Ep. 4.54: The Oratory Finds a Home: Latin Liturgy Flourishes in West County

This episode traces the remarkable journey of the Oratory of Saints Gregory and Augustine as Archbishop Raymond Burke works to establish a permanent home for the growing community devoted to the 1962 Latin Mass. Beginning with the departure of the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem, we follow how Father Thomas Keller stepped in to stabilize the group, how Abbot Thomas opened space at the Priory, and how the oratory quickly expanded beyond anything originally imagined. Monsignor Witt recounts the oratory’s explosive growth, its rich liturgical life under Father Bede Price, the eventual need to relocate, and the providential transition to All Saints in University City—complete with potlucks, packed pews, and Corpus Christi processions through the Delmar Loop. The story culminates with the oratory’s move to St. Luke the Evangelist under Monsignor Eugene Morris, alongside Archbishop Burke’s broader efforts to renew sacred music through the arrival of Benedictine scholar Father Samuel Weber.