Our Lady of
Sorrows Church

5020 Rhodes Avenue (at S. Kingshighway)
St. Louis, Missouri 63109
www.olsorrows.org

TThe pietà, the image of Mary grieving over her dead son Jesus, is familiar from Michelangelo's sculpture in the Vatican. It is the most familiar of the seven sorrows or "dolors" of Mary in Catholic theology. Our Lady of Sorrows seemed an appropriate name for the new parish that first worshiped in 1907 at the mortuary chapel in the Cemetery of Sts. Peter and Paul on Gravois Road. The most conspicuous features of this then-undeveloped corner of St. Louis were cemeteries and commercial vegetable gardens, the latter of which gave the name Gardenville to the neighborhood. A combination school, rectory and church was constructed at this site in 1909. Cardinal Glennon laid the cornerstone for the present church in 1927 and came back for the dedication the following year.

Father Bernard Stolte, the founding parish priest, suggested a design based on the fourth-century basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, where he had studied, and the building reflects this and other Early Christian churches in the arcaded porch, the nave with its arcade of composite columns and its coffered ceiling, and the clearly defined apse. Early Christian churches didn't have towers, however, so the one here reflects the North Italian style of the 11th and 12th centuries. The architect, Adolph F. Stauder, was the son of builder-architect Joseph Stauder and father of architect Arthur Stauder. All of them specialized in Catholic institutions, and the Stauder firm remains active today. Members of this parish, Adolph and Arthur designed all the buildings in the complex, giving it a pleasing unity with matching brick (provided by the nearby Hydraulic Press Brick Company) and finely shaped terra cotta moldings.

The church's interior was completed in 1938 and renovated in 1957. From the earlier period come the Emil Frei windows, with their subtle, smoky colors. They feature quotations from the Bible and other sources; the first window on the right has a quotation in support of labor from writings of Popes Leo XIII and Pius XI, matched to workplace images of clocks and cog wheels. The unusual relief figures flanking the chancel or sanctuary arch in front represent St. Agnes and St. Aloysius, both innocent youths. These and the altar figures were carved of linden or lime wood in Germany. Behind the side altars are paintings in the style of Renaissance predella panels, with gold backgrounds. On the right the Altar of St. Joseph has a sculpture of the holy family between scenes from the life of Joseph. On the left, the Altar of Our Lady of Sorrows has a pietà with scenes of the other six sorrows, some of them different aspects of the same events shown in the other altar. From 1957 come the stations of the cross on the nave walls, substituting for the mosaics originally envisioned. At that time, too, the apse was enhanced with marble paneling, and the bronze altar canopy or baldachin was polished to a high gloss.

As development of this neighborhood proceeded, the original Our Lady of Sorrows Parish was divided several times, but it remains vital, with almost 3,000 members. November 11, 2001 marks the Chamber Chorus's first performance in the church.

Notes by Esley Hamilton and Philip Barnes
Photos by John W. Shaffer