Basilica of St. Louis, King of France 19th century. Bishop Joseph Rosati, who ordered the construction of the church, is interred in a vault underneath the sanctuary. Basilica of St. Louis, King of France The Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France (), formerly the Cathedral of Saint Louis, and colloquially the Old Cathedral, was the first cathedral west of the Mississippi River and until 1845 the only parish church in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. It is one of two Catholic basilicas in St. Louis, and it is named for King Louis IX of France, also the namesake for the city of St. Louis. The
Name of France and "French" have had strong bearings in the abolition of slavery and serfdom in France. Indeed, in 1315, king Louis X issued an edict abolishing slavery and proclaiming that "France signifies freedom", that any slave setting foot on (metropolitan) French ground should be freed. This decree served as the basis for a group of crusading lawyers at the parlement of Paris, many of whom were members of the Society of the Friends of the Blacks, winning unprecedented emancipation rights in a series of cases before the French revolution, which (temporarily) led to the complete abolition of slavery on French territories