Content with tag 175th anniversary .

175th anniversary

The early days of Chicago and the Catholic Church

Chicago Catholics were “present at the creation” of their Midwestern boomtown. In 1833, the same year that the community on Lake Michigan incorporated as a town, a group of French, Irish and British Catholics organized St. Mary’s parish.

175th anniversary: Old St. Mary’s, the archdiocese’s first parish

In April 1833, Chicago wasn’t much more than a small frontier settlement, a collection of houses and commercial buildings surrounding Fort Dearborn. It was not yet a town, let alone a city.

1926 Eucharistic Congress brought ‘sense of wonder’

The 28th Eucharistic Congress, held June 20-24, 1926, in the Archdiocese of Chicago, included Masses and holy hours at every Catholic church in the archdiocese; huge gatherings at Soldier Field; and a pilgrimage to the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, where nearly 1 million people participated in a Mass on the congress’ closing day.

175th anniversary: St. Frances Cabrini: a saint for Chicago, America

Even though St. Frances Cabrini was a native of Italy, the Archdiocese of Chicago will forever consider her one of its own because she ministered here and died here in 1917.

175th anniversary: Meet the archdiocese’s oldest living priest

Father George McKenna was born less than a year after the end of World War I. He was ordained a priest a month before D-Day. He had been, officially, retired for 13 years when 9/11 happened, but he was still the volunteer chaplain at Midway International Airport.

175th anniversary: St. Stanislaus Kostka: Once one of the largest parishes in nation

Founded in 1867 as the first Polish parish in Chicago, the Resurrectionists have administered St. Stanislaus Kostka since 1869, and founded many other North Side Polish parishes from St. Stanislaus such as St. John Cantius and Holy Trinity Mission. At the end of the 19th century it was one of the largest parishes in the city and country.

Tragic Our Lady of the Angels School fire recalled 60 years later

Ninety-five people — 92 students and three teaching nuns — died in the fire that rampaged through the second floor of the north wing of the Our Lady of the Angels School near Hamlin and Chicago avenues, on Dec. 1, 1958.

175th anniversary: 1979 visit by John Paul II key part of Chicago history

When Pope John Paul II visited Chicago Oct. 4-6 in 1979, he did not come as a stranger. He had come to this most Polish of American cities twice as Archbishop of Krakow — once on his own, as part of a tour of the United States in 1969, and once only three years earlier as part of a delegation of Polish bishops.

Racism pastoral letter aimed to help eliminate sin of hate

In 2001, on the 33rd anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Cardinal Francis George released a pastoral letter exhorting the faithful in the Archdiocese of Chicago to work to eliminate the sin of racism.

The new millennium marked by large traveling Mary

Perhaps one of the most loved icons of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s jubilee celebrations was Our Lady of the New Millennium, a 34-foot, 8,400-pound stainless steel statue of the Virgin Mary.
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