Fire at the Former St. Liborius, SK8 Liborius

The unthinkable happened late on the night of June 28. The former St. Liborius Roman Catholic Church, which had been closed in 1992 by the Archdiocese. It became SK8 Liborius approximately ten years ago. The people behind SK8 Liborius had been working tirelessly over that time to fix up the former church, and I had…

St. Liborius, Early November 2021

It was a sunny day on Saturday and there was work being done on the continual restoration of the former German Roman Catholic parish of St. Liborius. I know many readers and former parishioners are upset about its current use as a skate park and arts center, but my continued opinion is that it is…

Death of St. Joseph, Calvary Mausoleum, Revisited

I took another look at the sculpture group from St. Liborius, which was moved from the church when it closed to the mausoleum at Calvary Cemetery. It is framed by Modernist windows by Emil Frei, which is fitting as it was once backlit by earlier stained glass by the same family when it was in…

St. Liborius, Interior, Revisited

Easily the posts that have elicited the strongest emotions from my readers have been the ones concerning St. Liborius, which was converted into a skate park after the previous owners had begun to let the building slip into property tax default. I recently made a return visit, and there are several changes in process at…

St. Liborius, September 2018

I know many of my readers are not thrilled with the current owners of St. Liborius, but I do want everyone to consider what happens to buildings with huge maintenance expenses that are abandoned. Taken for example the rectory, which is not owned by the same people as the church building. It is rapidly falling…

St. Liborius, Early January 2017

The light was wonderful on Saturday, so I snapped some photos of St. Liborius, one of my favorite churches in St. Louis. I actually like the contrast of brick and stone better than if it were completely cut stone.

A Side Altar from St. Liborius, Calvary Cemetery

Update: I photographed and identified this group in May of 2020. The sculpture group I found long ago in Calvary Cemetery’s mausoleum came from one of the transept altars, as can be seen below. Sadly, that altar, or what is left of it, is largely destroyed as of 2012.

St. Liborius, Before the Completion of the Spire

Valued reader Bob Shea also provided this intriguing photograph of St. Liborius before its iconic, and now truncated central spire was built. I also am interested in how rural the neighborhood looks in the background. This is probably sometime in the 1880s. See the church as its looks now here.

St. Liborius Angel?

Update: Most likely not, as we later were able to view the sculptures in Eureka. It’s been long said that many of the sculptures from St. Liborius in St. Louis Place ended up at Sacred Heart in Eureka. I had the opportunity to get inside, but I didn’t really see any thing that jumped out…