St. Agnes Cathedral is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

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

Cape Girardeau, Missouri Cape Girardeau ( , french: Cap-Girardeau ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 census, the population was 39,540. The city is one of two principal citie ...

it is the seat of the

Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

History

St. Agnes Parish

Catholicism was established in Springfield when 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, 180 ...

St. Louis 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 ...

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 a U.S. railroad that owned or operated two disjointed segments, one connecting St. Louis, Missouri with Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the other connecting Albuquerque, New Mexico with Needles in Southern Californi ...

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

Sisters of Loretto The Sisters of Loretto or the Loretto Community is a Catholic religious institute that strives "to bring the healing Spirit of God into our world." Founded in the United States in 1812 and based in the rural community of Nerinx, Kentucky, the ...

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

John Joseph Hogan Bishop John Joseph Hogan (May 10, 1829 – February 21, 1913) was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first Bishop of the Diocese of Saint Joseph in Missouri (1868 to 1880) and the first bishop of the Diocese o ...

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

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

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 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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, 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 ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

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

Charles Herman Helmsing Charles Herman Helmsing (March 23, 1908 – December 20, 1993) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph in Missouri (1962–1977). Biography Early life Helmsing wa ...

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