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St. Alphonsus Liguori "Rock" Catholic Church is an historic Black Catholic church in
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
.


Building

The edifice was built in a
Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
style and has a towering steeple, flanking spires, and an assortment of stained glass. The design is attributed to the Rev. Louis Dold, C.Ss.R., working with St. Louis architects Thomas Waryng Walsh and James Smith.


History

In 1861 St. Louis 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, 1806 ...
invited the
Redemptorists The Redemptorists officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer ( la, links=no, Congregatio Sanctissimi Redemptoris), abbreviated CSsR,is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brothe ...
, a missionary congregation that was founded by Saint Alphonsus Ligouri in 1732, to establish a permanent presence in the city of St. Louis. The community accepted the invitation and lived in temporary housing until 1866 when they bought at Grand and Cook Avenues. Ground for the church was broken on May 1, 1867, and the
cornerstone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over tim ...
was laid on November 3 of the same year by the Rev. Joseph Melchers, the
vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...
of the archdiocese. Construction on the church continued until 1872 and Archbishop Patrick J. Ryan dedicated the church that year. The church's
spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...
, which reaches , was completed in 1893. The first Mother of Perpetual Help Shrine in the church was blessed on December 7, 1873, during the first public triduum under her name. The church ceased being a mission church in 1881 when it became a parish of 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, Pe ...
, although it remained under the pastoral care of the Redemptorists. The Redemptorists' St. Louis Province was headquartered in the residence from its founding until the mid-20th century. There were two noteworthy visitors to the community in the 19th century. The year the property was bought in 1866, Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos visited while on a missionary preaching trip a year before his death. Venerable
Augustus Tolton John Augustus Tolton (April 1, 1854 – July 9, 1897), baptized Augustine Tolton, was the first Catholic priest in the United States publicly known to be Black. (The Healy brothers, who preceded him, all passed for White.) Tolton was ordaine ...
, the first African-American Catholic priest, said Mass for the
School Sisters of Notre Dame School Sisters of Notre Dame is a worldwide religious institute of Roman Catholic sisters founded in Bavaria in 1833 and devoted to primary, secondary, and post-secondary education. Their life in mission centers on prayer, community life and ...
in the convent’s chapel in 1887. The parish has grown over the years to become a predominantly African-American church. The church was struck by
lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an average ...
on August 16, 2007, sparking a fire that damaged the roof and leading to water damage when the fire was put out. Repairs commenced in fall 2007, and the church reopened in Spring 2009. The church experienced a notable theft, of its air conditioning units, in April 2022.


References


External links


St. Alphonsus "Rock" Catholic Church homepage


* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Alphonsus Catholic Church, St. Louis 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States Religious organizations established in 1866 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1872 Roman Catholic churches in St. Louis Landmarks of St. Louis Gothic Revival church buildings in Missouri Redemptorist churches in the United States 1866 establishments in Missouri Buildings and structures in St. Louis Tourist attractions in St. Louis African-American Roman Catholic churches