St. Adalbert's in Chicago

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saint Adalbert's, referred to in Polish as 'Kościół Świętego Wojciecha' is a historic church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago located in, Chicago, Illinois. It is a prime example of the so-called 'Polish Cathedral style' of churches in both its opulence and grand scale. The church is located on 17th Street between Paulina Street and Ashland Ave in the Pilsen area of Chicago. St. Adalbert has served generations of Polish immigrants and their American-born children; at its peak, parish membership numbered 4,000 families with more than 2,000 children enrolled in the school. Today the church is an anchor for the Mexican immigrants that have made the Pilsen area their home as well as for Yuppies arriving as the neighborhood undergoes gentrification.

Contents

[edit] History of Saint Adalbert's

St. Adalbert's parish has seen many changes in the surrounding area since it was founded in 1874 to serve the needs of Chicago's Poles. This mother church of all the later Polish parishes on the West and South sides now serves the many Mexicans of the Pilsen neighborhood and has masses in Polish language as well as Spanish. A shrine of the Mexican patroness Our Lady of Guadalupe bears witness to the Mexican presence. The church itself is the gift of the Poles not just to the people of the surrounding area but to all of Chicago. It is truly a city treasure.

The parish was founded in 1874 by Bishop Thomas Foley to serve Polish families and was the third Polish parish founded in Chicago. The task of organizing this parish was given to Rev. John Klimecki, a recent arrival from Europe at the recommendation of Rev. Simon Wieczorek, CR, pastor of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church on Noble Street. The national parish of St. Adalbert was established within the boundaries of the territorial (English speaking) parish of St. Pius which was then located at Van Horn (18th Pl.) and Paulina Street. In 1875, the Bohemian parish of St. Procopius was founded at 18th and Allport Street.

Between September 1874 and November 1, 1874, when Rev. Dominic Majer was appointed pastor, construction began on a brick church at the corner of 17th and Paulina Street. According to an early parish history, Constantine Mallek served as organist and instructed the children of the parish in their lessons.

Rev. Adolph Snigurski, pastor of St. Adalbert parish from 1878 to 1884, directed the construction of a four story school at the southeast corner of 16th and Paulina Street. This brick building remained standing until 1978, when it was razed.

In 1883, Father Snigurski established the mission of St. Mary of Perpetual Help in Bridgeport which subsequently became a large Polish parish.

At first, only the substructure of St. Adalbert Church was built. Finally, on June 22, 1884, Archbishop Patrick A. Feehan dedicated the imposing red brick structure which had been completed at the northeast corner of 17th and Paulina Street.

Rev. John Radziejewski, founding pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in South Chicago, was appointed pastor in 1884. During his 20 year pastorate, the Polish parishes of St. Joseph, St. Michael, SS. Peter and Paul, St. Salomea, and Assumption, BVM were founded on the south side of Chicago. Polish parishes also were organized in Calumet City, Posen, and Blue Island, Illinois.

From about 1900 through the Great Depression, the parish church of St. Adalbert became the hub of activity for the Polish American community in Pilsen. One of the terms Poles used for the neighborhood was Wojciechowo, which roughly translates into English as St. Adalbert's village. Numerous sodalities and societies used the parish premises for their meetings and social affairs. The parish was well known for its singing society and dramatic club which staged original plays as well as the popular dramatic works.

Poles who settled west of St. Adalbert Church in the period between 1884 and 1904 were organized into the national parishes of St. Casimir, St. Mary of Czestochowa in Cicero, Illinois, and St. Ann. In 1888, the Bohemian parish of St. Vitus was established in the former St. Pius Church at 18th p1. and Paulina Street when the predominantly Irish parish of St. Pius relocated at 19th and Ashland Ave.

Father Radziejewski died on Nov. 24, 1904, at the age of 60. His successor was Rev. Casimir I. Gronkowski, who had organized St. Salomea parish. Shortly after his appointment as pastor of St. Adalbert Church on Dec. 1, 1904, Father Gronkowski began an ambitious building program. During the 53 years of his pastorate, the present parish complex took shape.

In 1908, a 16 room school was constructed at 1641 W. 16th Street. This large brick structure now serves as the parish school. On June 30, 1912, Archbishop James E. Quigley laid the cornerstone of the present church.

In 1913, Father Gronkowski organized a day nursery to serve the children of working mothers. This settlement was staffed by the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth and it remained in operation throughout the Great Depression. Since 1885, members of this religious order had staffed the parish school.

The current church and the adjoining rectory were built between 1912 to 1914 according to a design by Henry J. Schlacks loosely based upon the design of the Major Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls. The dedication of St. Adalbert Church on September 20, 1914, was a special day for Father Gronkowski and his parishioners. Officiating at the ceremony were Archbishop Quigley, Archbishop John Bonzano, Apostolic Delegate, and Auxiliary Bishop Paul Rhode. A former assistant at this parish in 1894, Father Rhode was the first Polish bishop consecrated in the United States in 1908; in 1915, he was appointed to head the diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The final building in the parish complex was a three story brick convent which contained accommodations for 52 sisters. This structure was completed at 1628 W. 17th Street in 1928 at a cost of $150,000.

According to the centennial history of St. Adalbert church, Father Gronkowski's ideas on church matters were far ahead of his time. Although he did not permit statues in the sanctuary, the traditional shrine of the Black Madonna occupied a prominent place in the church.

The Sisters of Nazareth celebrated their 50th year of service to the parish in 1935 and the diamond jubilee of St. Adalbert Church was celebrated on June 22, 1947. The day also marked the 50th anniversary of Father Gronkowski's ordination.

Following Father Gronkowski's death on October 31, 1957, at the age of 84, Rev. Louis E. Nowak, a former assistant at the parish, was named pastor. He directed the demolition of the old church, which provided much needed parking space.

Named pastor of St. John of God Church in February 1963, Father Nowak was succeeded by Rev. John F. Koziol, former superior of the Archdiocesan Mission Band (Group Two). During his two years as pastor, Father Koziol raised more than $100,000 for the renovation of St. Adalbert Church. The exterior of the church was sandblasted and tuckpointed, and the interior was redecorated.

Following Father Koziol's appointment as pastor of St. Joseph Church at 48th and Hermitage on Feb. 1, 1965, Rev. John Kalata served as administrator for several months.

Rev. Roman J. Berendt, a former assistant at the Polish parish of Sacred Heart, served as pastor of this parish from March 4, 1966 until August 1973, when he was named pastor emeritus.

Rev. Henry Pozdol has been pastor since August 15, 1973. The former associate pastor at St. John Bosco Church returned as pastor to the parish of his youth: Father Pozdol graduated from St. Adalbert grammar school and attended nearby St. Ann high school.

As the parish entered its centennial year, its future was uncertain. Not only had school enrollment dropped from a high of 2,614 to 202 students, but attendance at Sunday Mass also had declined. Moreover, the parish buildings were in need of repairs estimated at $175,000.

Because of the proximity of St. Adalbert Church to St. Vitus and St. Pius parishes, a study was conducted by the Pastoral Resources Committee of the Archdiocese of Chicago. In May 1974, a Special Committee for St. Adalbert Parish was formed to raise funds for the rehabilitation of the church and school. Auxiliary Bishop Alfred L. Abramowicz was named chairman of the 11 member committee.

On June 16, 1974, hundreds of former parishioners returned to St. Adalbert Church to attend a special Mass commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the parish. Late in the summer of 1974, Bishop Abramowicz appealed to friends and former parishioners to contribute to a special collection in Polish parishes throughout the Archdiocese during the weekend of Aug. 31 - Sept. 1, 1974. According to Bishop Abramowicz, $248,000 was needed to halt deterioration of the parish buildings. He reminded Polish Catholics that St. Adalbert is a beloved landmark of Poles in Chicago and asked financial help so that the parish could continue "as a living witness to Christ for a people who need St. Adalbert's as a center of worship and education."

In addition to the work of the Special Committee, a group of dedicated parishioners formed the Centennial Committee to raise money for the preservation of St. Adalbert church. The Centennial Committee, much like the pioneer Society of St. Adalbert which had been organized in 1871, pooled its resources to aid the parish. According to Chester J. Gac, chairman, the Centennial Committee sponsored Polka Masses, dinner dances, and bingo in order to raise funds. The Centennial Committee now serves as the parish Advisory Board. Through the efforts of both groups, major repairs have been made and the heating system has been converted from coal to gas.

On June 29, 1975, a shrine in honor of Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos was dedicated in St. Adalbert church. The United Latin Community of Chicago established the shrine on behalf of the many Mexican families who belong to the parish. The traditional picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe was donated by Bishop Abramowicz.

On June 24, 1975, Auxiliary Bishop Nevin W. Hayes, 0. Carm., celebrated a Spanish Mass at St. Adalbert Church in honor of Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos for the Mexican community in Pilsen. The Chicago Catholic noted that: "By coincidence, there is a great similarity between the church of San Juan (in the Mexican state of Jalisco), and the church of St. Adalbert."

In 1978, 575 families belonged to St. Adalbert parish and 161 children were enrolled in the school under the direction of five Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth and four lay teachers.

[edit] Church design and decoration

Henry J. Schlacks designed St. Adalbert Church and the adjoining rectory at 1650 W. 17th Street. The Italian Renaissance church with its twin towers and copper domes was modeled after St. Paul's Basilica in Rome. It was completed at an estimated cost of $200,000-on the north side of 17th St., between Paulina street and Ashland Ave.

Twin 185-foot Renaissance-style towers with copper cupolas complete the façade of this imposing buff-colored basilica-type edifice which rises above the smaller buildings of the old Pilsen neighborhood. One enters through a shallow portico with eight massive grey-flecked, rose-colored polished granite columns, from there to pass through a narrow vestibule with four large recessed fonts in its back wall, and finally to enter the immense main body where one finds the most magnificent marble work to be found in any church in Chicago.

A stern large white-marble statue of the church's patron St. Adalbert, the evangelizer of Poland and martyr, stares down from the massive and elaborate thirty-five ton Cararra marble altar whose ten spiral pillars are capped with a dome-shaped ciborium. On the chancel arch above the altar are inscribed the opening words of the Polish hymn Bogurodzica which Adalbert himself is said to have composed. And in an F. X. Zettler window to the west, Adalbert again, in green vestments, stands preaching to the surly, slumped Prussian, an unwilling listener whose response would be to martyr Adalbert. Legend says that the King of Poland Bolesław I ransomed back Adalbert's body by paying its weight in gold.

The original balustered white-marble altar rail complements the white marble of the many-tiered altar behind and above it and serves the additional aesthetic purpose of visually reinforcing the line made by the pilasters which demark the north wall. The altar rail also complements the original high, white marble pulpit. Square and elaborately carved with large figures of the four evangelists on its corners and smaller figures of the six prophets on its sides, it rises west of the sanctuary against one of the ponderous beige-and-grey marble pillars with gold capitals that line the nave on either side. The white- marble side altars have paintings of Our Lady and St. Joseph respectively instead of the more customary statues. The original east transept marble shrine holding the Pièta (once matched by a similar shrine in the west transept) is still intact.

The mural on the upper portion of the north wall above the sanctuary portrays on the left the wedding of Queen Jadwiga of Poland and Prince Jagiello of Lithuania and on the right the 1655 victory of Our Lady of Czestochowa when by the Virgin's intervention an army of 9,000 invading Swedes failed to take a monastery held by only 250 monks. The predominant muted orange-red tones of the mural are repeated in the present color of the ambulatory wall and also in the ceiling coffers and panels of the clerestory. Although these panels and coffers are painted in this solid color today, it is possible that they were originally intended for murals such as the large ones of St. Francis and St. Anthony in the west transept and the others of various subjects that have been completed in the panels around the main lower body of the church.

The pews retain their period-authentic molasses-dark varnish; both their finish and their classical broken-curve top ornamentation matches that of the original confessionals in the east transept. On the south (or entrance) end of the church rises a spectacular two-story choir loft with curving ranges of organ pipes on either side and a rose window of St. Cecilia in the center. The aisle floors are a handsome inlay of sections of red, black, and gray terrazzo .

[edit] Alterations and losses

Several rows of pews have been removed from the back, truncating Schlacks's long processional aisle. The floor where the pews were removed has been patched with vinyl tile that attempts to match the pattern and colors of the surrounding tan and black terrazzo floor.

The original nave chandeliers are gone.

The original brass communion rail is gone.

The west transept shrine has been truncated to accommodate a new baptistry.

A large polychrome rood (crucifix) which may have originally hung in the sanctuary has been placed in the remaining portion of the west transept shrine to which has been added a false back to bring the surface out to meet the back of the crucifix.

[edit] St. Adalbert's in architecture books

St. Adalbert's is featured in a number of books on Chicago architecture, notably "The AIA Guide to Chicago" by Alice Sinkevitch (Harvest Books 2004), as well as "Chicago's Famous Buildings" by Franz Schulze and Kevin Harrington (University Of Chicago Press 2003). St. Adalbert's is also in a number of books devoted to church architecture, among them "Heavenly City: The Architectural Tradition of Catholic Chicago" by Denis R. McNamara (Liturgy Training Publications 2005), "Chicago Churches and Synagogues: An Architectural Pilgrimage" by George A. Lane (Loyola Press 1982), "The Archdiocese of Chicago: A Journey of Faith" by Edward R. Kantowicz (Booklink 2007), "The Spiritual Traveler: Chicago and Illinois: A Guide to Sacred Sites and Peaceful Places" by Marylin Chiat (HiddenSpring 2004), as well as the Polish language book "Kościoły Polskie w Chicago" {Polish Churches of Chicago} by Jacek Kociolek (Ex Libris 2002).


[edit] See also

[edit] References

 This article does not cite any references or sources. (June 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.