St. Alphonsus Liguori "Rock" Catholic Church | |
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Religion | |
Affiliation | Roman Catholic Church |
Leadership | Rev. Stephen J. Benden, C.Ss.R (pastor) and Rev. Rodney Olive, C.Ss.R (associate pastor) Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer |
Location | |
Location | 1118 N. Grand Ave. St. Louis, Missouri United States |
Architecture | |
Architect(s) | Rev. Louis Dold, C.Ss.R. Thomas Waryng Walsh (associate) James Smith (associate) |
Style | Gothic Revival |
Completed | 1872, 1893 (spire) |
Specifications | |
Direction of façade | West |
Spire height | 237 feet (72 m) [1] |
Materials | Stone |
Website | |
www.stalphonsusrock.org |
St. Alphonsus Liguori "Rock" Catholic Church is an historic Black Catholic church in St. Louis, Missouri, founded in 1867. It is associated with the Redemptorist Order.
The edifice was built in a Gothic Revival style and has a towering steeple, flanking spires, and an assortment of stained glass. The design is attributed to the Rev. Louis Dold, C.Ss.R., working with St. Louis architects Thomas Waryng Walsh and James Smith. [1] [2]
In 1861 St. Louis Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick invited the Redemptorists, a missionary congregation that was founded by Saint Alphonsus Ligouri in 1732, to establish a permanent presence in the city of St. Louis. The community accepted the invitation and lived in temporary housing until 1866 when they bought 3.5 acres (1 ha) at Grand and Cook Avenues. [3] Ground for the church was broken on May 1, 1867, and the cornerstone was laid on November 3 of the same year by the Rev. Joseph Melchers, the vicar general of the archdiocese. Construction on the church continued until 1872 and Archbishop Patrick J. Ryan dedicated the church that year. The church's spire, which reaches 237 feet (72 m), was completed in 1893. [1]
The first Mother of Perpetual Help Shrine in the church was blessed on December 7, 1873, during the first public triduum under her name. The church ceased being a mission church in 1881 when it became a parish of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, although it remained under the pastoral care of the Redemptorists. The Redemptorists' St. Louis Province was headquartered in the residence from its founding until the mid-20th century.
There were two noteworthy visitors to the community in the 19th century. The year the property was bought in 1866, Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos visited while on a missionary preaching trip a year before his death. Venerable Augustus Tolton, the first African-American Catholic priest, said Mass for the School Sisters of Notre Dame in the convent’s chapel in 1887. The parish has grown over the years to become a predominantly African-American church. [3]
The church was struck by lightning on August 16, 2007, sparking a fire that damaged the roof and leading to water damage when the fire was put out. [4] Repairs commenced in fall 2007, and the church reopened in Spring 2009. [5]
The church experienced a notable theft, of its air conditioning units, in April 2022. [6]
The Redemptorists, officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, abbreviated CSsR, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men. It was founded by Alphonsus Liguori at Scala, Italy, for the purpose of labouring among the neglected country people around Naples. It is dedicated to missionary work and they minister in more than 100 countries. Members of the congregation are Catholic priests and consecrated religious brothers.
Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, CSsR was an Italian Catholic bishop, spiritual writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, lawyer, scholastic philosopher, and theologian. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, known as the Redemptorists, in November 1732.
Our Mother of Perpetual Succour, colloquially known as Our Lady of Perpetual Help), is a Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a 15th-century Byzantine icon and a purported Marian apparition. The image has been enshrined in the Church of San Matteo in Via Merulana since 27 March 1499, and is today permanently enshrined in the Church of Saint Alphonsus of Liguori in Rome, where the novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help is prayed weekly.
Gerard Majella was an Italian lay brother of the Congregation of the Redeemer, better known as the Redemptorists, who is honored as a saint by the Catholic Church.
Francis Xavier Seelos, CSsR was a German Redemptorist who worked as a missionary in the United States frontier. Towards the end of his life, he went to New Orleans to minister to victims of yellow fever. He then died after contracting the disease.
Gennaro Maria Sarnelli was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Redemptorists. Sarnelli was one of Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori's earliest companions and a prolific writer on a range of religious topics. He wanted to become a Jesuit though was dissuaded from this before working in the Hospital of the Incurables where he call to the priesthood blossomed. His apostolic zeal knew no limits: he preached missions and aided his friend Liguori in his work; he tended to the sick and helped to get girls out of prostitution despite the threats levelled against him.
The Order of the Most Holy Redeemer, also commonly known as the Redemptoristines, is a female contemplative religious order of the Catholic Church. It was formed in 1731, and is the female counterpart to the Redemptorists.
A parochial mission or parish mission is a special pastoral effort in the Catholic Church aimed at preaching to and instructing Catholic followers. These are "home missions" geared toward Catholics, distinguished from apostolic missions to make conversions among non-believers. Such missions may consist of systematic preaching and instruction, extending over a stated number of days, performed by authorized missionaries.
The Church of Saint Alphonus of Liguori is a rectory church located on the Via Merulana on the Esquiline Hill of central Rome's Vth prefecture, Italy, and a titular church for a Cardinal-priest under the name Santissimo Redentore e Sant'Alfonso in Via Merulana.
St. Alphonsus Church may refer to:
The Redemptorists of Australia and New Zealand are a province within The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer is a Roman Catholic missionary order which was created in 1732 by Saint Alphonsus Liguori at Scala, near Amalfi, Italy for the purpose of labouring among the neglected country people in the neighbourhood of Naples.
The National Shrine of St. Alphonsus Liguori, also known as St. John Neumann Shrine and "Baltimore's Powerhouse of Prayer," is part of a historic Catholic church complex in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded by the Redemptorists in 1917, the church has extensive affiliations with important figures in Baltimore Catholic history. Since 1992, the parish has held regular Tridentine Masses. It is currently administered by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter. The complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 as St. Alphonsus Church, Rectory, Convent and Halle.
The Glories of Mary is a classic book in the field of Roman Catholic Mariology, written during the 18th century by Saint Alphonsus Liguori, a Doctor of the Church.
William Hickley Gross, C.Ss.R., was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who was a member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. He served as Bishop of Savannah (1873–1885) and Archbishop of Oregon City (1885–1898).
The Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help informally known as The Mission Church is a Roman Catholic basilica in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The Redemptorists priests of the Baltimore Province have ministered to the parish since the church was first opened in 1870. The shrine is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Mother of Perpetual Help.
The Church of St. Alphonsus Liguori was a Catholic parish church under the authority of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 308 West Broadway in SoHo, Manhattan, New York City.
The Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help is a booklet containing a set of prayers including the Roman Catholic novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help, that was originally published in Jaén, Spain in 1899. It was then widely republished by American Redemptorist priests in 1927, then ultimately revised by Irish and Australian Redemptorist priests on 23 June 1948.
Mount St. Alphonsus Seminary, located in Esopus, New York, was an American Roman Catholic seminary founded in 1907 by the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, more commonly known as the Redemptorist Fathers and Brothers. It operated as a seminary until 1985, after which it became a center for meetings and spiritual retreats for the people of the Hudson Valley in New York. In 2012, the Mount St. Alphonsus Retreat Center was purchased by the Bruderhof Anabaptists who renamed the building as The Mount Community and started The Mount Academy, a parochial school, at the premises. A daily meal is shared by the Bruderhof members of The Mount Community who worship together several times throughout the week, living together as a Christian intentional community.
Bruce Alan Lewandowski, CSsR is an American bishop of the Roman Catholic Church and a member of the Redemptorists. He has been serving as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland, since 2020. He previously served in New York City, Saint Lucia, and Pennsylvania.
Juan Campos Rodríguez was a Galician writer, translator, missionary and Catholic priest who belonged to the Redemptorist Congregation. He spent over 15 years as a missionary in Sichuan, western China, until he had to flee the country after the communist revolution. He then lived for a while in Hong Kong and Macau before settling down in Singapore, where he worked as a priest until he died at the age of 88.