St. Liborius: the “Northside Cathedral”
by Sister Carol Marie Wildt, SSND

In 1856, the cornerstone for the 12th parish in St. Louis was laid and placed under the protection of St. Liborius, a bishop of medieval Germany. Rev. Stephen Schweihoff, an immigrant from the diocese of Paderborn, Germany, was appointed the first pastor for the newest parish of German immigrants from Westphalia, Oldenburg, Hanover and southern Germany.

Convinced of the importance of a Catholic education, Rev. Schweihoff announced that a parochial school would open in the fall of 1857 under the direction of a lay teacher. He also appealed to Mother Caroline Friess for sisters to teach in the parish school. Responding to this need, she promised to send sisters by October 1859. On the morning of October 2, 1859, the second mission of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in St. Louis was opened at Sts. Peter and Paul. In the afternoon of October 2, Mother Caroline with Sister Superior Dionysia Uebbing and Candidate Emily (Liboria) Mueller opened the third mission at St. Liborius. These “twin missions” served thousands of German children in the expanding St. Louis area.

Unlike Sts. Peter and Paul, there was no school building readied for the sisters at St. Liborius. The sisters taught in two classrooms in the rectory: one on the lower and one on the upper floor. Rev. Schweihoff made his home in the sacristy. The sisters lived at Sts. Peter and Paul and either walked to school or were taken by Mr. (Papa) Amend in his carriage.

The parish and school flourished and by 1865 a school building was built. Two floors served as classrooms. The basement was arranged for living quarters for the sisters. By 1874, 15 years after their arrival, the enrollment had reached 500; the faculty consisted of six SSNDs and a male teacher for the boys of the upper grades. A new school was built in 1886.

In 1905, a convent was built for the sisters. There were 17 sisters at the mission and an enrollment of more than 600 children. The school grew until the faculty numbered 22 sisters. From 1859 until it closed in 1969, approximately 200 sisters ministered at St. Liborius. During these 110 years, the School Sisters of Notre Dame were the only sisters to staff the school. Over 70 women from the parish entered SSND.

In the 1950s, parish boundaries were changed, parishioners moved to the suburbs, and eventually St. Liborius found itself in the inner city. Sister Clementa Ostmann relates that the decision to close the school came suddenly. On August 29, 1969, the phone rang while the sisters were chanting the Magnificat of the Office. After the Office, as superior, she broke the news to the community that the school would not reopen. The Archdiocesan School Board made the decision because of financial difficulties to operate the school. The convent and school were closed on October 17, 1969 – 110 years after the arrival of the SSNDs. Today, the convent houses the Catholic Worker Movement, which operates Karen House and Cass House for homeless people in the city.

[Sources: St. Liborius chronicle; Centenary of the SSNDs in St. Liborius Parish School, 1959; St. Liborius Centennial, 1956; report by Sister Clementa Ostmann; “St. Liborius Stands Today a Center of Social Services,” North Side Journal, 1980.]

 

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