The gorgeous cathedral became a landmark in the midwestern city and for decades served parishioners of more than a dozen nationalities.
But as families started moving out to the suburbs, the church, dubbed the Cathedral of south St Louis, saw a massive drop in parishioners, the church website states.
St Francis de Sales was closed by the Archdiocese of St Louis in June 2005, and the church was forced to merge with another local parish.
The cathedral was scheduled to be torn down and sold, a crime against both man and God but was saved that July when Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke made the church an Oratory where Mass is strictly administered in Latin.
St Francis de Sales is now one of about 450 churches across the country that regularly celebrate the traditional Latin Mass and is seemingly booming.
