St. Agnes Cathedral is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the List of cities in Missouri, third most populous city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County, Missouri, Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 censu ...

, United States. Along with the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Annunciation in

Cape Girardeau, Missouri Cape Girardeau ( , ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, Cape Girardeau and Scott County, Missouri, Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the ...

it is the seat of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau.

History

St. Agnes Parish

Catholicism was established in Springfield when Archbishop

Peter Richard Kenrick Peter Richard Kenrick (August 17, 1806 – March 4, 1896) was an Irish Catholic priest who served as Bishop of St. Louis from 1843 to 1895. The see was made an archdiocese in 1847, when he was called as the first archbishop west of the Mississi ...

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sent Father Graham to the area in 1866. He celebrated the first Mass in the city on March 6 in the home of William Dailey, and then went on to establish Immaculate Conception Parish. The

Atlantic and Pacific Railroad The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad was an American railroad that owned or operated two individual segments of track. One connected St. Louis, Missouri, with Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the other connected Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Needles in Southe ...

came through Springfield in 1870 and the number of Irish and German immigrants increased the number of Catholics. The railroad tracks also divided the city and crossing them, especially for school children, was considered dangerous. H.A. and L.S. Meyer bought a house south of the tracks at South and Elm Streets. It became St. Agnes Elementary School. The school opened with an enrollment of 35 children and the

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as teachers. As the Catholic population increased on the south side, Bishop

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was petitioned to establish a new parish to serve their needs. St. Agnes Parish was established in 1908. The Rev. Dennis J. O’Driscoll arrived on September 18, and the parish leased the vacant Central Congregational Church for the first year. A new church was dedicated on November 24, 1910, by Bishop Thomas F. Lillis. The school was relocated to the parish property the same year. St. Agnes High School, now Springfield Catholic High School, was established in 1916. The

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windows of Our Lady of the Lillies and Saint Agnes were created by Stanley Uthwatt and Bernard Schahuber in 1921. In 1935, a fire in the basement of the church building destroyed the wood floor and a new concrete floor was installed. A new high school building was constructed in 1938. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the old high school building was used as a U.S.O. Center. After the war, it was used as a parish recreation center before it was torn down. The Solemn High Mass of Christmas in 1954 from St. Agnes was the first televised religious service from a church on Springfield.

St. Agnes Cathedral

In 1956,

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

established the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau. St. Agnes was chosen as the new diocesan cathedral and St. Mary of the Annunciation in Cape Girardeau was chosen as the co-cathedral. St. Louis

Auxiliary Bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

Charles Herman Helmsing was chosen as the diocese's first bishop, and he was installed in St. Agnes Cathedral on November 28. The present elementary school building was constructed in 1958. St. Agnes Chapel was added to the cathedral in 1986 when the church building underwent a major renovation. The same year, the old elementary building was torn down.

Pastors/Rectors

The following priests have served St. Agnes Parish as Pastor and as Cathedral Rector after 1956: *Rev. Dennis J. O’Driscoll (1908) *Rev. John M. Sheridan (1908–1921) *Rev. Patrick J. Downey (1921–1922) *Rev. L. Curtis Tiernan (1922–1928) *Rev. Robert F. Hayes (1928) *Rev. Rev. Frank D. McCardle (1928–1931) *Rev. Charles A. Dibbins (1931–1935) *Rev. James J. Hally (1935–1937) *Rev. Paul D. Dunn (1937–1944) *Msgr. Valentine A. Schroeger (1944–1966) *Msgr. John H. Westhues (1966–1978) *Msgr. Sylvester H. Bauer (1978–1981) *Msgr. Thomas E. Reidy (1981–1992) *Rev. Thomas P. Kiefer (1992–2003) *Rev. Mike McDevitt (2003–2014) *Rev. Lewis Hejna (2014–present)

References

External links