The Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France (french: Cathédrale Saint-Louis-Roi-de-France de Saint-Louis), formerly the Cathedral of Saint Louis, and colloquially the Old Cathedral, was the first

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

and until 1845 the only

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in the city of

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. It is one of two

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

s in St. Louis, and it is named for King

Louis IX of France Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the ...

, also the namesake for the city of St. Louis. The current structure (built 1831–1834) is located near the historic riverfront of St. Louis. It is surrounded by

Gateway Arch National Park Gateway Arch National Park is an American national park located in St. Louis, Missouri, near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The memorial was established to commemorate: *the Louisiana Purchase and subsequent westward mo ...

. However, the church is not part of the park. Because of the historical significance of the church, it was left intact while all neighboring buildings were demolished to make way for the

Gateway Arch The Gateway Arch is a monument in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a weighted catenary arch, it is the world's tallest arch and Missouri's tallest accessible building. Some sources consider ...

and related park. Rev. Nicholas Smith serves as Rector. The basilica serves as a personal parish church rather than a territorial parish church. It ranks 177th of 196 churches in number of Catholics per church in the

Archdiocese of St. Louis The Archdiocese of St. Louis ( la, Archidiœcesis Sancti Ludovici) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church that covers the City of St. Louis and the Missouri counties of Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, Perr ...

. However, because of its historical significance (and its location along the

near the iconic Arch), the basilica remains a popular church for marriage ceremonies in the archdiocese (ranking second of 196 churches) and a popular tourist destination.

History

Previous structures

When

Pierre Laclède Pierre Laclède Liguest or Pierre Laclède (22 November 1729 – 20 June 1778) was a French fur trader who, with his young assistant and stepson Auguste Chouteau, founded St. Louis in 1764, in what was then Spanish Upper Louisiana, in present-da ...

and

Auguste Chouteau René-Auguste Chouteau, Jr. (September 7, 1749, or September 26, 1750 – February 24, 1829Beckwith, 8.), also known as Auguste Chouteau, was the founder of St. Louis, Missouri, a successful fur trader and a politician. He and his partner had a m ...

established the city of St. Louis, they dedicated a plot of land west of Laclède's home for the purposes of the Catholic Church. The earliest Catholic records suggest that a tent was used by an itinerant priest in 1766, but by 1770 a small log house was built on the site.Conard, p. 529 This building, consecrated by the Reverend Pierre Gibault, an itinerant priest, on June 24, 1770, was expanded in 1776 to include a log church. In spite of a more substantial structure, no priest permanently resided in the village of St. Louis until 1811. These buildings began to be replaced in 1818 with a brick structure, on the orders of the Bishop

Louis William Valentine Dubourg Louis William Valentine DuBourg (french: Louis-Guillaume-Valentin DuBourg; 10 January 1766 – 12 December 1833) was a French Catholic prelate and Sulpician missionary to the United States. He built up the church in the vast new Louisiana Terri ...

. The brick structure was designed by Gabriel Paul. During Dubourg's tenure as bishop, many artifacts, paintings, and an organ were donated to the church.Reavis, p. 150 While the brick church was under construction, a cemetery was established near the building, in which many of the founders of St. Louis were interred. Most of the bodies were moved and reinterred during the 1840s and 1850s to

Bellefontaine Cemetery Bellefontaine Cemetery is a nonprofit, non-denominational cemetery and arboretum in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1849 as a rural cemetery, Bellefontaine is home to a number of architecturally significant monuments and mausoleums such as t ...

, after the construction of the current church. Additionally, Dubourg was influential in the establishment of St. Louis Academy (which later developed as

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...

) in a two-story brick building adjacent to the new church in 1818. Construction of the brick church was not complete until 1821.Conard, p. 533

Construction

In 1826, population growth prompted the establishment of the Diocese of St. Louis. The first bishop of the St. Louis diocese,

Joseph Rosati Joseph Rosati (30 January 1789 – 25 September 1843) was an Italian-born Catholic missionary to the United States who served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Saint Louis between 1826 and 1843. A member of the Congregation of the Mission, ...

, began construction of a new cathedral, now the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France, to mark this growth. The cornerstone of the church was laid by Rosati during a ceremony on August 1, 1831. The church was designed and built by the architectural firm of Laveille and Morton, among the first architectural firms west of the Mississippi River north of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. Construction was complete by late 1834. On Sunday, October 26, 1834, the cathedral was consecrated at a ceremony featuring the local militia and parishioners. After the elevation of the Diocese of St. Louis to archdiocese status in 1847, the cathedral became home to an early chapter of the

Society of Saint Vincent de Paul The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP or SVdP or SSVP) is an international voluntary organization in the Catholic Church, founded in 1833 for the sanctification of its members by personal service of the poor. Innumerable Catholic parishes have ...

, a Catholic charity for the indigent. Both Archbishop

Peter Richard Kenrick Peter Richard Kenrick (August 17, 1806 – March 4, 1896) was Bishop of St. Louis, Missouri, and the first Catholic archbishop west of the Mississippi River. Early life and ordination Peter Richard Kenrick was born in Dublin on August 17, 180 ...

and St. Louis Mayor Bryan Mullanphy were counted among the founders of the chapter, initially dedicated to assisting immigrants at a time of waves of immigration from Ireland and Germany, but later expanding to all St. Louis residents. The tradition of care for the poor and needy was carried on in the early 20th century after the appointment of the Reverend John Tannrath to head the church on September 5, 1915. Tannrath not only refurbished the rectory and church, but also reestablished a parish school for local immigrant children. He arranged care for disabled children and adults.

Recent history

Again due to the growth of the city, a larger church was consecrated in 1914 farther west of the current church, in the city's

Central West End The Central West End is a neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri, stretching from Midtown's western edge to Union Boulevard and bordering on Forest Park with its outstanding array of free cultural institutions. It includes the Cathedral Basilica of ...

neighborhood. This larger church, the

Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, also known as the Saint Louis Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church located in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. Completed in 1914, it is the mother church of the A ...

, continues to serve as the seat of the archbishop of St. Louis. To recognize the original cathedral's significance, on January 27, 1961,

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...

designated it a

, giving it the present name, the Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France. Shortly after, in 1963, the church was renovated by the prominent St. Louis architectural firm Murphy and Mackey. In 2015, the Basilica underwent a restoration, including: * Repaired exterior limestone and sandstone * Replaced the mullioned windows with energy efficient yet historically accurate glass in the original Gothic design * Repaired the steeple, roofs, and gutters * Restored the front doors * Upgraded the parking lot, entrance pavers, and landscaping * Renovated the interior vestibule * Removed all carpet, leaving and repairing the wood floors * Restored decorative

millwork Millwork is historically any wood mill produced decorative materials used in building construction. Stock profiled and patterned millwork building components fabricated by milling at a planing mill can usually be installed with minimal alter ...

and statuary. The current parish serves the needs of local parishioners, described as "few in number but strong in loyalty", along with working people and tourists. However, because of its location along the Mississippi River and near the Gateway Arch (which provide backdrops for wedding photos) the church is often used for weddings, only ranking behind St. Francis Xavier College Church at

in the number of Catholic marriages in the archdiocese.

Design and artifacts

Built in

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

style, the church is noted for its marble altars, a painting of ''Saint Louis venerating the Crown of Thorns'' given by

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

King of France France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I () as the first ...

and

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

, and an accurate copy of the painting of the ''

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

'' by

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599August 6, 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of th ...

installed in the church in the latter half of the twentieth century. Engraved in gold over the entrance to the church are the words ''In honorem s. Ludovici. Deo uni et trino dicatum. A. MDCCCXXXIV'', which translates as "In honor of St. Louis. Dedicated to the one and triune God. A.D. 1834". Hebrew letters, intended to spell out the

Tetragrammaton The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew language, Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', ''he (l ...

, are also inscribed in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

above the engraving on the main entrance. An

urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

of unknown origin claims that "the letter

Heth Heth, sometimes written Chet, but more accurately Ḥet, is the eighth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Ḥēt 𐤇 , Hebrew Ḥēth , Aramaic Ḥēth , Syriac Ḥēṯ ܚ, Arabic Ḥā' , and Maltese Ħ, ħ. Heth originall ...

was substituted for the letter He, so the inscription merely reads ''yachuch'', which has no meaning in Hebrew"; however, the letters in the inscription appear to indeed be He. The church basement has a number of artifacts associated with the history of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis The Archdiocese of St. Louis ( la, Archidiœcesis Sancti Ludovici) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church that covers the City of St. Louis and the Missouri counties of Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, Perry ...

, including a bell given to the church by the governor of the territory of Louisiana during the early 19th century.Massey, p. 105 Bishop

, who ordered the construction of the church, is interred in a vault underneath the sanctuary.

Footnotes

References

* * * * * * * *

External links

Built St. Louis: City Churches: The Old CathedralBasilica of St. Louis, King of France official website
*

Old St. Ferdinand Shrine Old St. Ferdinand Shrine and Historic Site is located at no. 1 rue St. Francois, Florissant, Missouri, and is owned, preserved, maintained, and protected by the non-profit organization, Friends of Old St. Ferdinand, Inc. The Shrine and Historic Si ...

(earlier church in St. Louis area) {{DEFAULTSORT:Basilica Of St. Louis, King Of France Roman Catholic churches completed in 1834 Former cathedrals in the United States Minor basilicas in the United States Basilica churches in Missouri Roman Catholic churches in St. Louis Greek Revival church buildings in Missouri Landmarks of St. Louis Tourist attractions in St. Louis Roman Catholic cathedrals in Missouri Downtown St. Louis 1834 establishments in Missouri 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States