Photos of Saint Monica Church, in Creve Coeur, Missouri

Here is Saint Monica Church in Creve Coeur, Missouri, located about 17 miles west of downtown Saint Louis.




This is one of five Catholic churches in the suburban town of Creve Coeur, with this parish being founded in 1872. While the church building is fairly recent, an old cemetery is behind it.

It is located on Olive Boulevard, formerly known as Olive Street Road (as an extension of Olive Street in downtown Saint Louis), and Central Plank Road, since it was covered in wood planks. It was originally an Indian trail that directly connected the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.




YOUR EARS WERE OPEN
TO THE CRY
OF HER HEART
O GOOD OMNIPOTENT

Confessions 3, 11, 19-20

This is a statue of Saint Monica (born in 333 at Tagaste, North Africa; died in 387 at Ostia, near Rome), mother of Saint Augustine of Hippo, Doctor and Father of the Church. She is shown here in the orans prayer position (which is one of the most ancient symbols of the Church), interceding for her wayward, lazy, and faithless son. Her prayers were answered. She is the patroness of mothers with disappointing children.




Creve Coeur is French for "broken heart", and the town shares its name with nearby Creve Coeur Lake, the largest natural lake in the state. Local legend states that the name comes from a lovelorn, broken-hearted Indian girl, stricken with grief over her unrequited love for a French furtrapper, who jumped to her death at Dripping Springs, a waterfall on a cliff next to Creve Coeur Lake. Alternatively, the name may come from Fort Crèvecoeur, about one hundred miles north of here on the Illinois River, the first European structure in what was once known as Lower Canada. According to Flemish priest Louis Hennepin, "Our Fort was also very near finish'd; and we nam'd it the Fort of Crevecoeur, because the desertion of our Men, and the other Difficulties we labour'd under, had almost broke our Hearts."


Address:

12136 Olive Boulevard
Creve Coeur, Missouri 63141