General Information

Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, legally titled the St. Louis Roman Catholic Theological Seminary, is a not-for-profit corporation operated by the Archdiocese of St. Louis under the laws of the State of Missouri.  It comprises Kenrick School of Theology, a four-year graduate and professional program that prepares men for ordination to the Roman Catholic priesthood, and Cardinal Glennon College, a four-year undergraduate program that prepares men for ordination studies at Kenrick or elsewhere.  Founded in 1893, the seminary today continues a rich heritage of philosophical, theological, and priestly pastoral service, attentive to the needs of its constituencies, while cognizant of the challenges of contemporary evangelization.

 

The Souvay Memorial Library holds over 90,000 print items with strengths in theology, philosophy, canon law, and church history.  As a founding member of the MOBIUS Consortium, which encompasses 80 academic and public libraries across Missouri and neighboring states, Souvay gives patrons direct access to an additional 25 million volumes. The library also offers extensive digital resources, including access to over 300,000 e-books, dozens of databases, and millions of articles through EBSCO, JSTOR, and Project Muse.  The library space provides study carrels (some with computers), small group study rooms, and comfortable reading areas.  Seminarians read and study surrounded by 33 images of the Church Doctors by local artist Anne Torrini. Three professional librarians are available to assist patrons with their research needs.

The Souvay Memorial Library recognizes three essential principles that animate all of its activity and strategic planning.

 

1. To serve the mission and support the intellectual life of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and the Catholic Church.
2. To become a national model of library excellence in its Catholic, theological, and seminary contexts.
3. To forge and maintain strategic relationships with a broad range of partners–locally, nationally, globally–in furtherance of our mission.

David Morris, PhD: Director of the Souvay Memorial Library and Associate Professor of Library Science

• davidmorris@kenrick.edu
• 314-792-6302
• Dr. David Morris became Director of the Souvay Memorial Library in August of 2021.  Prior to his arrival at Kenrick-Glennon, he served as an academic librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he oversaw one of the nation’s largest collections devoted to classical studies and patristics.  A medievalist by training and a specialist in church history, Dr. Morris holds a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Illinois, a master’s degree in medieval history from the University of St. Andrews (UK), and a doctorate in medieval history from the University of Notre Dame.  He is the recipient of a Rome Prize and is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.  In 2022, Dr. Morris was elected by his fellow library directors and deans to the MOBIUS Board of Directors, which governs a multistate consortium encompassing eighty academic and public libraries, including Souvay.

 

Franny Behrman: Access Services Librarian

• francesbehrman@kenrick.edu
• 314-792-6144
• Franny Behrman joined the Souvay Memorial Library in 2018, having previously served as a reference and bibliographic instruction librarian at the University of Missouri – St. Louis.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Grinnell College, a master’s degree in library and information science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a master’s degree in creative writing from Lindenwood University.

 

Rose Lawson: Serials & Acquisitions Librarian

• lawson@kenrick.edu
• 314-792-6131
• Rose Lawson joined the Souvay Memorial Library in 2001. Previously, she worked for fifteen years as an acquisitions librarian at Saint Louis University Medical Center Library.

 

Affiliated Librarians

 

Becky Givens: Technical Services Librarian, Covenant Theological Seminary

• becky.givens@covenantseminary.edu
• 314-392-4104
• Cataloging & Metadata Consultant

 

Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick founded what is today the Souvay Memorial Library in 1893 by transferring the diocesan library at St. John’s Hall–some 20,000 volumes–to the new seminary at the intersection of 19th Street and Cass Avenue near downtown St. Louis. The library grew rapidly with the 1896 donation of Rev. James Cleary’s personal collection, followed shortly thereafter by the inclusion of St. Catherine’s Library, a collection assembled and curated by the seminarians themselves.

 

The library’s role as a scholarly resource came into focus under the leadership of Rev. Charles Leon Souvay, CM (1870-1939), a renowned scripture scholar and expert in Semitic languages who served as Kenrick Seminary’s first faculty librarian, its sixth rector, and later the nineteenth superior general of the worldwide Vincentian Order. Under Father Souvay’s direction, the library relocated in 1915 to New Kenrick Seminary (today’s Rigali Center), where it would reside for the next seven decades. To honor Father Souvay’s legacy, Cardinal Carberry rededicated the seminary library to the French Vincentian in 1976. The Souvay Memorial Library merged with the library of Cardinal Glennon College and moved into its current location in Shrewsbury, Missouri in 1987.

 

Today, Souvay boasts deep holdings in Catholic theology, a rare book collection, and a state-of-the-art space–the result of a 2011-2013 renovation that doubled the size of its facilities.  It also benefits enormously from its membership in the MOBIUS Consortium, a partnership with 80 other libraries across Missouri and neighboring states, giving Kenrick faculty and seminarians easy access to 300,000 e-books (more than triple our on-site print collection) and 25 million print volumes.

• Rev. Charles Leon Souvay, CM, 1912-1932

• Rev. Leo P. Foley, CM, 1934-1942

• Rev. Gilmore H. Guyot, CM, 1942-1950

• Rev. Patrick J. Mullins, CM, 1950-1958

• Rev. Gilmore H. Guyot, CM, 1958-1964

• Rev. F. Bruce Vawter, CM, 1964-1966

• Margaret De Lisle, 1966-1969

• Nicolette Ehernberger, 1969-1972

• Sr. Maria Celia Bauer, SSND, 1972-1978

• Rev. Myron Gohmann, CP, 1978-1985

• Jaquelin M. Page, 1985-199

• Mary Beth Gladieux, 1991-1993

• Dr. Andrew Sopko, 1993-2010

• Dr. John Gresham, 2010-2011

• Mary Ann Aubin, 2011-2021

• Dr. David Morris, 2021-date

1893: The seminary library is born when Archbishop Kenrick of St. Louis transfers the diocesan library to the new seminary that soon comes to bear his name.

 

1912: A designated librarian, Fr. Charles Leon Souvay, Professor of Sacred Scripture, is listed among the officers of Kenrick Seminary for the first time.

 

1915: Kenrick Seminary and its library move into a new, purpose-built campus in Shrewsbury, in suburban St. Louis–what is today the Rigali Center.

 

1949: A standing faculty Library Committee forms, the precursor to today’s Information Resources Committee.

 

1950: Rev. Patrick Mullins, CM becomes seminary librarian. Holding a degree in library science, he is the first professionally trained librarian appointed to the position.

 

1966: Margaret De Lisle becomes seminary librarian. She is the first woman and the first layperson to hold the position.

 

1971: The library joins a resource-sharing program with other nearby seminary and theological libraries, a forerunner of the St. Louis Theological Consortium and, later still, the MOBIUS Consortium.

 

1976: Cardinal Carberry rededicates the seminary library to Father Souvay, honoring his role as Kenrick Seminary librarian and rector, and as leader of the Vincentian Order.

 

1987: The Souvay Memorial Library merges with the library of Cardinal Glennon College, and moves into its current building on Glennon Drive in Shrewsbury.

 

1998: The MOBIUS Consortium is formed, linking most of the major libraries of St. Louis and Missouri. Souvay is a founding member.

 

2001: William Toombs, technical services and systems librarian, creates Souvay’s first website.

 

2002: The catalog and circulation systems become fully automated, leading to the retirement of the card catalog.

 

2006: Souvay acquires its most precious holding: a thirteenth-century manuscript codex of canon law texts by St. Raymond of Penyafort. The manuscript is a gift from the Midwest Province of the Vincentian Order.

 

2013: Under the directorship of Mary Ann Aubin, the library completes an 18-month, $1.7 million renovation, doubling its size and giving it its current facilities.

 

2018: Souvay gains membership in the American Theological Library Association (ATLA), the nation’s premier group devoted to theological libraries and librarianship.