“Even the pews stood up”: The Forgotten History of the Racial Integration of Saint Louis University

On February 11, 1944, at the 8:45 AM student Mass in Saint Louis University’s St. Francis Xavier College Church, Fr. Claude Heithaus, SJ, delivered a homily that would forever change the University. This homily was a calculated act--carefully re-written and revised, shared among trusted confidantes, and distributed to the press—that pushed Saint Louis University into the reluctant role of being a leader in racial justice in education.

The United States was still a country struggling with the issue of segregation. No universities in the state of Missouri were integrated. Although some St. Louis parishes and parochial schools were integrated, most were not. St. Louis Archbishop John Glennon was against integration to the point of bigotry. When the Sisters of Loretto wanted to admit a black Catholic student to their Webster College, Archbishop Glennon blocked the move.