ST. LOUIS — Perhaps somewhat unique among Catholic jurisdictions in the United States, the Archdiocese of St. Louis possesses an ignominious distinction related to slavery: both of its first two bishops — Joseph Rosati and Peter Kenrick — held a number of African Americans in bondage while serving as prelates of the Church.
This was one of several jarring realities shared during of Catholic Religious Organizations Studying Slavery, held in St. Louis late last month.
The Archdiocese of St. Louis, to the public, was featured heavily during the conference, with current and former local professionals presenting alongside a bevy of academics, genealogists, bishops, and affected descendants.
People are also reading…
Archbishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville, who helped spearhead the CROSS organization during his time as chair of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ , opened the event with a keynote urging dioceses to commit to truth-telling in their archival work.
“If we do not tell our own story, then someone else or some entity will almost certainly provide a biased rendition, which may not be guided by the virtue of truth and faith, as ours hopefully will be,†he said.
“Accordingly, my dear friends, it is far better that we share our own stories — no matter how painful, no matter how sinful.â€
The various sessions of the conference ran the gamut from research presentations to case studies to testimonials from African Americans descended from those enslaved by various Catholic groups, including the world’s largest religious order, the Society of Jesus.
The Jesuits’ former U.S. and Canada president, the Rev. Tim Kesicki, who works with the order’s billion-dollar , spoke on how his order has come to terms with its slaveholding since the history became international news in the past decade.
“I can tell you that we only were telling half of our story, that which was published,†he said, referring to the period before Rachel L. Swarns’ bombshell 2016 on the sale of enslaved people by Georgetown University.
Similar stories came to light at the conference from the Sisters of Loretto when Sister Eleanor Craig explained how her community — long regarded as progressive and forward-thinking — was forced to reckon with the reality that they too owned slaves early in their history.
Also striking was a retelling of early St. Louis history by archdiocesan archivist Eric Fair, who explained how the diocese’s first bishop, Rosati, not only owned slaves but was taken to court by at least one who sought freedom.
Bishop Joseph Rosati was the first bishop of the Diocese of St. Louis from 1827 until his death in 1843. The much larger Diocese of Louisiana that DuBourg oversaw was split up in 1826. Rosati was the bishop when the building now called the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France (the Old Cathedral) was built. He owned enslaved people.
“Aspasia (LeCompte) sued Bishop Rosati in 1837 and her rationale was that her mother Judy had lived in the Northwest Territory, which included Illinois and was a free territory, for two years,†Fair noted, evoking similarities to the story of Dred Scott, a St. Louisan who famously lost his freedom suit in 1857 before the U.S. Supreme Court. LeCompte, too, was unsuccessful.
“Rather than fight the lawsuit, Rosati sold Aspasia to (St. Louis University professor) Hardage Lane,†Fair said.
While some participants at the conference spoke of efforts in their own contexts to remove the names of slaveholders from places of honor, the names of Rosati and Kenrick remain in various Catholic spaces in St. Louis. Even the building where the CROSS Conference was held, the Cardinal Rigali Center, prominently displays at its entrance the Sacred Heart sister St. Rose Philippine Duchesne — who was gifted an enslaved person by Bishop Louis DuBourg of Louisiana and the Two Floridas in the early 19th century. (DuBourg, rejected by his flock in the South, lived at the time in St. Louis.)
, an enslaved girl, was given to St. Rose Philippine Duchesne and the Religious of the Sacred Heart by Bishop DuBourg around 1822. The nuns brought Eliza with them to Louisiana when they founded a convent there. The spelling of Eliza’s name and the year of her birth vary based on records; she died in 1889. Â
“This is a journey that we are just starting, so these are conversations that we will be having,†Fair said when asked about possible renaming plans in Missouri.
“We don’t want to be the ones that are dictating what we will do and how we will do it. We want the community to be involved with the highest levels of these decisions.â€
Community participation was a major theme during the two days of convening, and it was admitted that the current landscape of archives access — especially when the documents are sensitive, due to slavery or other unsavory factors — is a patchwork affair across the nation.
Some institutions, such as the Redemptorists, Jesuits, Sacred Heart Sisters, the Diocese of St. Augustine, and the archdioceses of New Orleans, Cincinnati and St. Louis, are more open than others. In other places, however, officials as high as the bishop himself might deny access if they deem documents unfit for public access.
For now, no national policy exists concerning access to Church archives, though CROSS is perhaps aiming to change that.
“One of the purposes of us gathering here is to begin the process of kind of pushing a little bit in a respectful way to some of the dioceses that are rather closed,†said the Rev. David Endres, a professor in Ohio who has edited several recent historical surveys of marginalized Catholic groups.
Asked if the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has been receptive to the idea of assisting with the work of making Catholic archives more open, Dr. Emilie Gagnet Leumas was optimistic.
“The Spirit is certainly moving us in that direction,†she said.
“They are hearing us, which is really good, and they do know that this work is being done.â€
For now, much of CROSS’s work centers around its new . It’s a 16-page document that helps archivists not only uncover links to slavery and make the documents accessible, but also include descendants in their work and avoid pitfalls related to historical misconceptions and unwarranted fears.
Rashonda Alexander, of St. Louis, poses with a portrait of her grandfather, John O. Tilghman, outside of St. Francis Xavier College Church on the St. Louis University campus on Sept. 10, 2020. Alexander is a direct descendant of enslaved people owned by Jesuits who ran the university she later paid to attend.
Dr. Patrick Hayes, who works with the Redemptorist Archives in Philadelphia, noted that some of the immediate goals for the organization include working with more African Americans in the field. The archivists at the conference were mostly white, and it is estimated that only a few working for the Church in the United States are Black. Also at issue is the availability of Spanish-language resources and professionals who can create them, as the earliest records of American Catholic history involve the Spanish crown and its dealings in places such as Puerto Rico and Florida.
“We’ve got a lot of deficits, for sure,†Hayes said.
By all appearances, the two days in St. Louis seemed to be a step in the right direction. The various archivists present were exposed to the challenges and successes of their peers and also the experiences of Catholics on the ground, many of them African Americans, who are in most need of the data and history they possess.
Perhaps most importantly, the spiritual work of uncovering uncomfortable histories related to slavery (at a Catholic conference, no less) was also not forgotten.
Rashonda Alexander, a Black Catholic who descends from the African Americans enslaved in St. Louis by the Jesuits, implored that the archivists, above all, be conscious of the cosmic importance of their work.
“Keep the Holy Spirit involved in this, because you can do everything that man does, thinking that you know everything, but God is really in control,†she said near the end of the conference.
“Continue to remember that this is bigger than you when you’re doing this work.â€
Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of , a nonprofit publication founded in New Orleans in 2020.
Family, friends, historians, and community members came together to dedicate the headstone of Sylvester Chauvin. After being born into slavery in 1860, he eventually became a star baseball player for the St. Louis Black Stockings.
From DuBourg to Rozanski: A look at the leaders of St. Louis Catholics
Bishop Louis Dubourg (1815-1826)
Bishop Louis William Dubourg was the first bishop to make St. Louis the headquarters of a diocese. He enslaved 19 people. He was bishop of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas. Dubourg arrived in the city on Jan. 5, 1818. His work included inviting several orders to the diocese, including the Vincentians, Jesuits and Religious of the Sacred Heart, according to the archdiocese. Dubourg died in 1833 his native France after resigning as bishop.Â
Bishop Joseph Rosati (1827-1843)
Bishop Joseph Rosati was the first bishop of the Diocese of St. Louis from 1827 until his death in 1843. The much larger Diocese of Louisiana that DuBourg oversaw was split up in 1826. Rosati was the bishop when the building now called the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France (the Old Cathedral) was built. He owned enslaved people.
Archbishop Peter Kenrick (1847-1895)
As the diocese grew in population, it became an archdiocese in 1847, and the first archbishop was Peter Richard Kenrick. He owned enslaved people. He died in 1896.Â
Archbishop John Joseph Kain (1896-1903)
Archbishop John Joseph Kain was the first person born in America to lead the area's Catholics. He died in 1903.
Cardinal John J. Glennon (1903-1946)
John Joseph Glennon (pictured here in 1944) started as an archbishop and was made a cardinal in 1946. He oversaw the construction of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis (the New Cathedral).Â
Cardinal Joseph Ritter (1946-1967)
Cardinal Joseph Ritter (center) in 1957, led the archdiocese from 1946 until he died in 1967. He became a cardinal in 1961. He announced the desegregation of Catholic schools in 1947.Â
Cardinal John J. Carberry (1968-1979)
Cardinal John J. Carberry (left) stands with then-Cardinal Karol Wojtyla (later named Pope John Paul II). Carberry became a cardinal in 1969. He resigned as the leader of the archdiocese in 1979, and died in 1998.Â
Archbishop John L. May (1980-1992)
St. Louis Archbishop John L. May merged the archdiocese's two seminaries into one, and appointed the first woman to serve as superintendent of Catholic schools. He died in 1994.
Archbiship Justin F. Rigali (1994-2003)
Justin F. Rigali was archbishop when Pope John Paul II visited St. Louis in 1999. He left the archdiocese when he was named archbishop of Philadelphia, where he served until 2011.
Archbishop Raymond Burke (2003-2008)
Archbishop Raymond Burke clashed with the congregants of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, which led to his excommunication of some of the church leaders. He is a well-known conservative who left the archdiocese for the Vatican, and has disagreed with Pope Francis.
Archbishop Robert J. Carlson (2009 to 2020)
Archbishop Robert J. Carlson submitted his resignation in June 2018 when he turned 75, the mandatory retirement age.
Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski (current)
Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski was installed as archbishop on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, during the Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis. He served as bishop in the Springfield, Massachusetts diocese since 2014; he also worked in Baltimore, his hometown.
