St. Joseph's in Chicago

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St. Joseph's in Chicago, referred to in Polish as Kościół Świętego Józefa 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. Along with St. John of God, it is one of two monumental religious edifices that dominates over the skyline of the Back of the Yards area.

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[edit] History

Initially a mission of St. Mary of Perpetual Help, St. Joseph's was organized in 1887 as the first Polish parish in the Back of the Yards. Its patron saint proved very appropriate as the parish long served a congregation of immigrant workers in the Union Stockyards. In the beginning of the 20th century, the Polish population in the Back of the Yards increased to such an extent that two other Polish parishes had to be formed out of St. Joseph's parish- St. John of God in 1906 and Sacred Heart in 1910. The roots of St. Joseph's Polish parishioners are in the Carpathian Mountainss as most of them are Górale, or Polish Highlanders, a people who make up the majority of Chicago's Southwest Side Polonia. Although the Union Stockyards closed in the early 1970s and some Polish immigrants moved away from the Back of the Yards neighborhood, St. Joseph's still celebrates mass in Polish, as well as a mass in English and three in Spanish for the present-day immigrants from Latin America who live there.

[edit] Architecture

The imposing Baroque church was designed by Joseph Molitor in 1914 with a seating capacity of 1,200. Molitor also drew up the plans for two neighboring Roman Catholic churches in the Back of the Yards area of Chicago founded by Eastern European immigrants: Holy Cross church for Lithuanians and the now closed Sts. Cyril and Methodius church for Bohemians.

[edit] St. Joseph's in architecture books

St. Joseph's is featured in a number of books on Chicago architecture, most notably "The AIA Guide to Chicago" by Alice Sinkevitch (Harvest Books 2004). St. Joseph'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), "The Archdiocese of Chicago: A Journey of Faith" by Edward R. Kantowicz (Booklink 2007), as well as the Polish language book "Kościoły Polskie w Chicago" {Polish Churches of Chicago} by Jacek Kociolek (Ex Libris 2002).

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