February 15: The Gateway Church

Welcome to the American Catholic Daily Reader podcast. Today is February 15th, and our story is The Gateway Church. René-Auguste Chouteau, Jr. was not yet 16 when he received an order, via letter, from his stepfather, Pierre de la Clède.

You will come here as soon as navigation opens, and will cause this place to be cleared, in order to form our settlement according to the plan I will give you. This place was on the west bank of the Mississippi River, in present-day Missouri. A wealthy trader, Laclede, wanted more for his goods than a mere warehouse. He wanted to create a new community of French settlers.

Accordingly, on February 15, 1764, Chouteau and thirty other men crossed the mighty Mississippi. Following his stepfather's instructions, he called this new city St. Louis. As the men cleared the land, Chouteau marked off a large portion of it, reserving it for a future church. In those first days, mass was celebrated there in a small tent, Within six years, a log cabin stood in its place. The cabin then served as the town's chapel for six more years, until Chouteau finally expanded it into a proper parish church.

In that church, Chouteau, who now ran his late stepfather's trading business, was married. His seven children were baptized there, and in 1829, he was buried in its cemetery. Two years after Choteau's death, the Diocese of St. Louis began constructing an even bigger church, still in the same spot where the tent had been plotted.

When the Cathedral of St. Louis, King of France, was completed in 1834, it was the first Catholic cathedral west of the Mississippi. Although the archdiocese later built a larger cathedral elsewhere, Pope John XXIII recognized the importance of that first cathedral in 1961 when he designated it a basilica. The city of St. Louis similarly recognized the church's importance by preserving it from destruction in 1939 when it raised 40 blocks of buildings to make room for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. The Basilica still stands there today.

From a teenage boy's obedience to his stepfather, to the creation of a city's first church, Chuto's story reminds us that God often calls us to lay foundations we may never see completed. Like Chuto, we are invited to take humble steps of faith, trusting that God will grow them into something lasting. Today, consider how you can create a space for prayer or reflection in your home or community. Even a small corner with a candle and Bible can become a spiritual foundation for your family or friends.

Thank you for listening to the American Catholic Daily Reader podcast. Join us tomorrow, February 16th, for another story of faith and courage in America.