The Archdiocese of St. Louis () is a

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the

Catholic Church 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 ...

in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of November 2024, the archdiocese is led by Archbishop Mitchell Thomas Rozanski, formerly the Bishop of Springfield in Massachusetts. The archdiocesan cathedral is the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis in St. Louis.

Structure

The Archdiocese of St. Louis covers the City of St. Louis and the

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

counties of Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, Perry, Saint Charles, Saint Francois, Ste. Genevieve, St. Louis, Warren, and Washington. It is the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province containing three suffragan sees: * Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau in southern Missouri * Diocese of Jefferson City in northeastern Missouri * Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph in western Missouri

History

1600 to 1800

The first Catholic presence in present-day Missouri was that of the Jesuit missionary Reverend

Jacques Marquette Jacques Marquette, Society of Jesus, S.J. (; June 1, 1637 – May 18, 1675), sometimes known as Père Marquette or James Marquette, was a French Society of Jesus, Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. M ...

in 1673, who stopped in Perry County while voyaging down the Mississippi River. In 1759, French-Canadian settlers established St. Genevieve, the first parish in the archdiocese, in

Ste. Genevieve, Missouri Ste. Genevieve ( ) is a city in Ste. Genevieve Township and is the county seat of Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri, United States. The population was 4,999 at the 2020 census. Founded in 1735 by French Canadian colonists and settlers from east ...

. During this period, the Catholics in the region were under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of San Cristobal de la Habana, based in

Havana, Cuba Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. With the end of the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

in 1763, Spain took control of the French territories west of the Mississippi River. In 1793, after the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

Pope Pius VI Pope Pius VI (; born Count Angelo Onofrio Melchiorre Natale Giovanni Antonio called Giovanni Angelo or Giannangelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to hi ...

erected the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas, based in New Orleans. It encompassed all the Spanish territories on the continent, including the Missouri area. Due to politics in Europe, the new diocese did not receive a bishop until 1815.Points, Marie Louise. "New Orleans." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. November 19, 2017

1800 to 1826

In 1803, with the signing of the

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase () was the acquisition of the Louisiana (New France), territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River#Watershed, Mississipp ...

, the United States took control from France of a vast area of the continent, including Missouri.

Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII (; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823) was head of the Catholic Church from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. He ruled the Papal States from June 1800 to 17 May 1809 and again ...

in 1815 named Reverend Louis Dubourg from the Diocese of Baltimore as the first bishop of Louisiana and the Two Floridas. olan, Timothy Michael. Archdiocese of St. Louis: Three Centuries of Catholicism, 1700-2000. Strasbourg, France: Editions Du Signe, 2001. Print./ref> Due to concerns about his personal safety in New Orleans, Dubourg chose the City of St. Louis as his

episcopal see An episcopal see is the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, making it synonymous with ''diocese'' ...

. He founded St.Louis Parish, the first parish in the city. Wanting to train American priests for his vast diocese, DuBourg established St. Mary's of the Barrens Seminary in Perryville in 1818, placing it under the charge of the Lazarist fathers. In August 1818, he recruited Sister Rose Philippine Duchesne from the

Society of the Sacred Heart The Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (; ), abbreviated RSCJ, is a Catholic centralized religious institute of consecrated life of pontifical right for women established in France by Madeleine Sophie Barat in 1800. History Madeleine Soph ...

in France, to open girls schools in the diocese. Duchesne founded the Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Charles, the first free school west of the Mississippi River, along with another girls school in Florissant. DuBourg also invited the Sisters of Loretto to establish a school for girls. In 1818, DuBourg founded the Saint Louis Academy, later known as Saint Louis College, to educate Catholic laymen. In 1823, at DuBourg's invitation, the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

sent several Belgian priests to Florissant, where they began ministering to Native American converts. In 1824,

Pope Leo XII Pope Leo XII (; born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiorre Girolamo Nicola della Genga; 2 August 1760 – 10 February 1829) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 28 September 1823 to his death in February 1829. ...

appointed Bishop Joseph Rosati as coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas. After Rosati's appointment, Dubourg moved his episcopal see back to New Orleans, leaving Rosati in control of St. Louis.

1826 to 1847

On July 18, 1826, Pope Leo XII divided the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas. One of the new dioceses was the Diocese of St. Louis, which included Missouri along with vast areas of the

American Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern c ...

and

Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

. Because of its size, the diocese was often referred to as the Rome of the West. Leo XII named Rosati as the first bishop of St. Louis. In 1827, Rosati transferred Saint Louis College to the Jesuits. They converted the lower division of the college into St. Louis University High School. The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul opened Mullanphy Hospital in St. Louis in 1828. The Jesuits established Saint Louis College as

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Missi ...

in 1829. Rosati dedicated the Cathedral of St. Louis in 1834, making it the first Catholic cathedral west of the Mississippi River.Shea, John Gilmary. ''The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the United States'', (New York: The Office of Catholic Publications, 1886), pp. 162–163 As Catholic communities started increasing outside of St. Louis, the Vatican erected new dioceses from the Diocese of St. Louis. In 1837,

Pope Gregory XVI Pope Gregory XVI (; ; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in June 1846. He had adopted the name Mauro upon enteri ...

erected the Diocese of Dubuque, covering the present-day states of Iowa, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. The same pope appointed Reverend Peter Kenrick as

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

in St. Louis to assist Rosati in 1841. When Kenrick became coadjutor bishop, the diocese was heavily in debt due to the $90,000 cost of the new cathedral. With Rosati's assistance, the diocese received financial aid from Catholic organizations in Europe. Kenrick's brother

Francis Kenrick Francis Patrick Kenrick (December 3, 1796 or 1797 – July 8, 1863) was an Irish-born Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Philadelphia (1842–1851) and Archbishop of Baltimore (1851–1863). Kenrick grew up in Ireland, where he received ...

, bishop of the Diocese of Philadelphia, also provided the diocese with assistance. In early 1843, the Vatican took more territory from St. Louis to found the Diocese of Little Rock in Arkansas and the Diocese of Chicago in Illinois. After Rosati died in Rome in late 1843, Kenrick automatically succeeded him as bishop of St. Louis. After receiving a $300,000 bequest, Kenrick was able to stabilize the diocesan finances through some shrewd real estate dealings. He took many trips by horseback throughout the diocese, reaching Catholics who did not have priests serving their communities. In St. Louis, Kenrick instructed the cathedral priests to celebrate masses in English instead of French, as most of the congregation was now English-speaking.

1847 to 1900

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

elevated the Diocese of St. Louis to the Archdiocese of St. Louis on July 20, 1847, naming Kenrick as its first archbishop. By 1850, the archdiocese was operating ten parishes in the City of St. Louis. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, Kenrick maintained a neutral position in a strongly divided Missouri. After the war, he urged his priests to refuse to take the ironclad oath to the United States Government. The oath was a tactic promoted by Republicans to block former officials of the Confederacy from holding influential positions in society. Reverend John A. Cummings challenged the legality of the oath in a case that reached the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

. It later ruled that the government could not force individuals to take the oath. In May 1893,

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

appointed Bishop John Kain from the Diocese of Wheeling as coadjutor archbishop to assist Kenrick. When Kenrick died in June 1895, Kain automatically succeeded him as archbishop. During his tenure as archbishop, Kain purchased property in St. Louis for a new cathedral. However, a tornado in the archdiocese depleted its funds, delaying the start of its construction.

1900 to 1950

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X (; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing Modernism in the Catholic Church, modern ...

named Coadjutor Bishop John J. Glennon from the Diocese of Kansas City to serve as coadjutor archbishop of St. Louis in 1903 to assist the ailing Kain. When Kain died in October 1903, Glennon automatically succeeded him as archbishop. He opened the new Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis in 1915, followed by the

minor seminary A minor seminary or high school seminary is a secondary day or boarding school created for the specific purpose of enrolling teenage boys who have expressed interest in becoming Priesthood (Catholic Church), Catholic priests. They are generally ...

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

. Also in 1915, the Sisters of Loretto opened Webster College in Webster Groves. It is today

Webster University Webster University is a private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, Missouri, United States. It has multiple branch locations across the United States and countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. The university has an alumni net ...

. The Sisters of St. Joseph established Fontbonne College in 1923 in Clayton. Now Fontbonne University, it announced that it was closing in mid-2025. During the early 1940s, many local Jesuit priests challenged the

segregationist Racial segregation is the separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, such as schools and hospitals by peopl ...

policies at the St. Louis Catholic schools. In 1943, Glennon blocked a young African-American woman from enrolling at Webster College. When some priests confronted Glennon about this, he called the integration plan a "Jesuit ploy". He transferred one of the complaining priests from an African-American parish. Saint Louis University began admitting African American students in the summer of 1943 after its president, Reverend Patrick Holloran, gained Glennon's approval. Glennon died in 1946.

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 ...

appointed Archbishop Joseph Ritter of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis as the fourth archbishop of St. Louis in 1946. The archdiocese grew quickly during the

post-World War II The aftermath of World War II saw the rise of two global superpowers, the United States (U.S.) and the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.). The aftermath of World War II was also defined by the rising threat of nuclear warfare, the creation and implementati ...

economic boom. Ritter opened an average of three parishes per year in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County. He raised more than $125,000,000 () to build 60 new parishes and 16 high schools. As one of his first acts as archbishop, Ritter announced that Webster College would now accept African-American students. In 1947, Ritter also allowed the senior class of St. Joseph's High School, then the city's only African-American Catholic high school, to celebrate graduation for the first time at the cathedral, alongside white students. On August 9, 1947, Ritter announced an end to

racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...

in the archdiocesan high schools. He declared, "The cross on top of our schools must mean something," and expressed his belief in "the equality of every soul before Almighty God". The Catholic Parents Association of Saint Louis and Saint Louis County, a group of white parents, threatened to sue Ritter, stating that his desegregation order violated Missouri state law. Ritter then issued a

pastoral letter A pastoral letter, often simply called a pastoral, is an open letter addressed by a bishop to the clergy or laity of a diocese or to both, containing general admonition, instruction or consolation, or directions for behaviour in particular circu ...

, warning about possible

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in Koinonia, communion with other members o ...

for Catholics "interfering with ecclesiastical office authority by having recourse to authority outside of the church". Ritter later ordered all the parish schools to "accept all children into parish schools without regard to race". Ritter also desegregated all Catholic hospitals in the archdiocese. Ritter started fundraising for the Cardinal Glennon Memorial Hospital for Children in St. Louis in 1949. Ritter also developed what is now known as the Annual Catholic Appeal, which remains a primary source of financial support for many archdiocesan educational and charitable activities.

1950 to 1980

In 1950, Ritter created 31 classrooms for special needs students in archdiocesan schools and two group homes. In 1956, he established a mission in

La Paz, Bolivia La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz ( Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the third-most populous city in Bolivia. Its metropolitan area ...

, one of the first foreign missions sponsored by an American diocese. Until that time,

religious institute In the Catholic Church, a religious institute is "a society in which members, according to proper law, pronounce public religious vows, vows, either perpetual or temporary which are to be renewed, however, when the period of time has elapsed, a ...

s or societies of apostolic life had run most foreign missions. Parishioners in the archdiocese regularly contributed more money to foreign missions than any other comparable archdiocese. In 1964, following reforms of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

, Ritter celebrated the world's first authorized mass in English at

Kiel Auditorium Kiel Auditorium was an indoor arena located in St. Louis, Missouri. It was the home of the Saint Louis University basketball team, and hosted the NBA's St. Louis Hawks from 1955 to 1968. From 1913 to 1930, the site was home to Charles H. Tu ...

in St. Louis. Ritter died in 1967. On February 14, 1968,

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

named Bishop John Carberry of the Diocese of Columbus as the fifth archbishop of St. Louis. In 1969, Carberry removed 60 seminarians from a class at the

Divinity School because a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

scholar was teaching a segment on Pauls' epistles. In 1971, Carberry closed McBride High school in North St. Louis, a largely black area. He was criticized for closing the school while subsidizing a swimming pool at John F. Kennedy High School in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, a wealthy white suburb. Carberry moved his own residence from the episcopal residence in St. Louis to suburban Creve Coeur. In 1972, he established the Urban Services Apostolate for inner-city parishes. Carberry initially opposed the reception of communion by hand, another Second Vatican Council reform. He believed that it was irreverent and risked the possibility of recipients stealing hosts to use at black masses. However, he finally permitted this practice in 1977. That same year, he ordained the first

permanent deacons A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Catholi ...

in the archdiocese. Carberry retired in 1979.

1980 to 1990

On January 24, 1980, Bishop; John L. May from the Diocese of Mobile was appointed the sixth archbishop of St. Louis by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

. During his 12-year tenure, May encouraged an active dialogue between Christians of all denominations. He ordained Reverend J. Terry Steib as the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

auxiliary bishop in the archdiocese. May also appointed the archdiocese's first

chief financial officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

and the first woman to serve as superintendent of Catholic schools. He started a self-insurance program in the archdiocese and improved the retirement program for lay employees. An advocate for the poor and homeless, May greatly expanded the programs of Catholic Charities, and initiated a program for pregnant women. Due to a decline in the number of seminarians, May was forced to consolidate the archdiocesan seminary system. In 1987, he merged Cardinal Glennon College and Kenrick Seminary to form Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in Shrewsbury.

1990 to 2000

In 1990, with Sister Mary Ann Eckhoff and businessman Robert A. Brooks, May co-founded the Today and Tomorrow Educational Foundation. Due to health reasons, May retired in 1992. In 1994, John Paul II named Bishop Justin Rigali from the

Roman Curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...

as the seventh archbishop of St. Louis. During his tenure at

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, Rigali visited every Catholic high school in the archdiocese. However, Rigali opposed

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and labour rights, rights for ...

by teachers and their efforts to unionize. Rigali was widely credited as an able administrator and effective fundraiser, although observers said that his popularity dimmed as his tenure continued. In January 1999, Rigali hosted the visit of John Paul II to St. Louis. The pope reportedly decided to visit the archdiocese because of his longtime close friendship with Rigali in Rome. According to a '' St. Louis Business Journal'' in 2000, Rigali;

"...brought financial stability to the St. Louis Archdiocese, overseeing successful capital campaigns to address immediate needs and raising endowment funds for the future."

2000 to 2010

In 2003, Rigali was appointed archbishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. To replace him, John Paul II that same year named Bishop Raymond Burke from the Diocese of La Crosse as the next archbishop of St. Louis. Burke invited the

Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, , abbreviated as ICKSP and ICRSS, is a society of apostolic life of pontifical right in communion with the Holy See of the Catholic Church. The institute has the stated goal of honouring God and ...

(ICKSP), a traditionalist Catholic order, into the archdiocese. He ordained two ICKSP priests in 2007, marking the first use in 40 years of the Tridentine rite of ordination in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis."First ordinations in the United States"
, ''institute-christ-king.org'' newsletter, p. 2, July 2007. During his tenure, Burke escalated a long-running dispute over the closing of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in St. Louis. In 2005, its pastor, Reverend Marek Bozek, led a Christmas Eve mass at the church, despite the archdiocese having closed it. Burke then "declare that the church was in 'schism'", and excommunicated Bozek and the church lay board. The church then broke away from the archdiocese and sued it for ownership of its assets. In 2012, a court awarded the assets to St. Stanislaus. In 2006, when voters approved an amendment to the Missouri State Constitution permitting

embryonic stem cell Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are Cell potency#Pluripotency, pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst, an early-stage pre-Implantation (human embryo), implantation embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4� ...

research, Burke said it meant that "our tiniest brothers and sisters ... will be made legally the subjects, the slaves, of those who wish to manipulate and destroy their lives for the sake of supposed scientific and technological progress." In 2008, the Vatican named Burke as prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the

Apostolic Signatura The Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura () is the highest judicial authority in the Catholic Church (apart from the pope himself, who as supreme ecclesiastical judge is the final point of appeal on any ecclesiastical matter). In addition, ...

in Rome.

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

named Bishop Robert Carlson from the Diocese of Saginaw as the ninth archbishop of St. Louis on April 21, 2009.

2010 to present

In 2014, after trying to reconcile with the St. Stanislaus Kostka board and parishioners, Carlson surrendered its property claims to the church. As part of the agreement, the church administration agreed not to claim any affiliation with the Catholic Church.In response to the 2018 grand jury report concerning clerical sexual abuse in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, Carlson invited the

Missouri attorney general The Office of the Missouri Attorney General was created in 1806 when Missouri was part of the Louisiana Territory. Missouri's first Constitution in 1820 provided for an appointed attorney general, but since the 1865 Constitution, the Attorney Ge ...

's office to inspect the archdiocesan files and to produce a report on clerical abuse in Missouri. Carlson retired in 2020. To replace Carlson, Pope Francis named Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski from Springfield in Massachusetts as the next archbishop of St. Louis. In 2022, the archdiocese ended its participation in the National School Lunch Program, established in 1946 to provide lunch to poor students, stating that it did not want to comply with regulations under the Civil Rights Act. The archdiocese stated that it would start its own free lunch program. In May 2023, Rozanski announced All Things New, a plan to reduce the number of parishes in the archdiocese from 178 to 134 with closures and mergers. Seven parishes filed appeals of the closures in August 2023 with the Dicastery for the Clergy in Rome, which decided to accept appeals from two parishes. The Dicastery in June 2024 rejected the two appeals. Rozanski noted;

"The church experience in our parishes today is not the same as it was 50 years ago, yet we are still functioning in many ways out of the same mode of evangelization with the same structures. We have inherited a great treasure of Catholic institutions from previous generations, but many of them are no longer as effective or sustainable as they once were.”

In June 2024, the archdiocese released its report "Slavery in the Historic Archdiocese of St. Louis". It identified 70

enslaved people Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

who had been owned by Bishop Dubourg, Bishop Rosati and diocesan clergy prior to the end of the American Civil War.

Sexual abuse

In 2004, the Archdiocese of St. Louis paid $1.7 million to settle sexual abuse claims.In 2018, Archbishop Carlson testified in court that he was unsure whether he knew in the 1980s that sexual assault of a minor was a crime. He also stated that he did not know when he realized that fact. In July 2019, the archdiocese released the names of 64 clergy who were credibly accused of committing acts of sexual abuse. On August 16, 2019, the "sexually violent priest" Reverend Frederick Lenczycki, who had served prison time in Illinois between 2004 and 2009 for acts of sexual abuse, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a boy in St. Louis County. In 2019, the

Missouri Attorney General The Office of the Missouri Attorney General was created in 1806 when Missouri was part of the Louisiana Territory. Missouri's first Constitution in 1820 provided for an appointed attorney general, but since the 1865 Constitution, the Attorney Ge ...

identified over 160 instances of archdiocesan priests and deacons sexually abusing minors. In June 2023, the archdiocese agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit by a man who alleged he was raped when an altar boy from fourth through sixth grade by a since-defrocked priest who has been required to register as a sex offender. In July 2024, 25 former attendees of archdiocesan churches and schools sued the archdiocese, stating that its leadership knew about rampant incidents of sexual abuse. One former altar boy says he was sexually abused between 2008 and 2011 by Reverend William Vatterott, who was later convicted of possession of

child pornography Child pornography (also abbreviated as CP, also called child porn or kiddie porn, and child sexual abuse material, known by the acronym CSAM (underscoring that children can not be deemed willing participants under law)), is Eroticism, erotic ma ...

. Another plaintiff says he was caught wearing red socks, which were prohibited at Catholic summer camp, and was sent to a priest for discipline. The priest abused the child, then told him he would "burn in hell for all eternity" unless he kept the abuse secret. A woman said that in 1999, when she was age nine, she was abused by Reverend James Grady and a nun called "Sister Annette".

Cathedral of Saint Louis

The Cathedral of Saint Louis was dedicated to King

Louis IX Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), also known as Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death in 1270. He is widely recognized as the most distinguished of the Direct Capetians. Following the death of his father, Louis ...

of France. Its co-patrons are Reverend

Vincent de Paul Vincent de Paul, CM (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660), commonly known as Saint Vincent de Paul, was an Occitan French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor. In 1622, Vincent was appointed as chaplain to the galleys. ...

and Sister Rose Philippine Duchesne. The cathedral contains the largest collection of mosaics in the world. It was dedicated in 1926 on the 100th anniversary of the establishment of St. Louis as a diocese. Archbishop Glennon started its construction and Archbishop May completed it. The cathedral mosaics took 60 years for completion. The Vatican designated the Cathedral of St. Louis as a basilica in 1997 on the 150th anniversary of the archdiocese.

Bishops

The following is a list of the archbishops, bishops, coadjutor bishop and auxiliary bishops of the diocese and archdiocese.

Bishop of Louisiana and the Floridas

Louis-Guillaume-Valentin Dubourg (1812–1826), appointed Bishop of Montauban and later Archbishop of Besançon

Bishops of St. Louis

# Joseph Rosati, C.M. (1827–1843)
- John Timon (Appointed Coadjutor Bishop in 1839, but did not take effect); appointed Prefect Apostolic of the Republic of Texas in 1840 and later Bishop of Buffalo # Peter Richard Kenrick (1843–1847); Elevated to Archbishop

Archbishops of St. Louis

# Peter Richard Kenrick (1847–1895) # John Joseph Kain (1895–1903) # Cardinal John J. Glennon (1903–1946) # Cardinal Joseph Ritter (1946–1967) # Cardinal John Joseph Carberry (1968–1979) # John L. May (1980–1992) # Justin Francis Rigali (1994–2003), appointed Archbishop of Philadelphia (

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

in 2003) # Raymond Leo Burke (2004–2008), appointed

Prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...

of the

and later Patron of the

Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic Church, Cathol ...

(

in 2010) #

Robert James Carlson Robert James Carlson (born June 30, 1944) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the ninth archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis in Missouri from 2009 to 2020. Carlson previously served as an auxiliar ...

(2009–2020) # Mitchell T. Rozanski (2020–present)

Auxiliary Bishops

* Christian Herman Winkelmann (1933–1939), appointed Bishop of Wichita * George Joseph Donnelly (1940–1946), appointed Bishop of Leavenworth * John Patrick Cody (1947–1954), appointed Coadjutor Bishop and Bishop of Kansas City-Saint Joseph and later Coadjutor Archbishop and Archbishop of New Orleans and Archbishop of Chicago (

in 1967) * Charles Herman Helmsing (1949–1956), appointed Bishop of Kansas City-Saint Joseph * Leo Christopher Byrne (1954–1961), appointed Coadjutor Bishop and Bishop of Wichita and later Coadjutor Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis * Glennon Patrick Flavin (1957–1967), appointed

Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of Nort ...

* George Joseph Gottwald (1961–1988) * Joseph Alphonse McNicholas (1969–1975), appointed Bishop of Springfield in Illinois * Charles Roman Koester (1971–1991) * Edward Thomas O'Meara (1972–1979), appointed Archbishop of Indianapolis * John Nicholas Wurm (1976–1981), appointed Bishop of Belleville * Edward Joseph O'Donnell (1983–1994), appointed Bishop of Lafayette * James Terry Steib (1983–1993), appointed Bishop of Memphis * Paul Albert Zipfel (1989–1996), appointed Bishop of Bismarck * Edward Kenneth Braxton (1995–2001), appointed Bishop of Lake Charles and later Bishop of Belleville *

Michael John Sheridan Michael John Sheridan (March 4, 1945 – September 27, 2022) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Colorado Springs in Colorado from 2003 to 2021. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop for ...

(1997–2001), appointed Bishop of Colorado Springs *

Joseph Fred Naumann Joseph Fred Naumann (born June 4, 1949) is an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Kansas City in Kansas from 2004 to 2025. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of St. Louis from 1997 to 2004. Biogr ...

(1997–2004), appointed Archbishop of Kansas City in Kansas * Timothy Michael Dolan (2001–2002), appointed

Archbishop of Milwaukee The Archdiocese of Milwaukee () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church in southeast Wisconsin in the United States. The Archdiocese of Milwaukee is the Metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metropolitan s ...

and later Archbishop of New York (

in 2012) * Robert Joseph Hermann (2002–2010) * Edward Matthew Rice (2010–2016), appointed Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau * Mark Steven Rivituso (2017–present)

Other archdiocesan priests who became bishops

* Michael Portier, appointed Vicar Apostolic of Alabama and the Floridas in 1825 and later Bishop of Mobile * Patrick A. Feehan, appointed Bishop of Nashville in 1865 and later Bishop and Archbishop of Chicago * John Hennessy, appointed Bishop (in 1866) and later Archbishop of Dubuque * John Joseph Hogan, appointed Bishop of Saint Joseph in 1868 and later Bishop of Kansas City * Joseph Melcher, appointed Bishop of Green Bay in 1868 (1853 appointment as Bishop of Quincy did not take effect) * John Joseph Hennessy, appointed Bishop of Wichita in 1868 * John Henry Tihen (priest here, 1886–1888), appointed

in 1911 and later Bishop of Denver in 1917 * Christopher Edward Byrne, appointed Bishop of Galveston in 1918 * Mark Kenny Carroll, appointed Bishop of Wichita in 1947 * Marion Francis Forst, appointed Bishop of Dodge City in 1960 and later Auxiliary Bishop of Kansas City in Kansas * Andrés Bernardo (Andrew Bernard) Schierhoff, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of La Paz in 1968 and later Prelate of Pando * Luis Morgan Casey, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of La Paz in 1983 and later Apostolic Vicar of Pando * John Joseph Leibrecht, appointed Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau in 1984 * John R. Gaydos, appointed Bishop of Jefferson City in 1997 * George Joseph Lucas, appointed Bishop of Springfield in Illinois in 1999 and later Archbishop of Omaha * Robert William Finn, appointed Coadjutor Bishop in 2004 and later Bishop of Kansas City-Saint Joseph * Richard Frank Stika, appointed Bishop of Knoxville in 2009

Churches

Education

The Archdiocese of St. Louis contains 97 primary schools and 25 high schools, with a total enrollment as of 2023 of 30,741.

High schools

Co-educational schools

* Bishop DuBourg High School – St. Louis *

Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in St. Louis, Missouri. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis. Background Cardinal Ritter Prep opened on September 6, 1979. It is name ...

– St. Louis * Duchesne High School – St. Charles * Valle Catholic High School – Sainte Genevieve * St. Dominic High School – O'Fallon * St. Francis Borgia Regional High School – Washington * St. Pius X High School – Festus * St. Vincent de Paul High School – Perryville

All-boys schools

* Chaminade College Preparatory School – Creve Coeur *

Christian Brothers College High School Christian Brothers College High School (CBC High School) is a Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, Lasallian Catholic Church, Catholic University-preparatory school, college preparatory school for young men in Town and Country, M ...

– Town & Country *

De Smet Jesuit High School De Smet Jesuit High School is a Catholic college preparatory high school for boys in Creve Coeur, Missouri, in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis. The school began classes in the fall of 1967. It was named in honor of the Belgian Je ...

– Creve Coeur * St. John Vianney High School – Kirkwood * St. Louis Priory School – Creve Coeur * St. Louis University High School – St. Louis * St. Mary's High School – St. Louis

All-girls schools

* Cor Jesu Academy – Affton * Incarnate Word Academy – Bel-Nor * Nerinx Hall High School – Webster Groves * Notre Dame High School – Lemay * Rosati-Kain High School – St. Louis * St. Joseph's Academy – Frontenac * Ursuline Academy – Oakland * Villa Duchesne – Frontenac * Visitation Academy – Town and Country

= Closed schools

= * Barat Academy – Chesterfield (closed in 2023) * John F. Kennedy Catholic High School – Manchester (closed in 2017) * St. Elizabeth Academy – St. Louis (closed in 2013) * Trinity Catholic High School – North County (closed in 2021)

Cemeteries

The Catholic Cemeteries ministry operates 17 cemeteries in the Archdiocese of St. Louis : * Ascension – Washington *

Calvary Calvary ( or ) or Golgotha () was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, Jesus was crucified. Since at least the early medieval period, it has been a destination for pilgrimage. ...

– St. Louis * Holy Cross – Ballwin * Mt. Olive – St. Louis * Our Lady – St. Louis * Queen of Peace – Meramec * Resurrection – St. Louis * Sacred Heart – Florissant * Ss. Paul and Peter – St. Louis * St. Charles Borromeo – St. Charles * St. Ferdinand – Florissant * St. Joseph – Glencoe * St. Mary – Hazelwood * St. Monica – Creve Coeur * St. Peter – Kirkwood * St. Philippine – St. Charles * St. Vincent – Fenton

Suffragan sees

* Diocese of Jefferson City * Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph * Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau

References

Sources

* * * * * *

External links

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis Official SiteArchives sectionStory of John Paul II's 1999 visit''St. Louis Review''
the weekly newspaper of the archdiocese
''Rome of the West''
features photography of churches in the Archdiocese *Eastern rites in the Archdiocese: *
Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon (Maronite)
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The Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma
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Saint Nicholas Eparchy for Ukrainian Catholics
{{Authority control Saint Louis Christianity in St. Louis Religious organizations established in 1826 Culture of Greater St. Louis Saint Louis 1826 establishments in Missouri