© 2024 KRCU Public Radio
90.9 Cape Girardeau | 88.9-HD Ste. Genevieve | 88.7 Poplar Bluff
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Southeast Missouri had a key role in the road to Missouri statehood in 1817-1821. The events leading to statehood, and some of the events, people, and lifeways in the area may be unfamiliar to many modern-day Missourians. Currently, Missouri is celebrating its Bicentennial, and this program aims to summarize the events leading to statehood, some of the factors affecting Missouri’s entry into the Union, and how people lived and worked during that time 200 years ago.Every Friday morning at 6:42 and 8:42 a.m. and Saturday morning at 8:18 a.m., Bill Eddleman highlights the people, places, ways of life, and local events in Southeast Missouri in 1821.The theme music for the show ("The Missouri Waltz") is provided by Old-Time Missouri Fiddler Charlie Walden, host of the podcast "Possum’s Big Fiddle Show."

Missouri Bicentennial Minutes: The Death of Father de Andreis

The Very Revd. Felix de Andreis, frontispiece of an 1861 edition of Sketches of the Life of the Very Rev. Felix de Andreis by Joseph Rosati.

Welcome to the Missouri Bicentennial Minute from the State Historical Society of Missouri.

At the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Perryville is a beautiful marble slab marking the tomb of Father Felix De Andreis. This month we commemorate the bicentennial of his death on October 15, 1820.

Father De Andreis was born in northern Italy, ordained in 1802, and was transferred to Rome to teach and minister to the poor. Some years later, William Du Bourg, bishop of Louisiana, arrived in Rome to recruit church leaders to serve the Missouri Territory. Father De Andreis felt called to do so, and left Rome in 1815, arriving in America in 1816.

After teaching theology in Kentucky at the Seminary of St. Thomas for two years, he was appointed as the first Vicar-General in St. Louis. Upon arrival he saw to construction of a log chapel in south St. Louis, dedicating it to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. In St. Louis, he headed two schools, one for religious students and one for seculars. He was the first Superior of Vincentians in the U. S., and also Parish Priest of St. Louis Cathedral.

His greatest legacy, though is establishment of the seminary of St. Marys of The Barrens at Perryville, to which he dispatched Father Joseph Rosati and other Vincentians. The seminary was the first institution of higher learning west of the Mississippi. Father De Andreis remained at his post in St. Louis. Although he missed his home in Italy, he prepared for his dream of ministering to the indigenous peoples west of the Mississippi and up the Missouri River.

Unfortunately, Father De Andreis, who was never physically robust, fell ill in late 1820. When he died at age 42, members of his flock mourned a leader of exceptional humility with a legacy of advancing the Church in territorial Missouri.

Bill Eddleman was born in Cape Girardeau, and is an 8th-generation Cape Countian. His first Missouri ancestor came to the state in 1802. He attended SEMO for two years before transferring to the University of Missouri to study Fisheries and Wildlife Biology. He stayed at Mizzou to earn a master of science in Fisheries and Wildlife, and continued studies in Wildlife Ecology at Oklahoma State University.
Related Content