The Irish standard., 1906-03-31
HISTORIC EDIFICE
Known to Thousands in nissis-
sippi Valley. Soon to
Give Way to the Larger and
More Modern Structure.

Give Way to the Larger ant
More Modern Structure.
II, as seems assured. the presen
year shall see the beginning OF worl
upon the magnificent new Cathedra
OF ST. Louis. Mo-, it will mark tn,
first steps in the passing of the mos
venerable ecclesiastical pile in tn,
West. The old Cathedral of st. Louis
as it is fondly known to hundreds o
thousands In the Mississippi Valley, i.
almost the only surviving link to tn,
stirring days when st. Louis was 6
walled and fortified city. with its gov.
ernors. alcaldes, commandants an.
quaint Old World people.
For nearly seventy-hve years tn.
! present time-stained Doric structure o.
hewn rock has stood unaltered on it.
present site. 1t is the lineal successor
the fourth of its line, Of the frs,
church west Of the Mississippi Valley
where burgher and citizen, Spanish
cavalier, French aristocrat and Ameri.
can gentlemen all worshiped side by
side with the black slave and the pro.
selyted Indian of the primitive forests
| For oil Of that time it has been the
episcopal seat, first of the Bishops OF
the Upper Louisiana, then of Fort St
Louis. and finally of the archdiocese OF
st. Louis.
There have been pro- cathedrals and
-cathedrals as the city moved
westward in its onward march of pro-
gress. but they have been only pro-
| cathedrals. No matter where tho reign
ing prelate might elect to remove his
residence and have mis- chapel, the
tlingy and venerable stone pile down in
the grimy heart of Old st. Louis re-
manned always his episcopal seat,
whittier he repaired on great feast
days Of the Church.
In the annals of the Diocese of st,
Louis the the names OF two men. COM
parativcly unknown, who were the
pioneers who really blazed the way for
those who came later and made it pos
'sible to carve out the present splendid
diocese. richer and greater than many
of the century-old Archiepiscopal Sees
Of the Old World.
They are those of Meurin and Gil
bault, the first and second Wears Gen-
eral. respectively, Of the Bishops of
Quebec in the Mississippi Valley. His
tory records the poor reward they
reaped for their immense spiritual la
bors in their vast spiritual provinces,
extending up and down the valley from,
Matchmaking on the north to New
Orleans and Mobile on the south, and
on both banks of the Mississippi.
The first was en- object Of suspicion
from his pensioners of Kaskaskia,
because he belonged to the hated order
of Jesuits, which the Superior Council
Of France had dispossessed, prescribed
and deported back to France; and he
ended his days a prescribed state GRIM
inal, by the edict of the Spanish COM
lnandant, because he had taken orders
from the Metropolitan of the English
Diocese Of Quebec" His venerable
body lies at rest in the graveyard of
the Jesuit novitiate at Florissant.
Pierre Gibault, his successor, known
to his day and generation as the PA
triot Priest Of the West" and the
Stout Priest" was also Of true apos-
tolic stripe. A F'renchman by birth,
ne was staunch American patriot,
and In the struggle for the West in
the war Of the Revolution, he was of
immense aid to Colonel Clark in VIM
ming over to the American cause the
French towns of Kaskaskia, Cahokia
and Vtncennes. It was the first two Of
these Jealous priests who laid the
foundation Of the first church west of
the Mississippi, on the site of the pres
ent Cathedral. The second blessed and
consecrated 1t a year after.
When Laclede Liguest laid out the
site Of Post st. Louis, which Auguste
Chouteau founded in 1894. he appor-
toned one block in the heart of the
town for religious purposes. This was
block 50, bounded by Second, Third,
Market and Walnut streets. For five
years after baptisms. marriages and
other religious rites were conducted in
a tent on the site in summer. The
houses Of the great people of the town
served for Mass and other services in
winter.
There were not too many occasions
when any religious services were con-
Quoted in the little river post, as the
founders brought no priests with
them. and 1t was only rarely that the
over-burdened Vicar General Meurin
reached the town to minister to the
spiritual wants Of his charges. Meurin
was appointed Vicar General by Mgr.
BRAND. Bishop Of Quebec. June s. 1867.
This was. in fact. the very first occa-
sion that any priest was actually ap.
pointed by the Bishop to minister to
the people Of the ecclesiastical station
Of Pain Court, or st. Louis.
The Vicar General in September,
1863, set in motion the building of the