It is one of the most monumental Polish churches in Chicago, very distinctive in the Bucktown district skyline. The parish of Our Lady of the Angels was derived from the oldest Polish parish of St. Stanislaus Kostka, when its parish priest, the tireless animator, Fr. Wincenty Barzyński, acquired a large plot of land for the construction of the church and appointed the spiritual guardian of the new community, Fr. Franciszek Gordon from the Congregation of the Resurrection. The latter was an extraordinary personage: an educator of inestimable value to the Polish community of Chicago, editor of the newspaper Dziennik Chicagowski and founder of the organization of fraternal help Macierz Polska.

Fr. Gordon began to organize the new community with his natural energy and diligence. On July 2, 1899, in the presence of the Mayor of Chicago, Archbishop Patrick A. Feehan presided over the ceremony of laying the foundation stone for the first church building, designed to also comprise a school, an auditorium, parish society rooms and rooms for the priests. At the beginning of 1900 more than 400 children began education at the St. Mary of the Angels School, under the care of four sisters from the Congregation of the Sisters of the Resurrection. In 1905 a new convent was built, which was the first Sisters of the Resurrection convent in Chicago; it also served as a novitiate house for the first 10 years.

The parish developed dynamically. At the time of its establishment it consisted of 300 families, and in 1912 – 1200 families, which placed the community among the largest in the archdiocese. Father Gordon began to build a new church, but he could not predict that the construction, started with great enthusiasm, would last as long as 9 years, due to the Great War and its unpredictable consequences. Finally, Archbishop George W. Mundelein dedicated the temple on May 20, 1920. The whole original church building was adapted for the St. Mary of the Angels School, which has been a Catholic parish school until today.

The construction of the Kennedy Expressway, which in the 1960s intersected the Polish district, forced some of the parishioners to change their place of residence. Until the 1970s the parish maintained its Polish character, though the number of Spanish-speaking immigrants was constantly growing. The parish declined and lacked funds for necessary repairs. Finally, in 1988, after 89 years of its existence, the decision was taken to close and demolish the church. At that point, thanks to the extraordinary mobilization of the Polish community cooperating with Bishop Alfred Abramowicz, funds were raised, amounting to the impressive sum in excess of a million dollars, which allowed to carry out the necessary repairs in the buildings. In 1991 the church was reopened and the administration of the parish and the school was entrusted to priests from the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei.

The Church of Our Lady of the Angels was designed by the renowned architectural firm of Henry Worthmann and John G. Steinbach. It is a five-nave basilica on a Latin cross plan. Like in other Polish churches, the style of the church is based on many historical sources. The impressive octagonal steel-frame dome, crowned with a lantern and resting on a high drum, is a distinctive feature of the building. Undoubtedly, it refers to the famous work of Michelangelo – the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The local press reporting on the dedication ceremony described the Church of Our Lady of the Angels as one of the most splendid examples of Roman Renaissance in the sacral architecture of the United States. The façade, flanked by two quadrilateral towers with a large round window between them, refers to the Gothic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. The figures of angels placed on the crown of the walls of the building, associated with the dedication of the church, are an original element.

The furnishings and decoration of the church were created in stages. The side altars, with historicizing forms, were set up shortly after the completion of the building, in 1921 and 1922. In the following year, stained-glass windows were installed in the main body of the church, with the representations of the Passion of Christ in the aisles and the Sacraments in the main nave, while the figures of the apostles were placed in the twelve windows of the drum of the dome, and the figures of saints in the transept and the chancel windows. The donors were commemorated with Polish inscriptions on the panes, which can still be read today.

The elements of the interior division have been skillfully exposed, highlighting the complex, five-nave plan of the space, directing the eyes and thoughts of the faithful first towards the golden dome open to heaven, and then towards the chancel, where on the vault, above the main altar, there is a representation of Our Lady adored by angelic hosts. The designer of this composition, as well as other paintings in the church, was John A. Mallin, who since 1918 had been managing a company specializing in sacral and secular interior designs (theater buildings, banks and other buildings). Apart from painting, the company also made mosaic and stained glass decorations. The works in the Church of Our Lady of the Angels were commissioned to John A. Mallin on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the parish in 1948. At that time the walls of the main body of the church were decorated with biblical scenes illustrating events from the life of St. Mary and Jesus, and half figures of the four Evangelists were placed in the pendentives of the dome.

The characteristic features of Mallin’s painting style were the great technical skill and effort to produce a faithful representation of the real world. The artist continued the tradition of the 19th century religious painting. He created a narrative which was close to the hearts of the community and satisfied their spiritual needs. We should also pay attention to the decoration of the chapels of St. Joseph and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which have a lower artistic value but an extremely interesting iconographic program, connected with the history of the parish and of the Congregation of the Resurrection. One depiction presents the Blessed Virgin Mary taking the parish of Our Lady of the Angels under her care. Among the figures of those who find protection under her mantle we recognize the parish priest Fr. Gordon and four nuns who initiated the parish school in 1900. The other composition shows the scene of the Resurrection, accompanied by priests from the Resurrectionist Congregation. This painting also includes people who were important for the Polish Church in Chicago, such as the parish priest of the first Polish parish in Chicago, Father Wincenty Barzyński, and the founders of the Resurrectionist Congregation: Bogdan Jański, Piotr Semenenko and Hieronim Kajsiewicz.

Chronology

1899 - erection of the parish of St. Mary of the Angels and construction of the first multifunctional church building

1911 - Archbishop James E. Quigley’s approval of the plans to build the present church

1912 - construction of the presbytery

1914 - consecration of the foundation stone

1915 - steel frame of the dome

1920 - dedication of the temple

1921 - visit of the painter Wojciech Kossak, who paints a portrait of the parish priest Fr. Franciszek Gordon

1923 - visit of General Józef Haller to the parish

1948 - interior decoration painted by John A. Mallin

1988 - decision to close and demolish the church

1991 - reopening of the church under the administration of Opus Dei

Text originally published in a book issued by the POLONIKA Institute.
Katarzyna Chrudzimska-Uhera, Anna Sylwia Czyż, Jacek Gołębiowski, Bartłomiej Gutowski, Polish parishes and churches in Chicago, Warszawa 2019, pp. 247-254.