St. Stanislaus Seminary is a former Society of Jesus (Jesuits) seminary that was founded in 1823 on the outskirts of Florissant, Missouri within the current municipal limits of Hazelwood, Missouri. It was the longest continuously operated Jesuit

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

in the United States.

History

Working life

The seminary was founded in 1823 as some log buildings and a large farm worked by enslaved people to support the missionaries. They had come to Florissant from Maryland at the behest of Louis William Valentine DuBourg. It was named for

Stanislaus Kostka Stanisław Kostka S.J. (28 October 1550 – 15 August 1568) was a Polish novice of the Society of Jesus. He is venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Stanislaus Kostka (as distinct from his namesake, the 11th-century Bishop of Kraków S ...

. The main building, now known as the Old Rock Building, was built from 1840 to 1849 from limestone quarried by the Jesuits and people they enslaved. Pierre-Jean De Smet was based in St. Stanislaus Seminary for some years. Some known early students are: Peter Joseph Arnoudt. and

Adrian Hoecken Adrianus Hoecken, SJ ( Tilburg, 1815 – Milwaukee, 1897) was a Jesuit missionary of Dutch origin who worked among different Native American tribes in the United States. He was a younger brother of fellow Jesuit Christian Hoecken and one of t ...

. The seminary was closed in 1971 due to fewer religious vocations and the post-Vatican II movement to urban areas. Two years earlier, it had already transferred its collegiate program to

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 ...

. Most of what was left of the property, , was sold to The Missouri District of The

United Pentecostal Church International The United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI) is a Oneness Pentecostal denomination headquartered in Weldon Spring, Missouri, United States. The United Pentecostal Church International was formed in 1945 by a merger of the former Pentecostal C ...

, and then the property housed Urshan College (formerly Gateway College of Evangelism) and Urshan Graduate School of Theology. Now the building is used for Gateway Legacy Christian Academy. The Old Rock Building and of land remained Jesuit property until 2003.

Museum

In 1973, the seminary became the Museum of the Western Jesuit Missions, but closed again in 2001, the museum moving to

to become part of the Museum of Art there.

The property

The property was largely self-sufficient in its day. The still-standing Rock Building was built by Jesuits and people they enslaved. They quarried limestone from the banks of the Missouri River, and it has walls thick. The wooden parts came from walnut, logged from the property by the Jesuits, and the

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

s were also made on site. The seminary fed itself with an orchard, a chicken ranch, a cattle barn, wheat fields, vineyards, a butcher shop, a creamery, and a bakery. The former farm property is now owned by Saint Louis County, which leases it to the Missouri Department of Conservation as a conservation area.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Stanislaus Seminary Jesuit universities and colleges Buildings and structures in St. Louis County, Missouri Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri Greek Revival architecture in Missouri National Register of Historic Places in St. Louis County, Missouri School buildings completed in 1840 1823 establishments in Missouri 1971 disestablishments in Missouri Slave cabins and quarters in the United States Plantation houses in the United States