Perryville

St. Mary's of the Barren's Seminary

(a) Congregation of the Mission/Vincentians/Lazarists

The Congregation of the Mission order was founded in Paris by St. Vincent de Paul in 1625, as an order of secular priests to work in rural areas. The mother House is St. Lazare in Paris. According to oral history, it was originally a leprosarium, hence the name "Lazarists" for the members of the orders after Lazarus. They are also called "Vincentians" after their founder St. Vincent de Paul. In 1815, Bishop Louis William Valentine DuBourg was in Rome to recruit priests for the Louisiana territory. He ended up staying at Monte Citorio, the mother church of the C.M. order in Rome, and talked them into agreeing to send a contingent to Missouri to construct a seminary. The Monte Citorio church is said to be of Tuscan Renaissance style, and was the general ideal model for the St. Mary's of the Barrens church. Two groups of priests and brothers under Felix DeAndreis (1877-1820) and Joseph Rosati (1789-1843) left in the fall of 1815 for the U.S.; they stayed in the Baltimore area in 1816, moved to a closer community in Bardstown, Kentucky in 1817, and when DuBourg obtained the grant of 640 acres from the Maryland Catholic immigrants of Perry County, left to establish St. Mary's of the Barrens seminary in October of 1818.

(b) The Seminary Buildings

Father Charles de la Croix, who was skilled in architecture, drew up plans for the Church and Seminary. De la Croix was listed as an expert architect who had recently completed the Seminary of St. Thomas at Bardstown, Kentucky, and the seminary plans he drew up for St. Mary's were to be modeled after Bardstown. The planned building was to be 60 feet by 36 feet, and 2 1/2 stories tall, with a full basement, 2 halls, 2 cellars each 25 feet by 17 feet, plastered on inside and outside, although the resulting building was said to have been a combination log-house, frame-house, brick-house, stone-house, owing to construction compromises.

Bishop DuBourg purchased a sawmill about a mile and a half from the seminary to provide lumber for the seminary construction. The construction on the seminary began in 1817, but before the seminary building was completed, Father de la Croix and two Flemish brothers from Bardstown were transferred to help build church buildings elsewhere, and Father Rosati took over supervision of seminary construction, appointing Father Francis Cellini, C.M., who had arrived in 1819 with two other Lazarists, to finish supervision of construction. The seminary here was the official seminary of the entire St. Louis diocese until 1842, when the diocesan seminary was moved to St. Louis, and St. Mary's was reserved only for training Vincentians seminarians. The Novitiate was moved from Perryville to Cape Girardeau in 1841.The wooden seminary structure was built in 1834, and was still standing in 1900, but was torn down in the 1913 renovations.

The first brick seminary building (Rosati Hall or Building A) was begun in 1850 and completed in 1851. This building of Federal s tyle, was constructed with handmade red brick, by Joseph Lansman, under the supervision of John J. Lynch, C.M. The adjacent building, Oliva Hall (or Building B), was constructed in 1898, and includes some Late Gothic Revival style features. It was designed by Nicholas John Steines, a student of architecture at St. Mary's. The eastern building (Building C) is Thomas Smith Hall, built in 1892, of Late Gothic Revival style, with T. J. Furlong as architect and Joseph Lansman as contractor.

*The front of the church started to fall away because of foundation problems. The Vincentians extended the front and added the tower and two side altars.

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(c) The Church

The church was founded by the C.M. fathers. Initial work on the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary Parish, which included what later was just St. Mary's of the Barrens was begun in 1818 on the plans from Father de la Croix, and finished in 1820. Cost $800. Bishop Joseph Rosati blessed this first church in 1820. Because of the rapid growth of the parish, a more permanent, larger church was needed.

At the request of Bishop Rosati, the Vicar General in Rome sent a Vincentian Brother, Angelo Oliva (1777-1835), to direct the building of a new church. Oliva arrived in America July 1, 1823, with a new group of Vincentians from Rome, and reached St. Mary's early in November. Oliva was an experienced and skillful stone cutter by profession and a well-trained mason.

The new church plans proposed in 1826 to replace the original wood church were based on the original plans of Monte Citorio, both in ground-plan and size. The cornerstone was laid on January 1, 1827, and foundation excavations were begun January 6, 1827. Apparently work then stalled for several years, because the original plans were deemed to be too elaborate and too expensive to complete.

The potential work force included several specialists. In 1827, St. Mary's included brothers skilled in the following specialties: stonecutter, mason, and carpenter (as well as tailor, shoemaker). From 1829 through 1833, the C.M. community rented the slave Will Brown, from a local slave owner, to mold bricks. The first mention of Valerio Faina, who is listed as a secular stonecutter living near St. Mary's, was made in 1830.

Father John Odin, C.M., was sent to Europe in 1831 to secure funds to complete the church, and when he returned, Angelo Oliva, C.M., was appointed to be in charge of the new church construction, for a revised building design reduced to one-third of the size of the original plan. One of Oliva's principal duties was to supervise the work of the local builder, Valerio Faina, who had assumed the contract that year (1831). Angelo Oliva was a trained stonecutter who had been sent from Italy specifically to help build churches, and was involved in stone sculpture work at the Old Cathedral in St. Louis, St. Joachim in Old Mines, and the old church at Ste. Genevieve. None of his work apparently survives at these locales, and St. Mary's has the only remaining evidence of his sculpture contributions.

Father Odin is responsible for the large stone carved washbasin in the sacristy, and much of the stone work on the original church of St. Mary's. In 1832, a new, revised, contract was drawn up between the Congregation of the Mission, again with Oliva as overseer, and Valerio Faina, contractor, with changed wall heights (lower) and changed tower heights (higher), for a building 124 feet by 64 feet. The contract called for $150 to Faina for work already completed on the foundation, and $2,926 for building stone for the church, with the C.M. Order to provide the necessary sand and lime for the mortar. Oliva died in 1835, about two years before the completion of the main church. The church was consecrated October 29, 1837 by Bishop Rosati. A subsequent contract was made in 1838 for Valerio Faina and his partner Taylor to finish the towers. In 1839, the church is listed as being the largest parish outside of St. Louis, with 3,400 parishioners.

A description of the stone church was printed in the November 30, 1837 issue of the Catholic Telegraph of Cincinnati. It described the church as being 124 feet by 64 feet, with a front of dressed stone, as well as the two towers being constructed at the corners. "The whole front is a lasting memorial to the devotedness and perseverance of the venerable Oliva", with an inscription carved in stone by him over the door. "Although occupied alone in cutting the stone for this church and superintending its erection, this excellent man found time to contribute a considerable portion of his labor to the churches of St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve." The interior of the church is described as being of the "Tuscan Order". The limestone altar was painted to mimic green marble with the moldings and front covered with gilt. Each side nave has three altars, one large one in the center chapel, and two smaller ones adjoining it. The sanctuary was 30 feet square under a dome 45 feet in height. On each side of the sanctuary was a small gallery, one of which had the organ.

Improvements and additions of many sorts were made in 1888 to 1893, and in 1913. During the renovations of 1888, the soft stone of the tower was found to be in an active state of disintegration, the veneer of stones on the towers was loose, and much work was expended to try to stabilize the stone work on the two towers, which was criticized as being of poor quality. The plaster on the inside of the church was falling off in many places, because it was laid without lathing, and so the entire plaster facing on the interior, including the early frescoes, was completely stripped off and replaced. The cedar shake roof was recovered with a tin roof in 1888. A new stained glass window was placed over the entry door in 1889. St. Joseph's marble altar was added as well in 1889, with the original limestone altar included as the core of the new altar. A new floor and pews were put in in 1893.

In 1913, another major set of renovations were made. The two towers on the front of the church were torn down because of the problems with the soft crumbling stone. The front of the church was expanded by the addition of two side altars and a vestibule, extending the length by 40 feet. The new addition was 60 feet, but the old front of the church was taken down 20 feet and rebuilt from the ground up, so the net extension was 40 feet. New additions were made to the main altar. The facade was changed from a Tuscan Renaissance to Romanesque. Later additions include the Miraculous Medal Shrine in 1930, and the current Angelus bell tower in 1980.

(d) Other century old features.

The Mound of Our Lady, at the southern end of the complex, was constructed sometime between 1850 and 1860. P.O. 1823-date.

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Doerr-Brown House

Doerr-Brown house a.k.a.. Museum for Perry County History.

A second house used by the Perry county Museum association. A 2 1/2 story brick house of the local Missouri German style, but with Victorian Italianate style features as well, constructed between 1877 and 1879, with a limestone block foundation.

The original porch has been replaced by a more classical design sometime after 1900. House is believed to have been constructed by Arsan Gallier as a residence, later owned by Louis Doerr, and still later by Robert Brown. Near to the William P. Faherty house.. 17 East St. Joseph St. P.O. 1823-date.

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Courthouse

The second courthouse was built in 1859, and was a two-story brick building. The third courthouse was begun in 1900 and finished in 1904; J. W. Gladstone (one source) or J. W. Gaddis (another source) of Vincennes, Indiana was the architect.

Caldwell and Drake, of Columbus, Indiana, were the general contractors. The 65 x 92 ft ground plan red brick building was built at a cost of $31,819. P.O. 1823-date.

*A strong example of “Tri-partide” organization—a dominant form in the center with smaller forms at each end.

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Shelby-Nicholson-Behindier House

The rear wing of the two-story, L-shaped house is believed to have been constructed by Dr. Reuben Shelby sometime prior to 1860. Shelby was a medical doctor by profession, but served in several local political capacities: as Judge of the county Court, County Surveyor, County Treasurer, Perry County state representative, Speaker of the House, and subsequently as State Senator from Perryville. The front part of the L-shaped structure is believed to have been constructed by Judge John H. Nicholson in 1870. The Schindlers were the most recent owners.

The porches on the house are not original, but thought to be copies of the original porches. Decorative details include the entrance porch with its modified entablature trimmed by brackets; lintels and lugsills on the windows; the parapet trimmed by dentils and projected moldings; brick painted to simulate pilasters and quoins; and semi-circular, segmental, and rectangular window and doorway surround treatments. P.O. 1823-date.

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