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St. Ferdinand Parish marked its 200th anniversary in October, 1988. During its 200-year history, the parish at times has been a part of the Diocese of Quebec, Santiago de Cuba, Havana, Louisiana and the Floridas and finally St. Louis. It was in the mid 1700's that the French began to invade the Mississippi Valley as settlers, giving birth to localities such as Florissant. Known then as St. Ferdinand de Florissant, it was a typical French Catholic village.
Like other French Catholics, their first concern was their religion. They decided to establish a village church even thought the prospects of securing a priest to minister there were remote. They built the church, the first in Florissant, in 1788 at the corner of St. Ferdinand and St. Louis Streets.
In 1792, a new log church was built four blocks away. In 1820, the log church was replaced by a new brick church. In the first 20 years there was no resident pastor, and various visiting priests came at intervals.
In 1823, Jesuit priests came to Florissant, locating at St. Ferdinand Parish until their own building, St. Stanislaus Seminary, coud be completed on another tract of land in Florissant. Father Charles F. Van Quickenborne became the first Jesuit Pastor of St. Ferdinand. This group of Jesuits came from Mayrland, and most were natives of Belgium.
Father Peter J. De Smet, SJ, known as the Apostle of the Indians, was ordained at St. Ferdinand in 1827. He died in 1873 and was buried at St. Stanislaus. The first motherhouse in the United States of the Scoiety of the Sacred Heart was established on the parish grounds by St. Rose Philippine Duchesne shortly after her arrival in St. Louis. The first Indian school for girls in the U.S. was established at the parish as was a free school for boys and girls, one of the first institutions of its kind west of the Mississippi.
German settlers began to arrive in the mid-1840's. They came in such great numbers that at the close of the Civil War another parish was needed and they established Most Sacred Heart Parish.
English, Irish, and other settlers also arrived in Florissant. The various people, despite their ethnic differences, merged into a cooperative community with their church at the center fo their spiritual, civic, and social life.
The Sister of Loretto came to the parish to staff the school in 1847. Priests of the Society of Jesus oversaw St. Ferdinand Parish until 1958 when they were needed for mission and education work and archdiocesan priests were assigned. A year earlier a new St. Ferdinand Church was built on Charbonier Road on property donated to the Archdiocese for this purpose by Tom and Mary Herbst, Sr. To prevent demolition of the old structure, Florissant residents rallied to preserve it as Old St. Ferdinand Shrine.
The combination church and school building at the new site was used until December 1960 when a contemporary church seating 700 persons was built. From 1958 to 1961 the parish tripled in population. Several addition were built on the old school in the late 1950's and 1960's.
The parish today is once again growing, with homes being developed on property formerly owned by St. Stanislaus Seminary. There are now some 2,100 households in the parish and 295 students in the parish school staffed by 19 lay and one religious teacher. The Parish School of Religion has over 260 students. Principal of the parish school is Mrs. Sue Finley, and PSR Co-ordinator is Pat Hennessy.
Reverend Gary M. Gebelein is the Pastor. Our Associate is Reverend Eugene Robertson and Reverend Glennon Goellner is our Senior Priest in Residence. Raymond C. Hennicke and Joseph Kroutil are our Permanent Deacons serving the parish.