The majestic beauty of St. Francis Xavier College church is one of the architectural crown jewels of Saint Louis University’s campus and St. Louis. On any given day, visitors quietly wander through the historical building. After stepping inside the Gothic church’s nave, people’s eyes naturally gaze up and widen. The royal glow of the stained-glass windows tell of the ages past in church history. Looking east also tells the story of a lost treasure that once echoed inside the College Church. The vacant caverns below the east, rose window once held one of the greatest gems of the church: a pipe organ, renowned not only for its majestic appearance, but also its timbre. On Jan. 31, 1925, St. Francis Xavier, Jesuit College Church signed the contract that would put in place what would become one of the greatest organs in the Midwest. The total bill would cost the church $28,000 ($303,251 in 2005 figures). It would take Kilgen & Son, Inc. two years to build the massive instrument. More than 80 ranks, approximately 4,600 pipes, would fill the sanctuary. The organ included 32-foot pipes, and the visible pipes were “richly decorated in gold bronze lacquerer.” The organ would become the finest in the Midwest.The grand pipes were split into two principal sections: the grand organ in the back of the church (the gallery) and the second, smaller section behind the high altar. The pipes could be played by two consoles. A four-manual console controlled both divisions, and another two manual console on the “gospel side of the sanctuary.”The organ would have all the bells and whistles that were available in the 1920s. It served as a prototype for Kilgen for the organ that would later be built for St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. St. Louis Cathedral Basilica’s music director, John Romeri, Ph.D., said that the organ inside the College Church is what sold St. Patrick’s on Kilgen. During the 1920s, ’30s and early ’40s the instrument received international praise for the beauty of its voicing. The College Church’s bulletin boasted in September 1974 that “many of the world’s leading organists have traveled to St. Louis to give performances on this organ.” Organists from Paris and New York City made the trip for performances on the great instrument. Chuck Wilch was one of the College Church’s organists during the ’80s. “I had a lot of fun on that organ. It was a wonderful instrument,” he said, remeniscing.For all of its glory, problems arose over the decades. Like all organs, this one needed to be maintained. By December 1947, it needed extensive repairs. Eugene Kilgen, of the Kilgen Organ Company, sent a lengthy letter to William Bowdern, S. J., citing the needed repairs (Bowdern would soon become well- known for his involvement in the exorcism in St. Louis). With the exodus to the suburbs beginning, the church could not afford to finance the repairs. Bowdern wrote, “As you know, I am under very heavy expense with the many repairs which are being made in the College Church at the present time. Accordingly, I do not see my way clear to initiate the changes which you suggest.” Repairing the organ would not be the only problem for the church. It would soon have trouble finding a permanent organist. In 1948, the church searched for someone to permanently fill the position, but to no avail.From then till the late 1980s the organ served the church but fell deeper into deterioration. After over 60 years of use, the organ had never been properly refurbished. The acoustical committee, part of a larger effort in 1989 to renovate the College Church, looked into options for either refurbishing the organ or purchasing a new one. The 1920s were not the best time for tonal qualities in organs, and the organ was technologically decades behind. Frank Quinn, O.J., who sat on the committee, said, “Our committee at looked at a number of organs and interviewed a number of organ builders.” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted that the church planned on adding a pipe organ as part of the $6.8 million renovations, but, unfortunately, so many things inside the College Church needed restorations, that the organ repairs would have to be pushed off.”We were looking at $600,000 to put an organ in. Our proposal was tabled. There were not sufficient funds for the organ because of all the renovations,” Quinn said. What could be saved and used was donated to St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Indianapolis. The rest was just thrown in the dumpster. “To have a church like that with such stature and not have an organ in it is a shame,” said Quinn. The College Church hopes to put in another organ in the future. As with many projects, though, a new organ will only result when the funds are available. “I am not despairing of getting an organ in the church; my hopes remain high,” Quinn said. The Kilgen organ that once filled the College Church with music is only a distant whisper to most now. Many have never experienced the power it conveyed for many years. When visitors look up and to the east, they see only the structure that once held an instrument that attracted both the famous and the humble and brought life to age-old hymns.