St. Francis Xavier College Church

A personal vision by an on-campus Jesuit photographer

It is hard to miss the steeple of Saint Louis University's St. Francis Xavier College Church. The white stone walls of the Irish Gothic church crown a prominent corner in midtown St. Louis near the top of the long hill that rises from the Mississippi River. The steeple towers over the urban campus of the university and offers an easy landmark by which to orient oneself. Few people devote as much attention, or appreciate the intricate details, of the church's exterior as Father JJ Mueller SJ, a Jesuit theology professor who lives across the street from the church. The fact that his bedroom windows face the church gives him a privileged view that casual visitors don't have. But his photographs of the church show that he pays much attention to the church, at all times and in all seasons.

Fr. Mueller's interest in photography is a recent development of his continual efforts to improve the methods of teaching theology. In the late 1980s he adopted what was then the new technology of desktop publishing to create classroom materials for his students. He discovered that they did much better using his self-published collections of notes than they had when he just lectured to them. One thing led to another and the veteran teacher became an early adopter of the university's internal local area network which allowed him to give students even more access to material. He also patronized the library and the learning center so that he could include art and music in his theology classes. Eventually he realized that he wanted to create his own images for class, and the availability of a digital camera opened up new avenues for his creativity.

The images in this essay show the result of Mueller's labor of love, and the great advantage of selecting a photographic subject close at hand. The steeple of the College Church takes on a different character at night as the lights of the city play off it; even more at daylight as the changing sky reflects a broad palette of colors off the carved stones.