A funeral Mass for Msgr. Billing will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 21, at St. Peter Church in St. Charles. Visitations will be held from 1-5 p.m. Sunday, March 19 at Oltmann Funeral Home in Union; from 4-8 p.m. Monday, March 20 at St. Peter Church; and from 10-11 a.m. on Tuesday, March 21, also at St. Peter Church.

Jerome Billing was born Sept. 29, 1946, to Frank J. and Marcella M. (Salfen) Billing in St. Charles. He was baptized on Oct. 13, 1946, at St. Peter Parish in St. Charles. He attended St. Louis Preparatory Seminary and Cardinal Glennon College in St. Louis and the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He was ordained a priest on Dec. 17, 1971, by then-Bishop James A. Hickey at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Father Billing’s first assignment was as associate pastor at St. Lucy Parish in Jennings from 1972-75. He then began work in the Tribunal Office while serving part-time at Holy Redeemer Parish in Webster Groves. From 1980-82, he studied canon law in Rome, earning his Licentiate in Canon Law.

After returning to St. Louis in 1982, he served as part-time associate pastor of Epiphany of Our Lord in south St. Louis from 1982-87; part-time associate pastor at St. Thomas More Parish in Bel-Ridge from 1987-93; administrator, then pastor of Immaculate Conception in Union from 1993-97; rector of the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France (Old Cathedral) from 2004-19; and pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary in south St. Louis from 2019-20.

He was named a prelate of honor on May 9, 2005, taking the title monsignor.

Msgr. Billing was also on the staff of the archdiocesan Metropolitan Tribunal for many years, serving as secretary, defender of the bond and promoter of justice. He had been the archdiocesan chancellor for canonical affairs since 2009.

He moved to Regina Cleri residence for retired priests in 2020.

Burial will take place in the St. Peter Parish cemetery.