As the Archdiocese of St. Louis marks its bicentennial, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital is one of several health care ministries that have played an important role in the archdiocese’s history.
Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital opened in 1956 under the leadership of Archbishop Joseph E. Ritter, who named the hospital for his predecessor, Cardinal John J. Glennon.
Cardinal Glennon, archbishop of St. Louis from 1903-46, had a dream to build a children’s hospital in the archdiocese. While he didn’t live to see his dream come true, Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital was dedicated in his name on April 15, 1956. It was the nation’s first freestanding, not-for-profit Catholic children’s hospital, and is today one of only two Catholic pediatric hospitals in the U.S.
Early partnerships were established with the Sisters of St. Mary and Saint Louis University School of Medicine to offer children the best care available. The sisters ministered to everyone who came to them for care, especially the underprivileged.
Catholic parishes and schools joined with the wider community to raise the funds to build the hospital, brick by brick, with great faith and pride. Community leaders came together with an army of more than 10,000 volunteers to raise the necessary funds to provide exceptional care for all children regardless of race, creed or religion. An Apostolic Benediction of His Holiness Pope Pius XII was included in the dedication program.
Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital was transferred to SSM Health in 1996. The spirit of its founders remains today — no one is turned away based on inability to pay. More than 200,000 young patients are treated annually.
New hospital
In 2023, Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital announced the construction of a new hospital, a 14-story, 200+ bed facility located less than half a mile north on Grand Boulevard from the current hospital. It will include larger rooms to accommodate families and have space for the complex equipment used in modern pediatric care.
On April 6, the Cardinal Glennon community marked a construction milestone with a “topping out ceremony” celebrating the placement of the final beam atop the new structure.
“Across generations, families have turned to Cardinal Glennon in some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. And time and again, this community has responded — with compassion, with generosity, and with faith,” SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Foundation Board President Galen Bingham said at the ceremony. “Today, this beam represents SSM Health’s continued courageous and faithful commitment to that vision — to remain a leader in providing exceptional Catholic health care for our community.”
The needs of pediatric patients have evolved over the past 70 years, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital President Hossain Marandi said, but the mission of Cardinal Glennon remains the same.
“The goal then and now is to provide access for all families in need of care regardless of socioeconomic status, race, creed or religion. Today, we are building the next chapter of that legacy,” Marandi said. “As health care continues to evolve, we are responding to the growing need for highly specialized neonatal and pediatric services with a transformative, brand-new healing facility designed to provide the best pediatric care for generations to come.”
Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, chairman of the Cardinal Glennon Foundation Board of Governors, blessed the final beam to be placed on the structure, entrusting the hospital to God’s protection and providence.
“Lord Jesus Christ, as the Divine Physician, look with compassion upon all who will enter this place: the children in need of healing, the families who carry worry and fear, the doctors, nurses, and staff who serve with skill and compassion,” Archbishop Rozanski prayed. “Make this hospital a place of healing for body, mind, and spirit.”
