Preaching From The Store

Vincentian Store

Father Joseph Begue, CM, and Lauretta Crouse at the Vincentian Press

Walk into the Vincentian Press and you will be overwhelmed with gracious service and rows of traditional religious goods and church furnishings. All this retail work conducted under the watchful eye of Father Joseph Begue, CM, for the last 47 years.

From the available records, it appears that the Vincentian Press began in St. Louis in 1927 when sharing the four-story building at 1405 S. Ninth Street with the Vincentian magazine (which has been out of publication since the early 1960s.) Although the magazine has not been printed in nearly 45 years, the name Vincentian Press stuck for the retail store and it hasn’t been changed because of its strong reputation and public recognition.

In the early years of its existence, the Vincentian Mission Band was engaged in preaching traditional Catholic missions. In support of the Mission Band, and when requested by the pastor of the parish, the Vincentian Press would supply an assortment of religious articles (rosaries, statues, children’s books, etc.) on a consignment basis and at a discounted price to be available for sale to the parishioners. At the conclusion of the Mission, the unsold religious articles could be returned for full credit. This was especially helpful for parishes in rural areas where parishioners did not have easy access to established religious goods stores.


	Fr. Joseph helps a customer at the Vincentian Press.

After 1965, the aforementioned works trailed off and the project began to rely on the same traffic it does today: customers coming in off the street, telephone and fax orders. (No, they are not on the Internet and don’t plan to be as they are reasonably successful and enjoy the face-to-face contact with customers.) Although their primary service area is Missouri and Illinois, they have requests and made shipments throughout the world.

“We concentrate on serving a smaller area but we try to give better service; and, we believe we have the best selection of religious articles in the state of Missouri,” shared Fr. Joseph.

Fr. Joseph was assigned to the Vincentian Press in the Fall of 1958. With a background in accounting and education, he brought many skills to this job and also helped in various parishes on Sundays.

Although things have changed, he feels very blessed to be there. “It’s wonderful and I have several blessings…as we are able to do a lot of apostolic work here,” shared Fr. Joseph. “We are here to survive, make a small profit and teach the Faith and we have many opportunities to do that each and every day. The grace of God is all important,” he adds.

When he was originally assigned, Fr. Joseph was told that this work was a service and although it needs to pay its own bills, it is not driven by the bottom line and profits. Fr. Joseph has maintained that philosophy to this day.

At age 81, Fr. Joseph continues his work at the Vincentian Press six days a week. “It’s been fun to be here and preach the Faith. Most Catholics who come in the door are poorly instructed in Catholic doctrine and practice and this gives us the opportunity to instruct people and do some informal teaching. And, you meet a lot of people not of our Faith and this gives me the chance to represent the Catholic Church in a positive way. That is why it is such a satisfying job,” says Fr. Joseph.

Fr. Joseph has a bit of help keeping things moving each day with a part-time assistant named Rosemary Bellers and a full-time “angel” named Lauretta Crouse. Lauretta’s dad was active at St. Vincent’s parish (next door to the Vincentian Press) and her family grew up living a block away. Her mother was the secretary to Fr. Joseph’s predecessor, Father Robert Power, CM. When her mother told Fr. Power she would have to take the summer off to care for her children, he told her to bring them to work with her.

So, Lauretta started coming with her mother to work when she was in elementary school and began working there after school and on Saturdays by high school. After graduation, she was on staff full-time (and her mother worked there part-time until she was 75 years old.)

“Talk about dedication…Lauretta has been here longer than I have — for 51 years. She is such a blessing to me,” shares Fr. Joseph. “She knows this place from the ground up,” he adds.

Some of their more interesting orders have included a wood-carved Last Supper main altar and life-sized statues for St. Simon’s Church in St. Louis and a life-sized marble statue of St. Vincent for a hospital chapel in Texas (which was ordered by a Daughter of Charity originally from St. Louis who knew the Vincentian Press well and called upon their services even though she moved out of state.)

“You meet a lot of nice people here and this is interesting work as you get to do a little bit of everything,” Lauretta states. “But this job is really about doing lots of public relations. You go out of your way to help people and they remember that. You start to hear that people appreciate you and it is nice to work in an environment like that,” she concludes.

The Vincentian Press is located at 1405 S. Ninth Street and open Monday-Friday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Saturdays 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. For more information call 314/421-2834.

Vincentian is published bimonthly by the Midwest and Southern Provinces of the Congregation of the Mission, the Vincentian Priests and Brothers, to promote the apostolic works of its members and those of the larger Vincentian Family.

Congegration of the Mission, Vincentian
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