The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies supports and promotes a variety of scholarly medieval studies projects at Saint Louis University.
The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Annual Lecture began in 1993 with Jaroslav Pelikan of Yale University and has since featured distinguished scholars from universities across the world. In 2020, the lecture was named in memory of the CMRS's founding director, Philip Gavitt. Past lectures have featured:
- 2023: Thomas Barton, University of San Diego
- 2022: Jacob Soll, University of Southern California
- 2019: Carole Hillenbrand and Robert Hillenbrand, University of St. Andrews
- 2018: Brenda Bolton, University of London
- 2016: Rachel Fulton Brown, University of Chicago
- 2015: Constance Brittain Bouchard, University of Akron
- 2014: Patrick Geary, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
- 2013: Lester K. Little, Smith College
- 2012: Richard Kieckhefer, Northwestern University
- 2011: Robert Somerville, Columbia University
- 2010: David Lyle Jeffrey, Baylor University
- 2009: Robert C. Davis, The Ohio State University
- 2008: Jodi Bilinkoff, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
- 1996: Eamon Duffy, Cambridge University
- 1993: Jaroslav Pelikan, Yale University
Under the direction of Thomas Finan, Ph.D., these excavations in Ireland are uncovering surprising new information about the lives of the medieval Irish people. While exploring an ecclesiastical compound, Finan and his associates and students discovered what may be the only mass grave in Ireland from the time of the Black Death.
Among its many initiatives, SLU's Ong Center for Digital Humanities produces databases of medieval texts, 3-D modeling of medieval churches and electronic catalogues of medieval art.