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Pierre Laclède Liguest and Auguste Chouteau established St. Louis, naming it for King Louis IX — saint, crusader, and model Christian monarch.

The Cathedral Block, designated in the original town plan, quickly became the heart of civic and spiritual life.

Bishop Louis William Valentine DuBourg sets his episcopal seat in St. Louis. He brought priests and religious sisters to create a cathedral, schools, and missions to Native peoples. He sent St. Rose Philippine Duchesne and the Religious of the Sacred Heart to St. Charles and Florissant, where they opened the first free school for girls west of the Mississippi.

Bishop DuBourg donated his personal library and secured Madame Eugunie Alvarez’s home for a new college, appointing Rev. Francois Niel as headmaster. Saint Louis Academy opened on November 16, 1818, becoming the first college west of the Mississippi River and marking the start of the archdiocese’s long role in education.

Francis Niel, ordained March 19, 1818. The first priest ordained in St. Louis

Bishop DuBourg needed priests to support the spiritual growth of his large diocese. Under his direction, the Vincentians founded St. Mary of the Barrens Seminary in October 1818, the first seminary west of the Mississippi. To this day, priestly formation remains a vital mission of the diocese.

When Pope Leo XII created the Diocese of St. Louis, he entrusted Bishop Joseph Rosati with a mission territory stretching from the Louisiana border to the Rocky Mountains. Rosati sent missionaries deep into the American West, laying the foundation for more than twenty dioceses to follow.

On July 20, 1847, St. Louis became the first archdiocese in the Mississippi Valley. Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick, the “Lion of St. Louis,” led the Church through immigration, epidemics, anti-Catholic riots, and major growth. From St. Louis, the Church expanded, establishing more than forty dioceses across the Midwest and Plains.

On June 29, 1926, the Diocese of St. Louis marked its centennial with the solemn dedication of the Cathedral Basilica. Pope Pius XI later called it “the most beautiful church in the new world.” More than 100,000 faithful lined Lindell Boulevard as the Blessed Sacrament was carried in procession, celebrating a century of faith and promise.

Neighborhood parishes shaped Catholic identity in the city, building schools, spiritual centers, and cultural homes for immigrant communities from Germany, Ireland, Poland, Bohemia, and Italy. Priests and sisters carried out works of mercy:

• Father Peter Dunne aided “street children.”
• Father Tim Dempsey founded residences for the homeless.
• Catholic Charities expanded orphanages, shelters, and hospitals.

Confronting a past of enslaved labor, Archbishop Joseph Ritter, in one of his first acts after arriving in St. Louis, ordered the racial integration of Catholic schools. He acted eight years before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education. When segregationist opponents threatened lawsuits, Ritter declared they would incur automatic excommunication. His decisive action made St. Louis a model of Catholic commitment to justice.

With the postwar baby boom and suburban growth, Archbishop Ritter established three parishes per year. He expanded high schools, built Duchesne in St. Charles, and opened Cardinal Glennon Memorial Children’s Hospital in 1956, the only hospital in the U.S. operated by an archdiocese.

To support the spiritual needs of Latino Catholics in St. Louis and in Central and South America, Archbishop Ritter established a mission to Bolivia in 1956. It was the first mission of its kind by any U.S. diocese. In the Archdiocese of La Paz, archdiocesan priests served rural and impoverished communities for the next 64 years.

On January 26, 1999, Pope John Paul II visited St. Louis and celebrated Mass at the Trans World Dome before more than 100,000 faithful. His call to “be witnesses to hope” became a touchstone for the new millennium in the “Rome of the West.”