Shrine Of St Josephs

What Shrine Of St Josephs does

The Shrine of St. Joseph is a historic Catholic church located at 1220 North 11th Street in St. Louis, Missouri, founded by the Jesuits in 1843 and dedicated in 1846 to serve German immigrants. The facility is owned by the Archdiocese of St. Louis and operated under a long-term lease by the Friends of the Shrine of St. Joseph, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation governed by a 15-member Board of Directors. It is the site of the only Vatican-authenticated miracle in the Midwestern United States (the 1864 cure of Ignatius Strecker, validated in 1887), and the building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. The Shrine is staffed by a rector (Father Dale Wunderlich since 2009) and supported by approximately 60 volunteers.

The Shrine's core offerings span religious services, lifecycle events, heritage tourism, and fundraising programs. Religious services include Sunday Mass at 11:00 AM and First Friday Mass at 12:00 noon, with sacrament offerings (weddings, funerals, the Seven Sundays devotion to St. Joseph) and a prayer-request ministry. Wedding ceremonies are conducted on Saturdays before the 1866–1867 Altar of Answered Prayers, with 3-6 volunteers serving as coordinators; the program can cover nearly half of operating expense if 60 weddings per year are held. The heritage-tourism product includes guided tours after Sunday Mass, private group tours, and a virtual tour accessible online. Fundraising and ancillary revenue streams include Friends of the Shrine memberships ($15/year), Steam & Air Club raffle memberships ($12/year), Memorial and Mass cards ($10 stipend per Mass card), professionally filmed DVDs ($22 each), Shrine Shoppe thrift-store sales, and a multi-purpose online donation platform.

The business model is almost entirely donor- and event-driven, with no paid pricing for worship services and free tours (donations appreciated). Communication and outreach rely on a biannual newsletter mailed to approximately 8,000 recipients, live streaming on Facebook and YouTube, the shrineofstjoseph.org website, and word-of-mouth. Notable heritage assets include the 1890 Pfeffer 35-rank tracker pipe organ (nearly 2,000 pipes, restored in 1999/2002 with 22-carat gold leaf on exposed pipes), twin 125-foot baroque towers (restored 2008), 14 ceiling bays and altars that received a 1988 American Institute of Architects Special Award of Excellence, and a 55-minute documentary that aired on EWTN for 11 years starting in 2001.

Name

Shrine Of St Josephs

Legal name

Shrine of St. Joseph

Website

https://shrineofstjoseph.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1846

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Shrine of St. Joseph is a historic Catholic church in St. Louis, MO (founded 1846; National Register of Historic Places since 1978) that serves worshippers, couples, and tourists via Mass, weddings, funerals, guided and virtual tours, and donor-supported restoration programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Religious Services

NAICS

Religious Organizations (8131), Religious Organizations (81311), Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

akta.pro primary industry

Local Congregations & Worship Communities (Churches, Mosques, Temples, Synagogues) (BPAGAJAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Places of Worship & Religious Facilities Operations (Cemeteries, Retreat Centers, Pilgrimage Sites) (BPAGAJAL), Religious Landmarks & Pilgrimage Sites (Temples, Churches, Shrines) (THAJACAG), Faith-Based Social Services & Community Outreach (Food Pantries, Shelters, Counseling) (BPAGAJAG)

Keywords

• Catholic worship services
• Religious ceremony venue
• Historic church tours
• Wedding ceremony hosting
• Funeral mass services

Headquarters

HQ city

St. Louis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Infrastructure, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Sunday Collections: Regular Sunday donations from worshippers attending Mass services held every Sunday at 11:00 AM and First Friday of each month at 12:00 Noon.
2. Friends Membership Dues: Annual membership fees of $15 per person to join Friends of the Shrine, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that manages the Shrine. Board members are elected by active members who have donated for at least 3 years.
3. Air & Steam Club: Monthly raffle drawing held first Sunday after 11:00 AM Mass. Membership costs $12 per year. Revenue designated for utility payments (heat and electric bills).
4. Online Donations: Secure online donation platform accepting contributions for various purposes including general donation, prayer mass, candlelight, Giving Tree, St. Patrick Women's Night Program, St. Louis Crisis Nursery, and other designations.
5. Wedding Services: Wedding ceremony bookings at the Shrine venue. Revenue generated through wedding program which can produce enough income to pay for nearly half the Shrine's operating expense if 60 weddings per year occur.
6. DVD Sales: Sale of professionally filmed and narrated 55-minute DVD or VHS film about the Shrine for $22 per copy.
7. Mass and Memorial Cards: Sale of Memorial cards (deceased) and Special Intention Cards (illness, anniversary, birthday) for a $10 stipend per Mass card request.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Shrine of St. Joseph is a historic Catholic church in St. Louis, Missouri (founded 1846) that provides Catholic worship services including weekly Mass, weddings, funerals, prayer request ministry, and guided tours of the historic facility. It also operates fundraising programs including an annual membership program (Friends of the Shrine), a monthly raffle club (Steam & Air Club), DVD sales, memorial cards, an online donation platform, and a volunteer-staffed thrift shop.

Product overview

The Shrine of St. Joseph is a historic Catholic church in St. Louis, MO (founded 1846) that offers religious services including Mass celebrations, baptisms, weddings, and funerals. It operates several revenue-generating programs: Tours (in-person group tours and virtual online tours), a Weddings program, the Steam & Air Club raffle, Friends of the Shrine membership, the Shrine Shoppe thrift store, DVD videos, and Memorial/Mass Cards. The church also provides live streaming of Masses and accepts online donations. The Shrine holds significance as the site of the only Vatican-authenticated miracle in a Midwestern church and features a renowned Pfeffer pipe organ (1890) and the Altar of Answered Prayers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Friends of the Shrine: The nonprofit organization responsible for the restoration and preservation of the Shrine, operating as a 501(c)(3) corporation.
• Steam & Air Club
• Shrine Shoppe

Products and services

• Shrine Tours

Quantifiable outcome

• The wedding program can generate enough revenue to cover nearly half the Shrine's operating expenses if 60 weddings occur per year
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis: Mother church of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and home of the Saint Louis King statue. Same metropolitan area, same Catholic heritage, similar mix of historic architecture, mosaic art, weddings, tours, and Mass services for the same donor and visitor base.
• Old Mission Santa Barbara: A 1786 California mission and active Catholic parish in Santa Barbara. Comparable as a continuously operating historic Catholic site with tours, museum operations, weddings, and a community-supported preservation model.
• National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help: The first and only Vatican-approved Marian apparition site in the United States, located in Champion, Wisconsin. Closest comparable peer: small, volunteer-supported Catholic shrine with authenticated miracle status, pilgrimages, and donation-driven operations.
• Old St. Patrick's Church (Chicago): Historic 1856 Catholic church in downtown Chicago and the home of a large, active young-adult parish. Comparable as a heritage urban Catholic parish with extensive weddings, tours, events, and community-outreach programming.
• Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament: Mother Angelica's Eucharistic shrine in Hanceville, Alabama, operated in conjunction with EWTN. Similar scale of Catholic shrine with tours, retreats, weddings, and donation-based revenue, and shared EWTN-era media visibility.

Others

• National Catholic Register: National Catholic news and media outlet covering shrines, miracles, and parish life. Adjacent/ecosystem peer that has covered Catholic shrine stories like the Shrine of St. Joseph and helps drive pilgrimage and donor awareness to heritage sites.

Broad incumbents

• St. Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal: Canada's largest church and one of the world's most-visited shrines, in Montreal. Comparable as a St. Joseph-dedicated Catholic shrine with massive pilgrimage traffic, weddings, tours, and donation-supported preservation of a historic site.
• Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Historic Catholic basilica in Baltimore and the first cathedral built in the United States. Comparable as a heritage Catholic landmark with tours, prayer ministry, weddings, and a network of recurring donors.
• National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception: Largest Catholic church in North America, located in Washington, D.C. Comparable as a designated Catholic national shrine offering tours, pilgrimages, weddings, and a robust donor/membership program, though at far greater scale.

Regional players

• St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church: Heritage Catholic parish in Manhattan serving Italian-American heritage. Comparable as a historic urban parish with cultural programming, concerts, tours, weddings, and a thriving community-organization structure.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCKWn3gkBa2wTvuBXyHr2TVQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/shrineofsaintjoseph
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/shrine-of-st-josephs

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Shrine Of St Josephs