Most of the Christians in Saint-Louis were French or métis. They tended to live in the southern half of the island, which was called kretian, close to the church or "Cathedral" and the residences of the priests. Some worked in the colonial government offices nearby, while others were engaged in trade along the river or in the peanut zone. Their children went to the French schools, most of which were run by missionary societies: the Holy Ghost Fathers, the sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary, and the laymen of the Ploermel Brothers.
The Catholic church in Senegal engaged in some missionary work, but not extensively in Saint-Louis
or the northern areas of the interior, where the societies were regarded as "ethnically" Muslim. Most of the missionary work developed in the "animist" south, among the Serer of the Sine region and the Diola of Casamance. The leadership of the Catholic church in Senegal today comes largely from these communities. In the early 20th century the Catholic community created a new cemetery at Sor, on the mainland east of the main branch of the river, when the island cemetery was full.[doc]