Catholic laity in St. Louis have formed a group dedicated to visiting, protecting and praying for the safety of the city’s monument to King Saint Louis IX, a statue that some residents have recently called to tear down, calling the former French king an anti-Semite and Islamophobe.

The group, St. Louis Forever, formed June 21 with an informal email sent out to local Catholics asking them to attend a rosary prayer group at the base of King Saint Louis IX’s statue.

“This statue does not only stand for a man, but stands for our devotion to God,” the email stated. “As a saintly king, St. Louis does not merely represent the French heritage of this place, but even more he represents the Kingship of Christ on Earth that we pray for with every Our Father. This statue is and ought to remain as a testament to our faith. As St. Louis leads us on, we ought to follow in bringing Christ to our city through our faith, our prayer and our actions.”

Amid nationwide protests against racism, several groups have toppled statues, starting with Confederate generals and soldiers and then spreading more broadly to other historical figures, like George Washington and Ulysses S. Grant, who led the Union army in the Civil War and became president.

Umar Lee, representing Muslims for a Greater St. Louis together with Moji Sidiqi and Israeli-American restaurateur Ben Poremba, started a petition earlier this week with the aim of removing the statue of King Louis IX and renaming the city.

“For those unfamiliar with King Louis IX he was a rabid anti-semite who spearheaded many persecutions against the Jewish people,” Lee wrote. “Centuries later Nazi Germany gained inspiration and ideas from Louis IX as they embarked on a campaign of murderous genocide against the Jewish people. Louis IX was also vehemently Islamophobic and led a murderous crusade against Muslims which ultimately cost him his life.”

While enforcing France as a Catholic monarchy, St. Louis IX required Jewish people in France to wear badges for identification, outlawed banking, and oversaw the expulsion of Jews and confiscation of their property. The king also led two Crusades against Islamic kingdoms for control of the Holy Land in 1248 and 1270. Jerusalem fell into Muslim rule in 1244, and Crusaders saw it as their Christian duty to protect Eastern Christians from Muslim conquest and forced conversion to Islam.

St. Louis IX is the only French monarch who has been canonized by the Catholic Church, which was done by Pope Boniface VIII in 1297. The king was said to have been inspired by St. Francis of Assisi and known to give offerings to the poor, inviting the poor to his own table and establishing many hospitals and institutes for the homeless and lepers. After his death, many subjects treated his body as a saint’s, even before the endorsement from the church.

The bronze statue was given to Forest Park in St. Louis, a public park and civic center, by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company after the 1904 World’s Fair.

Local Catholic Cory Andrew Thompson-Briggs, as well as six other local Catholic men, formed St. Louis Forever to protect the statue from activists and potential vandals. About 30 people joined for prayer, kneeling at the foot of the statue, he told Religion Unplugged. 

“A planned response seems urgent given the current widespread vandalism and iconoclasm across the globe,” Thompson-Briggs said.

The petition, directed at St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson, states that the continued public celebration of King Louis IX is disrespectful to the city's other Abrahamic religious communities.

“St. Louis has a large and vibrant Jewish and Muslim community and it's an outright disrespect for those who are part of these faith communities to have to live in a city named after a man committed to the murder of their co religionists,” the petition said. 

This is not the first statue in St. Louis being called for removal by locals.

St. Louis previously removed a monument to Christopher Columbus. The statue was retired last week from its place in Tower Grove, where it had stood for over 140 years.

The tearing down of a statue of Junipero Serra, a Spanish priest credited with bringing Catholicism to the western U.S., has also caused a stir in Catholic circles. Serra has been accused of forcibly converting Native Americans, but his defenders say Serra made heroic sacrifices to protect indigenous people from the Spanish conquistadors.

Another member of the French monarchy, who happens to share the same regal name as St. Louis IX, was vandalized by protesters in May. A statue of King Louis XVI had its hand severed off by demonstrators in Louisville, Kentucky.

St. Louis Forever is still in the planning process of organization. They also have not yet been able to connect meaningfully with local clergy.

“We've invited our Archbishop (both Carlson, who is outgoing, and Rozanski, who will be installed on the Feast of St. Louis on August 25) and our own parish priests and priest friends,” Thompson-Briggs said. “We haven't heard anything from our local clergy, though one bishop from another state pledged his support and prayers. Last night we were all laity.”

Lee’s petition is hardly the first criticism leveled at King Louis IX.

More than a decade ago, the Riverfront Times ran an opinion piece by writer Aimee Levitt calling for the removal of the statue due to alleged anti-Semitic acts of the saint.

“One of the chief perpetrators of Jewish agony over the past few millennia was King Louis IX of France, otherwise known as St. Louis, the man for whom our fair city was named,” Levitt wrote.

Lee has stated on Twitter that he plans to draft a letter directly to Pope Francis seeking further action.

“This week we will be drafting a letter to @Pontifex asking for the decanonization of King Louis IX,” Lee wrote.

Timothy Nerozzi is a writer and editor from northeastern Pennsylvania. He covers religious issues with a focus on the Catholic Church and Japanese society and culture.