History of the Shrine

The oldest Catholic congregation in St. Louis was founded in 1770. This congregation was located at what we know today as the "Old Cathedral" (below the Gateway Arch). It was originally a log church, then rebuilt in 1776, and later constructed of brick in 1820. The "Old Cathedral" we know today was built in 1834. While it is an older congregation, the church building at St. Ferdinand is the oldest structure surviving by fourteen years.

The Shrine is at the site of one of the earliest European settlements west of the Mississippi. Although Spain controlled the area, early settlers here were French farmers and fur trappers attracted to the fertile banks of nearby Coldwater Creek. The French called the valley “Fleurissant” which means “flowering” or “flourishing” while the Spanish called the tiny settlement “St. Ferdinand.” While it is not known when the first settlers came to the area, it is believed that the village was settled about the same time St. Louis was (1764). The king of Spain actually granted the village the site where the old church was built. The settlement was typical of French settlements at the time with a commons and common fields where the villagers did their farming.

Formal civil government came to the area in 1786 when Francois Dunegant served as civil and military commandant. A census held the next year indicated there were 40 people and seven plantations, according to Spanish archives.

The St. Ferdinand parish was established in 1789. For a number of years a log church served the community until the original portion of the existing church was constructed in 1820.

The convent was built in 1819, and Mass was said in its chapel for the first time on Christmas Eve of that year.

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, a member of the Religious of the Sacred Heart, an order which had been founded in 1800 in France, lived in the convent from 1819 to 1827 and from 1834 to 1840. (See more history about St. Rose Philippine Duchesne.)

The cornerstone for the Church, a gift of Mother Duchesne, was laid in February of 1821. In August of that year, Mary Ann Layton became the first American to become a Religious of the Sacred Heart when she made her vows at the convent.

In June of 1823 the church was served by the Jesuits who established a seminary at the Bishop’s Farm, now St. Stanislavs. Four years later Father Peter DeSmet, later known as "Black Robe" to the Indians he served through his missionary work, was ordained at St. Ferdinand. He would later turn St. Louis into the "missionary gateway to the West."

In 1846 the Religious of Sacred Heart left St. Ferdinand and the following year the Sisters of Loretto were appointed to the parish. In 1880, the same year that the church was enlarged and a bell tower and altar was built, the nuns opened New Loretto Academy, a four-story brick building. In 1888 a parish school was built to educate the children of the growing parish.

The school served the community for many years but in 1957 when the parish population dwindled, St. Ferdinand ceased to be a parish church and the diocese talked of tearing it down. Two years later, the Friends of Old St. Ferdinand Shrine was formed to save the church and the adjacent buildings. The group raised enough funds to purchase the complex a few years later. In 1960 the St. Louis Archdiocese designated St. Ferdinand as a Shrine and in 1979 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Friends of Old St. Ferdinand, Inc. purchased the shrine complex and own, maintain, preserve and protect this valuable jewel.

A fire in 1966 caused extensive damage to the rectory but a restoration was undertaken immediately. Another fire in 1976 destroyed a brick building at the rear of the church, which was the last of those erected by the Sisters of Loretto.

The Shrine is operated and maintained by the Friends of Old St. Ferdinand, a non-profit agency.

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, a member of the Religious of the Sacred Heart, an order which had been founded in 1800 in France, lived in the convent from 1819 to 1827 and from 1834 to 1840.

Mother Duchesne came to the Florissant area from France and provided in her writing some of the best descriptions of early life in Missouri.

In 1825 she established a school for Indian girls and later, when she moved to St. Louis, she ran a school for the children of wealthy St. Louisans. The school she founded in St. Charles, Missouri in 1818 was the first free school west of the Mississippi.

The Catholic Church beatified Mother Duchesne in 1940 as the fourth saint in the United States. She was canonized a saint July 3,1988.

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

Tour Information

Tours are available on Saturday and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free, donations accepted.

Group Tours are available all year upon request. Phone (314) 837-2110 or submit our Group Tour Request Form online. Reserved Group Tour is $2.00 per person, with lunch served is $10.00 per person (15 person minimum group for a served lunch). Lunch includes: roast beef, ham, turkey, two cheeses, lettuce and tomatoes, condiments, two types of bread, fruit bowl, chips donuts, coffee, tea, lemonade, chocolate milk and bottle water. After lunch is served there is a trip to the 2nd floor of the Schoolhouse to view more history and experience our Book Fair.

Learn more about our Shrine History