Old St. Ferdinand Shrine

About Old St. Ferdinand Shrine · Florissant, Missouri

Old St. Ferdinand Shrine is a historic Catholic shrine and former parish complex in Florissant, Missouri, comprising four buildings on their original foundations: the 1819 Federal-style convent, the 1821 brick church (the oldest Catholic church building between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains), the 1840 rectory, and the 1888 schoolhouse. The site is dedicated to St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, the French Religious of the Sacred Heart missionary who arrived in 1818 and opened the first free school west of the Mississippi; it was designated a shrine by the Archdiocese of St. Louis in 1988 at her canonization. The complex is owned, preserved, and operated by the non-profit Friends of Old St. Ferdinand, Inc. and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP #79003759).

Established: 1789
Patron: St. Rose Philippine Duchesne (shrine's dedicatee); the church is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus under the invocation of St. Ferdinand III and St. Francis Regis
Rector: Rev. William Kempf (Rector)
Diocese: Archdiocese of St. Louis

Why belong here

Old St. Ferdinand is less an active parish and more a living Catholic heritage site — a place to walk in the footsteps of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, Father Pierre-Jean DeSmet, and the pioneer Jesuits and Religious of the Sacred Heart who shaped Catholicism in the American heartland. Pilgrims come for First Friday Mass (September–May), for private and group tours of the 1819 convent, 1821 church, 1840 rectory, and 1888 schoolhouse, and to attend the annual Feast Day Mass on November 18, the Valley of the Flowers Festival, the Florissant Old Town Festival, and the Christmas concert. Visitors are warmly welcomed to pray, reflect, learn, and help preserve a 200+ year-old campus on the National Register of Historic Places.

Mass times at Old St. Ferdinand Shrine

Weekly Mass schedule

First Friday of the month (September through May)11:00 AM (pre-2022 listed as 11:30 AM in one notice)

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne Feast Day (Saturday, November 18)9:00 AM (Rite of Dedication of new altar) and 7:00 PM (Feast Day Mass)

Confession times

First Friday of the month, September through May (held in conjunction with First Friday Mass at the Shrine, per The Catholic Travel Guide)

History of Old St. Ferdinand Shrine

The Shrine's history spans more than 230 years of Catholic life in the Louisiana Purchase Territory. St. Ferdinand Parish was established in 1789 as the first church in Florissant (then called St. Ferdinand de Fleurissant), with a log church built on what is now Spanish Land Grant Park. In 1819 Mother Rose Philippine Duchesne and the Religious of the Sacred Heart arrived from France, opening the first Catholic school for girls west of the Mississippi. The 1821 brick church — built under local carpenter Hyacenthe Deshetres with the cornerstone paid for by Mother Duchesne — is the oldest Catholic church building still standing between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. In 1823 the Jesuits under Charles Van Quickenborne took charge of the parish; Father Pierre-Jean DeSmet was ordained here in 1827. After the Sisters of Loretto arrived in 1847 and ran the school for 111 years, the active parish was relocated in 1955 and a lay non-profit — the Friends of Old St. Ferdinand, Inc. — was formed in 1958 to save the campus. In 1988, with the canonization of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, the Archdiocese of St. Louis designated the complex a shrine in her honor.

1782 — François Dunegant named Commandant of Fleurissant by August Chouteau; land grant issued for a church and priest's residence
1789 — St. Ferdinand Parish established; Father Bernard de Limpach, O.F.M. Cap., named first pastor; log church built
1818 — Bishop Louis William DuBourg arrives in St. Louis; recruits Mother Rose Philippine Duchesne from France
1819 — Convent built in Federal style under Father Duran, a Trappist; first Mass in the chapel offered at midnight, December 24, 1819
1820 — Novitiate for girls opens on the third story of the convent
1821 — Cornerstone of the present church laid in February; Missouri becomes a state
1823 — Jesuits under Charles Van Quickenborne arrive in Florissant
1825 — Native American school for girls opens; St. Francis Regis Indian Seminary opens in 1825
1827 — Father Pierre-Jean DeSmet, S.J., ordained at St. Ferdinand
1831 — Native American school for girls closed due to lack of funding
1832 — Bishop Joseph Rosati consecrates the 1821 church
1836 — Original 1789 log church burns
1840–1842 — Rectory (Chapel of the Blessed Virgin) built in the Federal style
1846 — Religious of the Sacred Heart leave Florissant
1847 — Sisters of Loretto arrive; run the school for 111 years
1880 — Church enlarged 26 feet, steeple added, stained-glass windows installed under Father Hayden (1877–1884); new Italian Romanesque Revival character; high altar with relics of St. Valentine installed
1882 — New Loretto Academy building completed
1888 — Parish day school (schoolhouse) built by contractors Goesse and Remmers in the Missouri German style
1919 — Loretto Academy destroyed by fire; 50 students and 75 faculty/infirmed nuns escape; Florissant Valley Fire Protection District established
1955 — Parish boundaries redrawn under Archbishop Joseph E. Ritter; new St. Ferdinand Parish built at Charbonier
1958 — Friends of Old St. Ferdinand formed; Archdiocese of St. Louis transfers deed for $1.00
1966 — Fire damages the rectory; full restoration follows
1976 — Fire destroys last Loretto-era brick building at the rear of the church
1978 — Cardinal John Carberry formally transfers all four buildings to the Friends
1979 — Complex listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP #79003759)
1988 (July 3) — St. Rose Philippine Duchesne canonized by Pope John Paul II; Archdiocese designates the complex as Old St. Ferdinand Shrine
July 2022 — Record St. Louis rainfall floods the campus under ~3 feet of water
Nov. 18, 2023 — Auxiliary Bishop Mark S. Rivituso consecrates the new wooden altar at the Rite of Dedication Mass

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne (1769–1852)

Rose Philippine Duchesne was a French Religious of the Sacred Heart who, at age 49, sailed from France in 1818 with four other sisters at the invitation of Bishop Louis William DuBourg to educate Native American and pioneer girls in the American frontier. After opening the first free school west of the Mississippi in St. Charles, she relocated to Florissant in 1819, where the 1819 convent became her home (1819–1827 and 1834–1840) and the cradle of Catholic education in the Louisiana Purchase Territory. She founded nine schools across the territory and received the vows of the first American women to enter religious life in the Midwest. She was the fourth U.S.-born saint canonized (after St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. John Neumann, and St. Frances Xavier Cabrini), and is the patron saint of perseverance amid adversity. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II on July 3, 1988, after which the Archdiocese of St. Louis designated Old St. Ferdinand as her shrine.

Patron saint of perseverance amid adversity
Fourth U.S. saint canonized
Called 'Quah-kah-ka-num-ad' ('Woman-who-prays-always') by the Potawatomi
Opened 6 schools in 10 years in Missouri and Louisiana; founded 9 schools overall
Her Sacred Heart hangings hung on the façade of St. Peter's Basilica the morning of her 1988 canonization

The Four Historic Buildings

The Shrine complex is unique in that all four buildings stand on their original locations, between Cold Water and Fountain Creeks. Together they form a 274-by-324-foot rectangle of approximately 2 acres, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

1819 Convent (Federal style) — Duchesne's home; housed the Religious of the Sacred Heart, day and boarding school, and a novitiate for girls; later enlarged by the Sisters of Loretto, though the addition was later removed to preserve only the part known to St. Philippine Duchesne
1821 Church (Federal-style brick exterior with log interior) — Oldest Catholic church building between the Mississippi and the Rockies; built under Hyacenthe Deshetres with cornerstone paid by Mother Duchesne; enlarged in 1880 with steeple and stained glass (Italian Romanesque Revival)
1840 Rectory / Chapel of the Blessed Virgin (Federal style) — Built as a one-story chapel for the Ladies of the Sacred Heart; enlarged to two stories and used as the Jesuit rectory; today houses a museum with a replica of the original log church, 1700s silver religious items, and a collection of dolls in nuns' habits
1888 Schoolhouse (Missouri German style) — Two-story brick building with segmentally arched windows and an ornate cornice; second floor added slightly later; houses a book and gift shop on the second floor and is used for event rentals

Tours, Pilgrimages, and Visiting

Old St. Ferdinand Shrine is open for public visits on Sundays from 1:00–4:00 PM, April through December, plus by appointment year-round. There is no charge to visit, although donations are appreciated. Guided group tours are available for a small fee; individual self-guided tours are free. A book and gift shop is on the second floor of the 1888 schoolhouse. Pilgrims may walk in the footsteps of Philippine Duchesne, De Smet, and DuBourg, learn about Missouri pioneer life, and see how the Sisters of Loretto turned a struggling school into a thriving academy for over 100 years. The Shrine is a working museum: artifacts from virtually every era of the Shrine's history are on display in the museum and throughout the buildings.

Sunday visiting hours: 1:00–4:00 PM, April through December (plus by appointment year-round)
Private and group tours — call 314-837-2110
Book and gift shop in the 1888 schoolhouse
Museum displays: replica of the 1789 log church, 1700s silver religious items, collection of dolls in nuns' habits, Sacred Heart hangings, etc.

Sacraments, Masses, and Devotions

Because Old St. Ferdinand is no longer an active parish, regular Mass is celebrated only on First Fridays (September through May) and on the Feast of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne (November 18). Confessions are offered in conjunction with First Friday Mass. Catholic weddings and baptisms can be celebrated in the historic church, but must be arranged through the pilgrim's local parish, with the Shrine coordinating. After the July 2022 flood, the Shrine underwent an extensive 17-month restoration, and a new wooden altar (containing first-class relics of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne and St. Louis IX, King of France) was consecrated by Auxiliary Bishop Mark S. Rivituso on November 18, 2023.

First Friday Mass — September through May, 11:00 AM (formerly 11:30 AM in pre-2022 notices)
Confessions — First Fridays, September through May (per The Catholic Travel Guide)
Feast Day Mass for St. Rose Philippine Duchesne — November 18, typically 9:00 AM and 7:00 PM
Weddings and Catholic ceremonies by arrangement through the local parish

Jesuits in Florissant and St. Stanislaus Seminary

In 1823 Bishop DuBourg invited the Jesuits to take charge of St. Ferdinand and provide missionaries for the Native American tribes. Charles Van Quickenborne, S.J., arrived with a large group of Belgian novices in 1823 and set up the Jesuit novitiate and farm on the 212-acre 'Bishop's Farm' near Howdershell and Charbonier Roads. The Jesuits opened St. Francis Regis Indian Seminary for Native American boys in 1825 (closed 1830), built a large limestone-and-walnut 'Rock Building' in 1840 as the centerpiece of St. Stanislaus Seminary — the longest continually operating Jesuit novitiate in the United States — and ran the seminary until it was closed in 1971 due to a drop in vocations. The Rock Building was operated as the Museum of Western Jesuit Missions from 1973 to 2001.

Twelve Jesuits arrived from Georgetown in 1823, accompanied by Black slaves
St. Francis Regis Indian Seminary for Native American boys opened 1825; closed 1830
St. Stanislaus Seminary — longest continually operating Jesuit novitiate in the U.S. — operated 1823–1971
Father Pierre-Jean DeSmet, S.J. — ordained 1827; traveled 180,000 miles; crossed the Atlantic 19 times; befriended Sitting Bull; turned St. Louis into the 'missionary gateway to the West'
Charles Van Quickenborne, S.J. — Jesuit superior who led the Florissant mission

The 2022 Flood and Restoration (Hope Floats)

In July 2022, record rainfall in the St. Louis area flooded the convent, church, rectory, and schoolhouse under nearly three feet of water. The Friends of Old St. Ferdinand launched a 'Hope Floats' fundraising campaign, and BELFOR Property Restoration led the recovery (mitigation and reconstruction) from July 2022 to December 2023. Electricity was off for weeks, requiring generators, dehumidifiers, and fans; statues, artifacts, and relics had to be removed to a climate-controlled environment; and the Florissant Police Department provided security after the alarm system was knocked out. BELFOR notably saved the original hardwood floors of the historic church, which were restored to a condition that exceeded expectations. The schoolhouse reopened in April 2023, and the church, convent, and rectory followed in summer 2023. A new wooden altar, built by Bob Schumer of Joseph's Shop (Perryville) with gold leaf and marbling by Michele Bowman of Restorations Plus, was consecrated by Auxiliary Bishop Mark S. Rivituso on November 18, 2023.

July 26, 2022 — ~3 feet of water in convent, church, and rectory; ~2 feet in the schoolhouse
BELFOR Property Restoration — Steve Gehner, lead — round-the-clock drying and demolition
Insurance covers flood damage; fundraising supports supplemental repairs (new lighting in the schoolhouse, refinished stairs, continuous flooring)
New wooden altar commissioned by Msgr. Mark Ullrich and consecrated November 18, 2023
First-class relics of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne and St. Louis IX enshrined in the new altar

Rentals and Events

The Shrine is available for private event rentals in the 1888 schoolhouse (parties, meetings, retreats) and for Catholic ceremonies in the historic church (weddings, baptisms, etc., arranged through the pilgrim's local parish). The Shrine is currently closed while the buildings are restored from the July 2022 flood; check the website and Facebook page for reopening updates. The annual lineup of community events has historically included the April historical encampment of the St. Ferdinand de Fleurissant Territory, the May Valley of the Flowers Festival, the October Florissant Old Town Festival, the November Feast Day Mass for St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, and a December Christmas concert.

Schoolhouse event rentals (parties, meetings, retreats)
Church rentals for Catholic ceremonies (weddings, baptisms) — arrange through your local parish
Annual events: April historical encampment, May Valley of the Flowers Festival, October Florissant Old Town Festival, November Feast Day Mass, December Christmas concert
Gift shop and book shop on the second floor of the 1888 schoolhouse

Getting Here and Practical Information

Old St. Ferdinand Shrine is at 1 Rue St. Francois, Florissant, MO 63031, phone (314) 837-2110. The Shrine is in the historic Old Town part of Florissant, between Cold Water Creek and Fountain Creek, and adjacent to Spanish Land Grant Park. A parking lot is on the southwest side of the property. Visitors are encouraged to call ahead to confirm current operating hours and tour availability, especially during ongoing restoration work.

Address: 1 Rue St. Francois, Florissant, MO 63031
Phone: (314) 837-2110
Websites: http://www.oldstferdinandshrine.com/ and https://www.oldstferdinandshrine.org/
Archdiocese of St. Louis: https://www.archstl.org/parish/old-st-ferdinand-shrine/
Located in Old Town Florissant, between Cold Water and Fountain Creeks

Pastors & rectors through the years

Father Bernard de Limpach, O.F.M. Cap. (Capuchin)1789–
First pastor of St. Ferdinand Parish, the first church in Florissant.
Father Duran (Trappist)c. 1818–1819
Trappist monk who supervised construction of the 1819 convent in the Federal style.
Father de la Croix1819–1820
Offered the first Mass in the convent chapel at midnight on December 24, 1819.
Charles Van Quickenborne, S.J.1823–
Jesuit superior who took charge of the parish in 1823 with Belgian novices; the Jesuits served the parish for the remainder of its active life.
Father Hayden1877–1884
Enlarged the church 26 feet, added the steeple and stained-glass windows, and gave the building its present Italian Romanesque Revival character.
Father John Hollandlate 20th c.
Pastor of New St. Ferdinand's who in August 1980 gave permission to microfilm the parish records.
Msgr. Mark Ullrichc. 2023
Former shrine rector (while pastor of Sacred Heart Parish) who commissioned the new wooden altar.
Rev. William Kempfcurrent
Current rector; also pastor of Sacred Heart Parish, Florissant. Obtained first-class relics of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne and St. Louis IX for the new altar.