basilica of St. Louis. Legacy Ritter is commemorated by a mosaic tile depiction in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis showing him reaching out toward a group of people from other faiths on one side, and also an integrated group of school children on the other. Ritter was a friend of Lionel Hampton and Cardinal Ottaviani. In a gesture of ecumenism, Ritter granted his approval to the mixed marriage of a Catholic and an Episcopalian in 1964. He also authorized the first English Mass in the United States. Ritter, intensely dedicated to racial equality, even withheld communion from Catholics who practiced discrimination. Ritter was "dismayed" and "indignant" after the rector of Catholic University of America, Monsignor William McDonald, refused to allow certain liberal theologians to speak at the university. His birthplace and childhood home in New Albany, Indiana, was to be turned into a museum about Ritter's life (he remains the only Indiana-born Cardinal in the Catholic Church's history, and up until October 2016, when Pope Francis named Indianapolis's incumbent Archbishop, Joseph William Tobin, to the cardinalate [effective in November 2016], Indianapolis- or any other Indiana diocese- was not a cardinalatial see) in three stages. The Cardinal Ritter Birthplace Foundation is promoting this project. The museum will occupy the Ritter family's bakery—its storefront was part of the 1874 Queen Anne-style home. A one-hour documentary of Ritter's life was filmed. Cardinal Ritter High School in Indianapolis is named in his honor. Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School in St. Louis is named in his honor. Honors Ritter received an honorary Doctorate of Theology from Pope Pius XI in 1922. In 1961, Saint Louis University named Ritter an honorary “Founder of Saint Louis University" "in honor of his leadership and influence in the cause of education". Ritter was unanimously chosen 1965 "Ecumenical Man of the Year" by the Metropolitan St. Louis Church Federation. Ritter declined the award, saying "Grateful for the honor, I am united with you in efforts for Christian unity. But it is my practice to decline citations in line with what is obviously my duty". Ritter was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by Eden Theological Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, 1965. See also Cardinal electors in Papal conclave, 1963 References External links Archdiocese of Saint Louis Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church Roman Catholic bishops of Indianapolis 1892 births 1967 deaths 20th-century American cardinals American people of German