St. Mary of Perpetual Help Church in the industrial district of Bridgeport was the first parish which was derived from the Polish St. Adalbert parish. The development of the district, dating back to the 1830s, was connected with the construction of the canal. Polish immigrants began to settle in this area at the end of the 1860s.

In 1882 the parish organizing committee was established, and in the following year it purchased the building at the corner of Lymon and Farrell Streets, where the first Mass was celebrated on June 17, 1883. Due to the shortage of space, on weekdays the chancel was screened off and the interior of the church was used by the parish school. The new church was a few kilometers away from its parent parish. This distance was regularly covered on foot by Father Adolf Śnigurski, parish priest at St. Adalbert Church, who initially provided ministry in the new community as well as in his original parish. In 1884 he was replaced by Father Jan Radziejowski, the new parish priest of St. Adalbert’s, and the auxiliary function was performed by Father Leopold Moczygemba from St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, founder of the first Polish settlement, Panna Maria in Texas (1854).

The parish was officially created in 1886, and the first parish priest was Fr. Jan Żyłła., Three years later the construction of a brick church began under his direction, and it was completed by Fr. Żyłła’s successor, Fr. Stanislaw Nawrocki, in 1892. The construction was finished without any debts incumbent on it, which enabled the dedication of the church already in 1893. It was such a rare situation that The Chicago Tribune wrote about it. The financial means were secured in sufficient amount to furnish the interior – the marble main altar, the organ and pews for 1200 people. The parish school was staffed by the Felician Sisters, who were replaced by the Josephine Sisters in 1894. The community expanded. At the peak of its development, at the beginning of the 1930s, it comprised 8,000 parishioners and nearly 2,000 children attended the school, where nearly 40 nuns were employed as teachers. The parish was very active until the end of the 1960s, but the migration processes which took place in the subsequent decade led to a significant change in the ethnic structure of the community.

The Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was built according to the design of Henry Engelbert, an architect of German origin, working mainly in New York and Detroit. It is a three-nave basilica with a transept and a chancel terminating in a semi-circle. The picturesque and monumental façade made of light-colored stone is flanked with slender stepped towers. It is decorated with characteristic arcaded friezes and panels closed with a full arch, typical of the Romanesque Revival style, in which the church was built. The unusual feature of the church are three domes located above the main nave and at the intersection with the transept. They create the impression of opening the space inside to infinity. On the pendentives of the three domes there are paintings of the twelve apostles, which illustrates their role as intermediaries between the Church on earth and the Kingdom in heaven. On the apse wall, the patron saints of Poland are depicted on a golden background imitating mosaic: St. Stanislaus Kostka, St. Kinga, St. John Cantius, St. Adalbert, St. Stanislaw Bishop and Martyr, St. Casimir, St. Hedwig and St. Andrew Bobola (whose depiction replaced the image of St. Ignatius Loyola, which originally had been placed there). The marble main altar and two wooden side altars – Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph – are part of the original furnishings of the church (1893). Inside there are also two other altars: Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn, which were probably created in the middle of the 20th century. The stained glass windows depict saints against the background of curtains, biblical scenes taking place in the interiors, biblical and Eucharistic symbols. The bands placed in the middle of each pane contain inscriptions commemorating the benefactors, i.e. parish associations and private donors. The numerous statues of saints and other sculptures in the interior come from the still popular Daprato Statuary Company, which specialize in the production of church interior decoration and furnishings.

Chronology

1883 - the first Mass celebrated for the new community in an adapted building

1886 - erection of the parish of St. Mary of Perpetual Help

1889-1892 - construction of the church

1893 - dedication of the church

1895 - construction of the Tadeusz Kościuszko school

1922-1923 - construction of the current school building

1928 - a new organ in the church

1941 - construction of St. Mary Social Center

2001-2002 - comprehensive restoration works in the church

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. 117-124.