Shrine of St Joseph

This historic landmark, site of the only recognized miracle in the Saint Louis Archdiocese which led to the canonization of Saint Peter Claver, was founded in 1864 by Austrian Jesuits and was intended to serve the growing German immigrant community of Saint Louis. Having fallen into disrepair, the church has been amazingly restored to its breathtaking original state. It is a sight to behold. No longer an active parish, services are only offered on Fridays and Sundays (check their website for current times). They have tours after mass on Sunday (about 1−½ hours, which I would recommend unless you have little ones with you). Known as «The Wedding Church,» (for reasons which will become obvious to you once you walk inside), two keen reasons to attend mass there are the singer, an attorney who has a wonderful voice and the mass celebrant, currently Fr. Dale Wunderlich. I am a lifelong Catholic and rarely have I been so educated, or so inspired, by a Catholic priest. He is humorous, wickedly smart, approachable, friendly, gregarious, and humble. And he always finds something new to share with those at mass which makes you see and hear the Scripture in a new or refreshingly different way, even though you’ve heard these words dozens of times before. We drive half an hour simply to be able to hear Fr. Wunderlich every Sunday and to be able to spend an hour or so in this beautiful place. It’s a St. Louis treasure known to very few, and one that is well worth a visit.

I stopped by the Shrine of St. Joseph the other day when my cousin was in town. He is a huge fan of classic architecture and so I though that he might appreciate they beauty of this enormous church. We pulled up and walked in through the front doors of the church and noticed that a wedding had ended. We were not crashing it or anything as it had been over for some time since everything was being taken down.
Well anyways, inside you can really see the beauty of this place and to think that it was almost demolished back in the 1970’s for commercial development, it is wonderful that this beautiful church survived and was restored to glory where it’s Baroque faade and twin towers can still stand out.