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744 South 3rd Street (at Gratiot)
St. Louis, Missouri 63102
www.catholic-forum.com
St. Louis Catholics survived for nearly eighty years with only one
church (now the Old Cathedral) before St. Mary of Victories was built as
the first unit in an expanded parish system. English-speakers could go
to St. Vincent de Paul or St. Francis
Xavier (named for the founders of the two leading orders serving St.
Louis), while German speakers attended their own parishes—a novel system
that became an important feature of local Catholic life. St. Mary served
the burgeoning southside Frenchtown and Soulard neighborhoods, while
St. Joseph (a favorite of the Chamber
Chorus) served the north side.
The cornerstone of St. Mary’s was laid on June 25, 1843, but only the
first 74 feet of the nave were completed initially. The design was one
of the first in St. Louis by George I. Barnett (1815-1898), a native of
Nottingham, England. He soon became the leading architect of the city,
best remembered today for his long association with Henry Shaw at the
Missouri Botanical Garden and Tower Grove Park. The transepts and
present east end of the building were added to his designs in 1859 and
1860. The facade, a flattened temple front in brick, became the model
for many other churches during the city’s Greek Revival era, but all are
now gone. The white frame of the front door was once marbleized. The
functioning part of the door was lowered after a second balcony was
inserted below the organ loft to accommodate the Sisters of Mary, whose
1873 motherhouse and hospital once occupied the garden on the corner.
Since 1957, the church has been home to St. Stephen’s Hungarian parish,
which was created in 1936 and formerly worshipped at 11th and Chouteau
nearby. It is the only Hungarian parish between Chicago and Dallas and
has become celebrated for its ethnic festivals and authentic cooking,
including dinners every third Sunday. The status of the church was
changed in 2005 to that of a chapel, but services are still conducted
every Sunday in Latin and Hungarian.
The interior of the church combines traditional iconography of the
Virgin Mary with references to the original German and the present
Hungarian congregations. They are linked by the presence of St.
Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231), who as landgravine (wife of a reigning
German count) of Thuringia became a favorite German saint. Her painting,
a nineteenth century work by A. Hoffman, is on the transept wall to the
left of the apse, and her statue, formerly above the pulpit, is now on
the nave altar with the Infant Jesus of Prague. St. Stephen (István,
c.970-1038), the founder of the Hungarian state, now stands above the
pulpit, and his altar is in the left transept. To the right of the apse,
on the south transept wall, is a painting of St. Joseph, and his statue
appears behind the baptismal font with its Gothic cover, one of the
original furnishings of the church. The Virgin to whom the church is
dedicated appears behind the rear altar, in the apse paintings depicting
scenes of her life, and in the murals in the arches above the organ and
the crossing. An altar in the south transept honors Our Lady of
Guadalupe. The windows were given by German associations and families,
while the beautifully inlaid main altar and lectern were made in
Hungary.
The Chamber Chorus visited this church on October 5, 1997 to present its
Hungarian Voices concert.
Notes by
Esley Hamilton and
Philip
Barnes
Photo by Roger Hill
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