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Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis

Coordinates: 38°38′34″N 90°15′26″W / 38.64278°N 90.25722°W / 38.64278; -90.25722
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Archdiocese of Saint Louis

Archidiœcesis Sancti Ludovici
Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis
Coat of arms
Location
Country United States
TerritorySt. Louis City and ten counties in eastern Missouri
Ecclesiastical provinceSt. Louis
Statistics
Area5,968 sq mi (15,460 km2)
Population
- Total
- Catholics		(as of 2017)
2,255,800
514,178 (22.8%)
Parishes178
Schools112
Information
DenominationCatholic
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
EstablishedJuly 18, 1826 (198 years ago)
CathedralCathedral Basilica of St. Louis
Patron saintSaint Louis IX(Primary)
Saint Vincent DePaul
Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne(Secondary)[1]
Secular priests301
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
ArchbishopMitchell T. Rozanski
Auxiliary BishopsMark Steven Rivituso
Bishops emeritusRaymond Leo Burke
Robert Joseph Hermann
Robert James Carlson
Map
Website
archstl.org

The Archdiocese of St. Louis (Latin: Archidiœcesis Sancti Ludovici) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the eastern part of the State of Missouri in the United States.

The archdiocese is led by Archbishop, Mitchell Rozanski, formerly the Bishop of Springfield in Massachusetts.[2] The archdiocesan cathedral is the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis in St. Louis.

Structure

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The Archdiocese of St. Louis covers the City of St. Louis and the Missouri counties of Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, Perry, Saint Charles, Saint Francois, Ste. Genevieve, St. Louis, Warren, and Washington. It is the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province containing three suffragan sees:

History

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1600 to 1800

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The first Catholic presence in present-day Missouri was that of the Jesuit missionary Reverend Jacques Marquette in 1673, who stopped in Perry County while voyaging down the Mississippi River. [4]French-Canadian settlers established St. Genevieve, the first parish in the archdiocese, in 1759 in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri[5] During this period, the Catholics in the region were under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of San Cristobal de la Habana, based in Havana, Cuba. [3]With the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, Spain took control of the French territories west of the Mississippi River.

In 1793, after the American Revolution, Pope Pius VI erected the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas, based in New Orleans. It encompassed all the Spanish territories on the continent, including the Missouri area. Due to politics in Europe, the new diocese did not receive a bishop until 1815.[6]

1800 to 1826

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In 1803, with the signing of the Louisiana Purchase, the United States took control from France of a vast area of the continent, including Missouri. Pope Pius VII in 1815 named Reverend Louis Dubourg from the Diocese of Baltimore as the first bishop of Louisiana and the Two Floridas.[5]Due to concerns about his personal safety in New Orleans, DuBourg chose the City of St. Louis as his episcopal see. He founded St.Louis Parish, the first parish in the city.[7][8]

Wanting to train American priests for his vast diocese, DuBourg established St. Mary's of the Barrens Seminary in Perryville in 1818,[7] placing it under the charge of the Lazarist fathers.[9] In August 1818, he recruited Sister Rose Philippine Duchesne from the Society of the Sacred Heart in France, to open girls schools in the diocese.[10][7] Duchesne founded the Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Charles, the first free school west of the Mississippi River, along with another girls school in Florissant.[11][12] DuBourg also invited the Sisters of Loretto to establish a school for girls.[13]In 1818, DuBourg founded the Saint Louis Academy, later known as Saint Louis College to educate Catholic laymen.[14] In 1823, at DuBourg's invitation, the Society of Jesus sent several Belgian priests to Florissant, where they began ministering to Native American converts.[15][16]

In 1824, Pope Leo XII appointed Bishop Joseph Rosati as coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas. After Rosati's appointment, DuBourg moved his episcopal see back to New Orleans, leaving Rosati in control of St. Louis.[17]

1826 to 1847

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Bishop Rosati

On July 18, 1826, Pope Leo XII divided up the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas. One of the new dioceses was the Diocese of St. Louis, which included Missouri along with vast areas of the American Midwest and Great Plains[3] Because of its size, the diocese was often referred to as the Rome of the West.[18] Leo XII named Rosati as the first bishop of St. Louis.[17]

In 1827, Rosati transferred Saint Louis College to the Jesuits [19] [20] [21] They converted the lower division of the college into St. Louis University High School.[22]The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul opened Mullanphy Hospital in St. Louis in 1828.[23]The Jesuits in 1829 established Saint Louis College as Saint Louis University in 1829. Rosati dedicated the Cathedral of St. Louis in 1834, making it the first Catholic cathedral west of the Mississippi River. [24]

As Catholic communities started increasing outside of St. Louis, the Vatican erected new dioceses from the Diocese of St.Louis. In 1837, Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Dubuque, covering the present-day states of Iowa, Minnesota, and the Dakotas.[3]The same pope in 1841 appointed Reverend Peter Kenrick as coadjutor bishop in St. Louis to assist Rosati. [25] When Kenrick became coadjutor bishop, the diocese was heavily in debt, due to the $90,000 cost of the new cathedral.[26] With Rosati's assistance, the diocese received financial aid from Catholic organizations in Europe. Kenrick's brother Francis Kendrick, bishop of the Diocese of Philadelphia, also provided assistance.[26]

In early 1843, the Vatican took more territory from St. Louis to found the Diocese of Little Rock in Arkansas and the Diocese of Chicago in Illinois.[3]After Rosati died in Rome in late 1843, Kenrick automatically succeeded him as bishop of St. Louis.

After receiving at $300,000 bequest, Kenrick was able to stabilize the diocesan finances through some shrewd real estate dealings. He took many trips by horseback throughout the diocese, reaching Catholics who did not have priests in their communities.[27] In St. Louis, Kenrick instructed the cathedral priests to celebrate masses in English instead of French, as most of the congregation was now English-speaking.[26]

1847 to present

[edit]
Archbishop Kenrick

Pope Pius IX elevated the Diocese of St. Louis to the Archdiocese of St. Louis on July 20, 1847, naming Kenrick as its first archbishop.[3]By 1850, the archdiocese was operating ten parishes in the City of St. Louis.[5]

During the American Civil War, Kenrick maintained a neutral position in a strongly-divided Missouri. After the war, he urged his priests to refuse to take the ironclad oath. The oath was a tactic promoted by Republicans to dissuade former officials of the Confederacy from holding influential positions in society. Reverend John A. Cummings challenged the legality of the oath in a case that reached the United States Supreme Court. It later ruled that the government could not force individuals to take the oath.

St. Louis Preparatory Seminary in the countryside which is now the St. Louis suburb of Shrewsbury was completed in 1931. Later it became Cardinal Glennon College. Today it is the archdiocesan seminary Kenrick-Glennon Seminary.[citation needed]

In 1999, the archdiocese hosted a two-day visit from Pope John Paul II, its first papal visit. The pope had visited the archdiocese 30 years earlier when he was archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kraków.[28]

In 2022, the archdiocese announced that it would no longer participate in the National School Lunch Program, established in 1946 to feed lunch to poor students. It took this action to avoid complying with new government regulations on gender identify under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. [29][30]The archdiocese stated that it would provide its own free lunch program.[31]

Facing a shortage of priests and decreased mass attendance, the archdiocese in 2023 announced the closure of 44 parishes. Under the plan, 35 parishes were merged into neighboring ones, with 15 parishes going in 2026 into five new parishes.[32] Archbishop Rozanski noted;

"The church experience in our parishes today is not the same as it was 50 years ago, yet we are still functioning in many ways out of the same mode of evangelization with the same structures. We have inherited a great treasure of Catholic institutions from previous generations, but many of them are no longer as effective or sustainable as they once were.”[32]

The archdiocese has admitted that it enslaved at least 87 people throughout its history, and that at least 5 senior clergy owned slaves.[33]

Sexual abuse

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In 2004, the Archdiocese of St. Louis paid $1.7 million to settle sexual abuse claims.[34]

In 2018, Archbishop Carlson testified that he was unsure whether he knew in the 1980s that sexual assault of a minor was a crime, and was unable to say when he came to believe that sexual abuse of a minor was a crime.[35]

In July 2019, the archdiocese released the names of 64 clergy who were "credibly accused" of committing acts of sexual abuse.[36][37]On August 16, 2019, "sexually violent priest" Frederick Lenczycki, who had previously served prison time in Illinois between 2004 and 2009 for acts of sexual abuse,[38] was sentenced to 10 years in prison 2+1⁄2 months after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a boy in St. Louis County.[36]In 2019, the Missouri Attorney General's Office identified over 160 instances of archdiocesan priests and deacons sexually abusing minors.[39]

In June 2023, the archdiocese agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit by a man who alleged he was raped when an altar boy from 4th through 6th grade[34] by a since-defrocked priest who has been required to register as a sex offender.[40]

In July 2024, a lawsuit brought by 25 former attendees of churches and schools within the Archdiocese of St. Louis claimed that Catholic leadership knew of rampant sexual abuse they suffered. One former altar boy says he was sexually abused from 2008 and 2011 by Father William Vatterott, who was later convicted for possession of child pornography. Another plaintiff says he was caught wearing red socks, which were prohibited at Catholic summer camp, and was sent to a sexually abusive priest for discipline. The priest told the child he would "burn in hell for all eternity" unless he kept the abuse secret. A girl ages 8 to 9 in 1999 says she was abused by Father James Grady, who was later arrested for paying a 16-year-old girl for sex acts and child pornography, and also by a nun called "Sister Annette".[41]

Cathedral of Saint Louis

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The Cathedral of Saint Louis is dedicated to King Louis IX of France. Its co-patrons are Reverend Vincent de Paul and Sister Rose Philippine Duchesne. [42]The cathedral contains the largest collection of mosaics in the world.[43]It was dedicated in 1926 on the 100th anniversary of the establishment of St. Louis as a diocese, and was started by Archbishop John Glennon and completed by Archbishop John May. Work on the cathedral mosaics would not be completed for 60 years. The Cathedral of St. Louis was designated a "Basilica" in 1997 on the 150th anniversary of the archdiocese.[5]

Bishops

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The following is a list of the archbishops, bishops, coadjutor bishop and auxiliary bishops of the diocese and archdiocese.[3]

Bishop of Louisiana and the Floridas

[edit]

Louis-Guillaume-Valentin Dubourg (1812–1826), appointed Bishop of Montauban and later Archbishop of Besançon

Bishops of St. Louis

[edit]
  1. Joseph Rosati, C.M. (1827–1843)
    - John Timon (Appointed Coadjutor Bishop in 1839, but did not take effect); appointed Prefect Apostolic of the Republic of Texas in 1840 and later Bishop of Buffalo
  2. Peter Richard Kenrick (1843–1847); Elevated to Archbishop

Archbishops of St. Louis

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  1. Peter Richard Kenrick (1847–1895)
  2. John Joseph Kain (1895–1903)
  3. Cardinal John J. Glennon (1903–1946)
  4. Cardinal Joseph Ritter (1946–1967)
  5. Cardinal John Joseph Carberry (1968–1979)
  6. John L. May (1980–1992)
  7. Justin Francis Rigali (1994–2003), appointed Archbishop of Philadelphia (Cardinal in 2003)
  8. Raymond Leo Burke (2004–2008), appointed Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura and later Patron of the Order of Malta (Cardinal in 2010)
  9. Robert James Carlson (2009–2020)
  10. Mitchell T. Rozanski (2020–present)

Auxiliary Bishops

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Other archdiocesan priests who became bishops

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Churches

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Main article: List of churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis

Education

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The Archdiocese of St. Louis contains 97 primary schools and 25 high schools, with a total enrollment as of 2023 of 30,741.[44]

High schools

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Co-educational schools

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All-boys schools

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All-girls schools

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Closed schools
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Cemeteries

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The Catholic Cemeteries ministry operates 17 cemeteries in the Archdiocese of St. Louis :[48]

  • Ascension
  • Calvary
  • Holy Cross
  • Mt. Olive
  • Our Lady
  • Queen of Peace
  • Resurrection
  • Sacred Heart
  • Ss. Paul and Peter
  • St. Charles Borromeo
  • St. Ferdinand
  • St. Joseph
  • St. Mary
  • St. Monica
  • St. Peter
  • St. Philippine
  • St. Vincent

Suffragan sees

[edit]
Ecclesiastical Province of St. Louis

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ "St. Rose Philippine Duchesne arrives at St. Louis Walk of Fame".
  2. ^ "Leadership". Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Saint Louis (Archdiocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  4. ^ "Missouri, Catholic Church in | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  5. ^ a b c d [Dolan, Timothy Michael. Archdiocese of St. Louis: Three Centuries of Catholicism, 1700-2000. Strasbourg, France: Editions Du Signe, 2001. Print.]
  6. ^ Points, Marie Louise. "New Orleans." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. November 19, 2017
  7. ^ a b c Rice 1999, p. 259
  8. ^ "Bishop Louis DuBourg". Bishop DuBourg High School. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  9. ^ Clarke 1872, p. 230
  10. ^ Bowden 1993, p. 153
  11. ^ Chambon 1909
  12. ^ Burch 1999
  13. ^ Clarke 1872, p. 231
  14. ^ "Saint Louis University History". Saint Louis University. Archived from the original on 5 March 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  15. ^ Clarke 1872, p. 230
  16. ^ Rice 1999, p. 259
  17. ^ a b "Bishop Joseph Rosati [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
  18. ^ "Small group with big mission hopes to save 'Rome of the West' in St. Louis | Jefferson City News-Tribune". www.newstribune.com. 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2024-04-10.
  19. ^ "On this Day in SLU History". Saint Louis University. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  20. ^ Blakely 1912
  21. ^ Burch 1999
  22. ^ "History". St. Louis University High School. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  23. ^ "A Brief History". Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul West Central Province. Archived from the original on 23 March 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  24. ^ Shea, John Gilmary. The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the United States, (New York: The Office of Catholic Publications, 1886), pp. 162–163 Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  25. ^ "Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  26. ^ a b c Miller, Samuel J. (1973). "Peter Richard Kenrick Bishop and Archbishop of St Louis 1806-1896". Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia. 84 (1/3): 3–163. ISSN 0002-7790.
  27. ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Francis and Peter Kenrick". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
  28. ^ "The Polish Museum of America celebrates Saint John Paul II 100th Birthday". 2020-05-16. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  29. ^ Messenger, Tony (2022-08-30). "Messenger: St. Louis Archdiocese tells Catholic schools to drop free lunch program". STLtoday.com. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  30. ^ "St. Louis Catholic schools directed to exit Nat'l School Lunch Program". Aleteia — Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture. 2022-08-31. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  31. ^ "St. Louis archdiocese: Students won't lose their lunch over federal program decision". The Pillar. 2022-09-01. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  32. ^ a b "Reorganization will cut Catholic Parishes in St. Louis". St. Louis Public Radio. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  33. ^ Bogan, Jesse (2024-01-29). "St. Louis Archdiocese is slow to share its history of owning slaves". STLtoday.com. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  34. ^ a b "St Louis Catholic archdiocese to pay $1m to settle sexual abuse lawsuit". The Guardian. Associated Press. 2023-06-09. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  35. ^ "St. Louis Archbishop Didn't Know Sex With Children Was a Crime". NBC News. 2014-06-10. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  36. ^ a b "St. Louis Archdiocese names 64 priests credibly accused of sexually abusing children or possessing child porn | Metro | stltoday.com".
  37. ^ "List Release | Promise To Protect | Archdiocese of St Louis". www.archstl.org. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  38. ^ "Judge denies lower bond for former Hinsdale priest". 22 April 2019.
  39. ^ "Archdiocese of St. Louis abuse victim speaks out after settling with church for $1M". STLPR. 2023-11-10. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  40. ^ "Archdiocese of St. Louis abuse victim speaks out after settling with church for $1M". STLPR. 2023-11-10. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  41. ^ Linderman, Kate (July 26, 2024). "Priest warned sexually abused child he would 'burn in hell' if he told, MO suit says". The Kansas City Star.
  42. ^ "About the Archdiocese". Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  43. ^ "25 Things to Do in St. Louis". 2011-02-25. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  44. ^ "Home | Archdiocese of St. Louis Catholic Schools". archstlschools.org. Retrieved 2023-06-12.
  45. ^ a b c "Schools | Archdiocese of St. Louis Catholic Schools". archstlschools.org. Retrieved 2023-06-12.
  46. ^ "Barat Academy". Barat Academy. Retrieved 2023-06-12.
  47. ^ "Agencies | Archdiocese of St Louis". www.archstl.org. Retrieved 2023-06-12.
  48. ^ "Catholic Cemeteries » Archdiocese of St. Louis". Catholic Cemeteries » Archdiocese of St. Louis. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
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38°38′34″N 90°15′26″W / 38.64278°N 90.25722°W / 38.64278; -90.25722

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