Car of Commerce Chute

A view of the Car of Commerce Chute, with Pelican Island on the right; taken from Sioux Passage Park in extreme northern Saint Louis County. The chute, which is near flooding in this photo, is a narrow side-channel of the Missouri River.

According to a history of this park:

The confluence of the Missouri River and Mill Creek was a favored campsite for Indians of the late woodland and Mississippian periods. The area featured good hunting and fishing. A source of flint for the manufacture of tools and weapons was readily available. An easily accessible spring provided all-important drinking water. The area provided the needs of the early inhabitants. It is possible that Indians of the Middle Woodland period inhabited the area as early as 100 A.D. The Sioux Passage Park Archaeological Site, listed in the National Register in 1974, is located in the park.

Sioux Passage is located at spot where the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers run parallel to each other, and an overland short-cut can be taken between the rivers. This recalls an historical event: a band of Sioux in canoes were being pursued by their enemies down the river: these Indians were able to take this shortcut, thereby eluding their pursuers. The nearby town of Portage des Sioux commemorates this overland portage.

Pelican Island is over 2000 acres in size, and is one of the few remaining large islands on the lower Missouri River, and likely gets its name from the birds who nested there. It is a nature reserve and can be accessed by boat, or on foot during extreme drought. Some old maps show a causeway to the island, but recent aerial photos show that causeway to be largely destroyed by the river.



Another view of Pelican Island and the Chute.  The island is basically a large, heavily forested swamp.  The trees on the opposite shore are covered with vines of native grape.



Tree trunks were floating by like toothpicks in the stream of the river. At the time of early European exploration of this region, flooding would wipe out entire forests, filling the Missouri River with enormous rafts of trees, making river travel hazardous or impossible. The trunk in the foreground is called a snag — tree roots get waterlogged, and sink to the bottom; the current pushes the floating top of the tree downstream and the trunk therefore acts like a spike.  Snags would impale boats going up the river, making these serious hazards to navigation.

The name of this stream seems odd, but is taken after a steamboat which sank here in 1832. “Car of Commerce” was actually a fairly common steamboat name; at least five boats with that name did trade along the western rivers. Before the age of automobiles, ‘car’, from the Latin carrus, was a poetical word meaning ‘chariot’.  Here is a historical record of the Car of Commerce wreck; click image to go to the document:



Musick's Ferry was located near the other end of the chute. The remains of very many sunken steamboats, and modern-day steel barges, can be seen in the riverbed during times of low water.

Click here for a map of the area.

Photos of All Souls Church, in Overland, Missouri

HERE ARE PHOTOS of All Souls Church, in Overland, Missouri. The church is located about 15 highway miles northwest of downtown Saint Louis and is about two miles south of Lambert-Saint Louis International Airport.



This church is built in honor of the Holy Souls, those souls of the faithful departed who need our prayers. Most traditional religion, including Eastern Orthodoxy and Orthodox Judaism, pray for the dead, although the theology of this practice is more highly developed in Catholicism.

This photo was taken at sunset.

Overland is built on what was the Spanish colonial "King's Road" to Saint Charles, dating from 1772, which was an overland trail to the West that bypassed treacherous parts of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. The route was renamed Saint Charles Rock Road in 1865 when it was paved with crushed stone macadam.

ERECTED 1950

✝CHURCH OF ✝
ALL SOULS

MOST REV. JOS. E. RITTER S.T.D.
ARCHBISHOP OF ST. LOUIS

REV. WALTER J. TUCKER PASTOR

According to the 2007 parish census, this church has approximately 1,834 Catholics.







On the altar are the Greek letters Α and Ω, alpha and omega, the first and last letters in the alphabet:

Ego sum Alpha et Omega principium et finis dicit Dominus Deus qui est et qui erat et qui venturus est Omnipotens .
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. (Apocalypse 1:8)

☧ is a combination of Χ (chi) and Ρ (rho), the first letters of 'Christ' in Greek.



The tabernacle.



Liturgical vessels, ready for Mass.



The communion rail.



Detail of communion rail. Perhaps the bird is a pelican chick, drinking from the Precious Blood, as in the allegorical story of the pelican who smote his own breast to feed his dying chicks. Note the use again of the Chi-rho emblem, and a basket of loaves. Other symbols on the railing include the fish and torch.



Mary's altar.



Joseph's altar.



Mosaic icons of Mary and Jesus.



Elaborately dressed Infant Jesus of Prague, under glass.



One of the confessionals. The use of confessionals are a way of guaranteeing the anonymity of the Sacrament, since the priest typically cannot see the penitent. While most associated with the Counter-Reformation, an early kind of confessional in women's monasteries dates from the Middle Ages, where the priest was separated from the Sisters by a grille. Sometimes the grille was in the outside wall of a church. A form of confession still practiced in the East has the penitent kneeling in front of the priest, under his cope.

Sigmund Freud noted that Catholics who regularly received the Sacrament of Penance did not need his new therapy of psychoanalysis; ironically, in recent decades, a new practice of face-to-face confessions was encouraged by some theologians, in imitation of psychoanalysis.



A view down a side-aisle. In the back you can see a crowd forming, waiting for a wedding rehearsal.



Abstract stained glass window.

Address:
9550 Tennyson Avenue
Overland MO 63114

Photos of Saint Martin of Tours Church, in Lemay

HERE ARE PHOTOS of Saint Martin of Tours Church, in the south Saint Louis County unincorporated community of Lemay. This parish dates from 1939, and the church building from 1951.  It is located about ten miles southwest of downtown Saint Louis, near the Mississippi River, in what was once the historical common fields of Carondelet.



The church appears to be made of native limestone, with aluminum trim: the architectural use of that metal became popular in Art Deco building, and continued with Modernism.



This church has a plan not much different than what is found in neo-Gothic buildings made half a century before, but uses the styling of Modernism. This was typical of the pre-Concilliar period, and this kind of artful High Modernism was quickly abandoned by the mid-1960s in favor of less Catholic  designs.



The sanctuary is spartan, yet finely made, as was common during that era. Behind the tabernacle is a new stained glass window which shows the five Luminous Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Luminous Mysteries were proclaimed by Pope John Paul II in October of 2002.



Nice linen covers the altar, which is supported by columns carved with acanthus leaves.



The tabernacle is stone with bronze doors depicting angels in adoration. On the base is the pious pelican, a Christological symbol of sacrificial love. Our Lord waits here in secret; perhaps we could spend some time with Him?



Stained glass windows in the clerestory depict the fifteen traditional mysteries of the Rosary; here is the Finding of the Christ Child in the Temple.



At the musicians' niche, a lyre is depicted in a window.



Sorrowful mysteries towards the back.



Relics, and a statue of Saint Martin of Tours (ca. 316 - ca. 397). Martin was a Roman soldier, then a holy monk, and then Bishop of Tours in Gaul. According to legend, Saint Martin went into hiding to avoid being made bishop, but a honking goose revealed his location.

Saint Martin has a traditional devotion in France, particularly by men. Whenever France sank into degeneracy and effeminacy — as it is today — renewed devotion to this great Saint led to a great national revival. We ought to remember that Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, or Veterans Day — November 11^th — all have their root in Saint Martin's Day. Saint Martin de Tours, priez pour la France!



Confessional.



Holy oil.



Infant Jesus of Prague.



Our Mother of Perpetual Help.



A freshly-lit votive candle.



A prayer when lighting a votive candle.



☩     THIS STONE     ☩
WAS BLESSED AND PLACED
 BY THE MOST REVEREND
 JOSEPH E. RITTER D.D.
ARCHBISHOP OF ST. LOUIS
   ON APRIL 22, 1951
☩      A.M.D.G      ☩

Address:
610 West Ripa Avenue
Saint Louis, Missouri 63125

Photos of Saint Gertrude Church, in Krakow, Missouri

HERE ARE PHOTOS of Saint Gertrude Church, in Krakow, Missouri. The church is located 55 highway miles west of downtown Saint Louis, in rural Franklin County.



Note the metal roof on the church. This is an excellent, but nowadays rarely-used building material. The tower is rather unusual.

The parish was founded in 1845, and was originally Polish.

According to Library of Congress data:

"Built ca. 1870. Said to have been designed by Father Benis, resident priest. Wrought-iron balustrade made by local Polish blacksmith."

The church seems to have been recently renovated. The odor of fresh paint was obvious. Clear glass windows line the sides of the church.

The church is named after Saint Gertrude the Great (1256-1302).



The sanctuary, decorated for Pentecost. These photos were taken on May 30^th.





Detail of altar. Note the pelican symbol: the bird sacrifices itself for the sake of its young; this is a Christological symbol.



Statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary.



14^th Station of the Cross: Jesus is laid in the sepulchre.



The holy oils.



The baptismal font.



Icon of Saint Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus.



Pipe organ in the choir loft.



The rectory.

Mass times:
Saturday (vigil): 4:30 p.m., 6:00 p.m.
Sunday: 7:30 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 10:30 a.m.
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: 8:00 a.m.
Tuesday: 7:00 p.m. with Perpetual Help Devotions
Holy Days: vigil 5:00 p.m., 8:00 a.m., 7:00 p.m.

Confession:
Saturday: 4:00 to 4:20 p.m.
Sunday: 7:00 to 7:20 a.m.

Eucharist Adoration:
Mondays following 8:00 a.m. Mass until 12:00 p.m.

Address:
6535 Highway YY
Krakow, Missouri 63090