Saint Philippine Duchesne was a pioneer, educator and vowed religious.  Her missionary work brought her to St. Charles, Missouri in 1818 where she opened the first Sacred Heart school outside of Europe.  The Academy of the Sacred Heart was the first free school west of the Mississippi, and the first Catholic school in what would become the St. Louis Archdiocese.  Canonized in 1988, her feast day is November 18, and her shrine is located at the Academy.  She is one of our archdiocese secondary patron Saints, because of the number of years that she served in this area.  She also visited our parish, which is detailed on a plaque in the back of church.