Looking back 70 years:
The groundbreaking of the Shrine of Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne By Sandy Ahlheim and Theresa Grass
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Top: Removal of Philippine’s remains from the Round House in April 1951. From left: Archbishop Joseph Ritter; Mary Rueve, RSCJ; Cora Shaw, RSCJ; Mary Gilmore, RSCJ; Angela McCabe, RSCJ Bottom: Procession to the ground breaking for the Shrine of Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne on April 18, 1951. Lillian Conaghan, RSCJ (far left).
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Heart
2021 | Vol. 18, No. 1
fter Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne died on November 18, 1852, she was buried on the convent grounds in St. Charles, Missouri. Three years later, Mother Aloysia Jacquet, RSCJ, had a small octagonal shrine built in honor of Our Lady of the Pillar on the grounds of the Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Charles. Soon after, Mother Duchesne’s remains were removed from the cemetery and placed in this shrine where she rested for almost 100 years. When Mother Duchesne was beatified in 1940, the decision was made to replace the simple resting place on the Academy’s front lawn with a much larger shrine befitting a saint. Plans were drawn up for a basilica, and on April 18, 1951, the relics of then Blessed Rose Philippine Duchesne were transferred from the small octagonal shrine to a specially prepared marble sarcophagus. An alumna of the Academy, Nellie Carleton Ricker, recalled the feelings of those who were at that ceremony. “As the white satin-draped casket of the saintly pioneer was carried back into the convent which saw the beginning of her missionary labors, past the bare little room where she breathed her last prayerful breath, an indescribable thrill ran through the devoutly kneeling spectators.” The casket was lowered into the sarcophagus and sealed officially by Most Reverend Joseph E. Ritter, the
