St. Louis Cathedral

About

The dedication to Saint Louis honours King Louis IX of France, who reigned in the thirteenth century and was canonised in 1297 for his piety, charity and the integrity of his Christian governance. Cathedrals raised in his name today form a global family of sanctuaries spanning Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Mediterranean.

In France, two of the foremost dedications stand at Versailles and within the Hôtel des Invalides, the great Parisian foundation built by Louis XIV for veterans of his armies. Further French-speaking dedications follow the path of the empire to Fort-de-France in Martinique, to Port-Louis in Mauritius, and to Saint-Louis in Senegal.

The Mediterranean and the Near East offer their own Saint Louis sanctuaries. Carthage in Tunisia retains the great Acropolium once dedicated to Saint Louis upon the hill where the king was said to have died on crusade. Cathedrals in Beirut, Haifa and elsewhere serve Latin-rite communities of the Levant, while a small but historic Catholic cathedral stands in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

In the United States, two foundations of the same name reflect the French colonial heritage of Louisiana: the St. Louis Cathedral of New Orleans, the oldest continuously active cathedral in the country, and the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis in Missouri, whose interior bears one of the largest mosaic collections in the Western Hemisphere.

Significance

Together the Saint Louis cathedrals trace the long history of Francophone Catholic devotion across the world. Each sanctuary, whether in a former colonial port or a great European capital, expresses the same conviction that the king who washed the feet of the poor and sought the welfare of his people remains a worthy patron for the prayer of nations.