St. Francis de Sales Church (the Oratory of Saint Francis de Sales) is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

Oratory located in south St. Louis, Missouri,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It is the second largest church in the Archdiocese of St. Louis after the cathedral-basilica. The church is popularly known as the "Cathedral of South St. Louis". The historic main church was designed in the

neo-Gothic style 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 ...

. Its

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows were crafted by the St. Louis

glazier A glazier is a tradesman responsible for cutting, installing, and removing glass (and materials used as substitutes for glass, such as some plastics).Elizabeth H. Oakes, ''Ferguson Career Resource Guide to Apprenticeship Programs'' ( Infobase: ...

Emil Frei, Sr. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1978. Since 2005 the church has been operated by the

Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP; la, Institutum Christi Regis Summi Sacerdotis []; french: Institut du Christ Roi Souverain Prêtre []) is a Roman Catholic society of apostolic life of pontifical right in communion with ...

, which practices the Latin liturgy and emphasizes the liturgical arts, with a strong music program.

Beginnings

St. Francis de Sales parish was formed in 1867 to serve a growing German Catholic community,Jonsson, Greg. "Cathedral of south St. Louis undergoes rebirth", ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', April 4, 2010
/ref> whose members, at that time, were attending the church of Saints Peter and Paul in Soulard. The cornerstone was laid on September 15, 1867. During the ceremony a stand collapsed due to vandals having sawed some of the supporting timbers the previous night. No one was seriously injured. Although the church was still under construction, the first Mass was celebrated that Christmas. The building was dedicated the following May, by which time the church had 800 members. It is dedicated in honor of Saint Francis de Sales (d. 1622), bishop and doctor of the Church. The parish developed schools on its campus for Catholic children of elementary and high school levels. Given the majority ethnic German parish, for many years the sermon at Holy Mass was given in German. Classes at the school were also conducted in German."History", St. Francis de Sales Oratory
/ref> In 1903,

Frederick George Holweck Frederick George Holweck (born Friedrich Georg Holweck; 29 December 1856 – 15 February 1927) was a German-American Catholic parish priest and scholar, hagiographer and church historian. Monsignor Holweck contributed some articles to the ''Cat ...

, German-American scholar and church historian, returned as pastor to St. Francis De Sales, where he had earlier served as curate. The original church and a new church building by Engelbert Seibertz, still under construction, were both destroyed by the great St. Louis Tornado of 1896. Holweck was charged with building a new church to meet the needs of the growing parish. The building was completed in 1908.

Architecture

Exterior

Saint Francis de Sales Church was rebuilt in a neo-Gothic style according to the design of Berlin

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Viktor Klutho. While the front portal mirrors the Gothic portal of the Cathedral of Munich, the tower shows the influence of the Cathedral at Ulm.Naffziger, Chris. "A Tour of St. Francis de Sales, South City's Most Iconic Cathedral", ''St. Louis Magazine'', August 19, 2015
/ref> At 300 feet tall, the church, with its main spire, is tied in rank as the sixth-tallest church in the United States. In 1968, St. Francis de Sales was named a significant historic building by the local chapter of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to s ...

. In 1978 it was added to the

Interior

The sanctuary contains a altarpiece featuring a polychrome sculpture 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, Carthagi ...

in its upper register. Side altars are located in two subsidiary apses and dedicated to the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother ...

and

Saint Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers ...

. There are altars as well in honor of Our Mother of Perpetual Help and the

Infant of Prague The Infant Jesus of Prague ( cs, Pražské Jezulátko: es, Niño Jesús de Praga) is a 16th-century wax-coated wooden statue of the Child Jesus holding a '' globus cruciger'' of Spanish origin, now located in the Discalced Carmelite Church of ...

. It is a German “hall church", with side aisles almost as tall as the 70-foot-high nave. The hall church plan permits exceptionally tall windows; the stained glass is the work of the eminent St. Louis glazier Emil Frei, Sr., at that time recently arrived from Munich. German saints include St. Henry, St. Boniface, St. Elizabeth, and the Blessed Herman Joseph Steinfeld. The Winkle Terra Cotta Company of St. Louis produced much of the window tracery. The interior frescoes were painted by German immigrant Fridolin Fuchs in 1916; the rose shade of the ceiling decorations are particularly characteristic of German churches.

Today

Founded in the 1860s to serve the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, ...

community, today Saint Francis de Sales is home to a growing congregation from several backgrounds. The adjacent high school building is leased by a KIPP

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

; the original grade school building provides facilities for the Oratory's community of approximately 100 home-schooled children. The home-school cooperative meets every Wednesday and provides instruction in literature, catechism, the natural sciences, etc. In 2005, the parish was closed and the church was designated as an oratory. At the invitation of Archbishop Raymond Burke, then archbishop of St. Louis, the Oratory has been entrusted to the care of the

, a Roman Catholic priestly community of Pontifical right dedicated to the traditional

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

. The Institute's first rector at Saint Francis de Sales was the Rev. Canon Karl W. Lenhardt. The present rector of the Oratory is the Rev. Canon Benjamin Coggeshall. Unlike a parish, which has geographically determined boundaries, the Oratory does not cover a specified territory; the Oratory has permission to conduct baptisms, weddings and funerals, in addition to Holy Mass and confessions. In accord with the Institute of Christ the King’s emphasis on the solemnity of the sacred liturgy and the beauty of liturgical arts, the Oratory has a highly developed music program, with several choirs specializing in

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe dur ...

and

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, ...

. In the summer of 2009, the Oratory music program organized a course of Gregorian chant for beginners. The Oratory has played host to the St. Louis Chamber Chorus. In November 2008, the church celebrated the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the new building with a

solemn pontifical Mass A Pontifical High Mass, also called Solemn Pontifical Mass, is a Solemn or High Mass celebrated by a bishop using certain prescribed ceremonies. Although in modern English the word "pontifical" is almost exclusively associated with the pope, an ...

celebrated by Bishop Robert J. Hermann, followed by a festive reception featuring traditional German cuisine. The Oratory also announced the beginning of a capital campaign to raise funds for important restoration work. In a 2010 interview with the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', former Rector Canon Michael Wiener said, "St. Francis de Sales is the anchor of this neighborhood, and when we revitalize, the whole neighborhood revitalizes." According to Chris Naffziger of ''St. Louis Magazine'', "...the sense of place and history that St. Francis de Sales gives to the South Side of St. Louis is immeasurable."

Sacred Music & Organ installation

In September 2015, the Choir of Saint Francis de Sales Oratory, under the direction of Mr. Nicholas Botkins released a recording of polyphonic music entitled ''O Lux Beatissima''. The album includes the first commercial recordings of Max Filke's ''Missa in honorem beatae Mariae Virginis'' for choir and orchestra, as well as the premier recording of John Osterhagen's ''Tantum Ergo'', written for and dedicated to the Oratory's Ladies' Schola. A 2019 press release announced the purchase of a Karl Wilhelm Opus 123, a three-manual and pedal, 58-rank freestanding mechanical action organ. Previously installed in a church in Pittsburgh, the organ contains 2,670 pipes in five white oak freestanding cases. The instrument is more than double the size of the Oratory’s existing three-manual and pedal, 22-rank gallery organ from 1924 by the Wicks Organ Company of Highland, Illinois. The Wicks instrument replaced an even smaller two-manual and pedal, 15-rank instrument by J.G. Pfeffer & Sons of St. Louis from 1897. It was rebuilt and enlarged by Gustav Treu in 1909 upon relocation and installation into the current church. This earlier instrument survives today and continues to serve St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church of

Altus, Arkansas Altus is a city in Franklin County, Arkansas, Franklin County, Arkansas, United States. Located within the Arkansas River Valley at the edge of the Ozark Mountains, the city is within the Fort Smith metropolitan area. The epicenter of the Altus AVA ...

, where it was installed in 1925. Like the original instrument by Pfeffer & Sons, the new Wilhelm organ contains entirely mechanical key-and-stop action and is hand built using the most traditional construction techniques so that it can withstand centuries of use. Although the existing Wicks organ is an historic instrument and an important example of the American Romantic movement of organ building from the first quarter of the 20th century, it lacks substantial historical integrity. Several original components, including the console and some important ranks of original pipework, are missing. Even when new, the Wicks organ was inadequate to fill the soaring Gothic Revival church.

Recognition

St. Francis de Sales Oratory won the 'Church Madness 2017' vote for the most beautiful Roman Catholic Church in the United States. It was the first time the building had been entered into the March Madness format internet contest, sponsored by Granda Liturgical Arts. It is listed in the

References

External links

Saint Francis de Sales Oratory

Tradition for Tomorrow (Restoration Campaign)

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