tiana being friends is slim as they were from different classes in society, different races, different nationalities and the likelihood of their friendship disappears if they were of different religions at that time.  I do recall my Grandmother not wanting my Aunt to wed my now Uncle because he wasn't Catholic.  Therefore, Tiana may be Catholic if she is friends with a VERY VERY progressive La Bouff family.

3.  To marry in a Catholic Church, it is a requirement that one of the members getting married must be Catholic.  We have no idea if the prince is Catholic or not, but we do know that the Prince and Tiana get married in the Catholic Church at the end of the movie. There are three options here.  Tiana and the Prince are both Catholic. The Prince is Catholic and Tiana is not.  Tiana is Catholic and the Prince is not.  Considering the historical context and that often people did not marry outside their religion during this time and Catholic teaching on the disparity of cult and her recommendation to marry someone of the Catholic faith,  I think it is fair to say that there is a strong likelihood that Tiana and the Prince are Catholic.

As mentioned above, the evidence is anecdotal, to me, as a native New Orleanian, it is compelling and, I like to think that Tiana is a Catholic Disney Princess.  What we do know for certain that their children will be baptized Catholic.

What do you think? 


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