Saint Louis (S. Luigi), Archdiocese of
Archdiocese and city in the State of Missouri (U.S.A.). The archdiocese covers an area of 27,092 square miles with a total population of 2,133,857 inhabitants and 446,423 Catholics. There are 1,001 priests (449 religious from 17 congregations), 278 parishes, 42 female congregations, 2 seminaries, 13 colleges, 6 colleges and universities, including the flourishing Saint Louis University run by the Jesuit Fathers, 8 orphanages and asylums, 16 hospitals, and 10 homes for the elderly.
The city of Saint Louis was founded in 1764 by Pierre Liguest Laclède, a Frenchman from Louisiana. By the Treaty of Paris, Spain took possession of all Louisiana west of the Mississippi River. As a result, Saint 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 in 1772; the first church was opened in 1770.
In the year 1800, Louisiana returned to France and three years later was given to the United States. Therefore, Saint Louis successively came under the guidance of the Apostolic Vicariate of Canada (1658-74), the Diocese of Quebec (1674-1759), Santiago de Cuba (1759-87), Havana (1787-93), and Louisiana and Florida (1793-1826). The part located east of the Mississippi belonged to the Apostolic Vicariate of Canada (1658-74), the Apostolic Prefecture of the 13 States of the Union (1784-89), the Diocese of Baltimore (1789-1808), and then to Bardstown (1808-34).
The diocese was established on July 14, 1826, by dividing Louisiana between the two new dioceses of New Orleans and Saint Louis. The first bishop was Msgr. G. Rosati, an Italian. With the multiplication of ecclesiastical provinces, Saint Louis became an archdiocese on July 28, 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 Saint Louis and 108 outside the city. During his lifetime, 16 new episcopal sees were carved out of Saint Louis: Little Rock (1843), Santa Fe and Saint Paul (1850), Leavenworth (1851), Alton and Omaha (1857), Green Bay, La Crosse, Saint Joseph, Denver (1868), Kansas City (1880), Davenport (1881), Wichita, Concordia, Cheyenne, and Lincoln (1887). Today the province of Saint Louis is composed of Kansas City (Mo.), Kansas City (Kans.), Saint Joseph, Salina (Kans.), Wichita (Kans.).