SAINT LOUIS, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - Archdiocese and city in the State of Missouri (U.S.A.). The archdiocese covers an area of 27,092 sq. miles with a total population of 2,133,857 inhabitants and 446,423 Catholics. There are 1001 priests (449 religious from 17 congregations), 278 parishes, 42 female congregations, 2 seminaries, 13 schools, 6 colleges and universities, among which is the flourishing University of St. Louis directed by the Jesuit fathers, 8 orphanages and nurseries, 16 hospitals, 10 homes for the elderly.

The city of St. Louis was founded in 1764 by Pierre Laclède Liguest, a Frenchman from Louisiana. With the Treaty of Paris, Spain took possession of all of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River. Consequently, St. Louis was under the jurisdiction of Santiago de Cuba; there were 2 priests in the territory, a Recollect and a Jesuit. The Capuchin Fathers arrived there in 1772; the first church was opened in 1770.

In the year 1800 Louisiana returned once again to France and three years later was given to the United States. Therefore St. Louis passed successively under the guidance of the apostolic vicariate of Canada (1658-74), of the diocese of Quebec (1674-1759), of Santiago de Cuba (1759-87), Havana (1787-93) and Louisiana and Florida (1793-1826). The part situated east of the Mississippi belonged to the apostolic vicariate of Canada (1658-74), to the apostolic prefecture of the 13 States of the Union (1784-89), to the diocese of Baltimore (1789-1808), and then to that of Bardstown (1808-34).

The founding of the diocese took place on 14 July 1826, by the division of Louisiana between the two new dioceses of New Orleans and St. Louis. The first bishop was Msgr. G. Rosati, an Italian. With the multiplication of ecclesiastical provinces, St. Louis became an archdiocese on 28 July 1847, and in 1849 the dioceses of Dubuque, Nashville, Chicago and Milwaukee were its suffragans. The first archbishop was Msgr. Peter Richard Kenrick. Before 1843 there were only 3 churches in the city and 39 in the entire diocese; at his death there were 58 parishes in St. Louis and 108 outside the city. During his lifetime 16 new episcopal sees were detached from St. Louis: Little Rock (1843), Santa Fe and St. Paul (1850), Leavenworth (1851), Alton and Omaha (1857), Green Bay, La Crosse, St. Joseph, Denver (1868), Kansas City (1880), Davenport (1881), Wichita, Concordia, Cheyenne and Lincoln (1887). Today the province of St. Louis is composed of Kansas City (Mo.); Kansas City (Kans.); St. Joseph, Salina (Kans.); Wichita (Kans.).

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: J. G. Shea, Hist. of the Cath. Church in the U. S., III, New York 1800, pp. 681-96; IV, ibid. 1892, pp. 213-24; S. J. Tanrath, s. v. in Cath. Enc., XIII, p. 337 ff.; Th. Roemer, The Cath. Church in the U. S., St. Louis-London 1930, pp. 167, 208 ff.; The Official cath. directory, New York 1930, pp. 178-89.

Gastone Carriere

@incollection{ec10_san_luigi_saint_louis_arcidioc, author = {Carrière, Gastone}, title = {San Luigi (Saint Louis), arcidiocesi di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {X}, pages = {1786}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/san-luigi-saint-louis-arcidiocesi-di} }

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Saint Louis, Archdiocese of

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