c. 1999 Religion News Service
UNDATED _ Here’s a quick sketch at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis, which traces its origin back to priests who accompanied French settlers as they moved into areas that became part of the Louisiana Territory.
_ In 1764, the city of St. Louis _ named after King Louis IX, canonized in 1297 _ was founded. Two years later a Father Sebastian Meurin performed the area’s first baptism.
_ In 1826, the Diocese of St. Louis was created by splitting it off from the Diocese of Louisiana.
_ In 1834, the first cathedral west of the Mississippi River _ but just barely _ was dedicated in St. Louis as the Basilica of Saint Louis. Today its known as the Old Cathedral, having been replaced in 1914 by a more modern structure.
_ In 1847, St. Louis was elevated to an archdiocese, the third in the United States after Baltimore (1808) and Oregon City, now Portland, (1846).
_ St. Louis is called”the Rome of the West”because of its status as the”mother diocese”of 45 other dioceses later carved from its territory. The area covered stretches from Great Falls, Mont., and Milwaukee, Wis., south to Little Rock, Ark., and Oklahoma City.
_ Archbishop Justin Rigali, 63, was appointed prelate of St. Louis by Pope John Paul II on Jan. 25, 1994.
_ The Archdiocese of St. Louis has 235 parishes and missions and a Catholic population of more than 555,000. Another 110,000 Catholics live across the Mississippi in the Diocese of Belleville, Ill.
_ The St. Louis archdiocese has more than 866 priests, about 180 brothers and more than 2,200 sisters.
Source: The Archdiocese of St. Louis
END RIFKIN