The name referring to the Roman philosopher was given to Cicero by a group of settles coming from the town Cicero located near New York City. The name was first recorded in 1849, when the community was officially established, and Cicero became a town in 1857, primarily in order to enable the community to raise funds for common purposes.

Cicero was located at the junction of railroad lines, which started to be built in the middle of the 19th century. This location gave the town a basis for stable development, associated with a constant inflow of immigrants. Jobs were provided by local quarries, rolling stock factories and local workshops, and at the beginning of the 20th century Cicero became the seat of one of the Western Electric factories, employing more than 20,000 people. Many workers commuted from Chicago, as the town had about 15,000 inhabitants at the time. However, jobs and building land attracted newcomers, particularly after 1910, when the number of inhabitants increased to nearly 45,000 within 10 years, and a further 20,000 arrived in the subsequent decade. However, not all newcomers were welcome. In the 1920s Cicero was the main headquarters of the Al Capone gang, which is still remembered in the history of the city.

The dynamically developing urban centre near Chicago must have been attractive for Poles, and indeed they were present in the town already in the 1880s. Even if they managed to create a community, they did not have a centre around which they could gather. Cicero had a German parish of St. Dionysius; however, a significant part of the Poles preferred to go to a Polish church. In order to meet this need, they had to travel 10 miles to St. Adalbert Church in Chicago, and later to St. Casimir Church, not much closer.

In the 1890s the Poles of Cicero started to make efforts to create their own parish. The initial meeting of the new community took place on March 27, 1892, and it was attended by 82 families. Land for the construction of the church was purchased, and at the same time efforts were made to obtain permission to establish a parish, which was granted by the Archbishop of Chicago Patrick A. Feehan in 1895. Fr. Kazimierz Słomiński became the parish priest. The first church was located in a building made available to the parish by one of the families. In order to meet the needs of the parish it was specially adapted to serve at the same time as a church, a school and the priest’s rooms. It must have been obvious to everyone that this was a temporary solution, and soon the construction of the first wooden church and school began. The new church was modest and could not meet the needs of the dynamically developing community. In 1904 St. Joseph sisters were brought in to run the school, and a convent was built for them in 1908. The brick building comprising the church, presbytery and school was completed in 1905. In 1914 preparations for the construction of a new church started. Funds were raised and new plots of land were purchased. The construction began in 1916 and was completed in 1918. About 800 families belonged to the parish, making it the largest in the Archdiocese of Chicago. This number doubled over the next 20 years.

What the church looked like is known thanks to the tragedy that affected Chicago at the time. The Western Electric factory in Cicero organized boat trips for their employees. Unfortunately, the boat trip which took place in July 1915 ended in a tragedy: the overloaded ship capsized in the dock. Despite the proximity to land, 884 people drowned – more than during the Titanic disaster. Among the victims were 29 parishioners of Our Lady of Czestochowa’s. It was during their funeral that a photograph of the church interior was taken.

The church was designed by the Worthmann and Steinbach company, popular in Chicago at the time. The studio prepared designs for many sacral buildings, in Chicago itself they had already designed St. Casimir, Our Lady of the Angels, St. Barbara and St. Hyacinth churches. Although the church is slightly less opulent than the most magnificent of the so-called “Polish cathedrals”, the skillfully applied effect of the scale creates an impression of dominance over the surroundings.

The church is built on a cross plan with a wide threenave main body and a short chancel. From the outside we can see a monumental façade with two towers protruding forward and wider than the body. Another element attracting attention is the huge rosette windows on the main axis of the nave and of the transept. Thanks to numerous buttresses, the structure gives quite a dynamic impression, skillfully camouflaging the very limited use of expensive sculptural detail. The interior is modest and creates the effect of coherence thanks to the consistently applied pointed arches and the dominance of light-colored Gothic Revival furnishings. The affluence of the parish can be seen in the high quality craftsmanship of the marble altars (the main altar was created in 1927 and the side altars in 1934). The quality of these works stands out amongst the run-of-the-mill pieces usually found in Polish temples. Unfortunately, we do not know their creator. It is known, however, that the main altar was granted a special privilege (altare privilegiatum), so if a Mass was celebrated at the altar for the intention of a particular deceased, this person’s soul was freed from Purgatory. Other church furnishings, such as the Stations of the Cross or the altar rail, correspond with the altars.

Another dominant element of the interior are the stained-glass windows made in 1918 in the then popular style of Bavarian stained-glass artists. Their creator is the Chicago-based studio of the German artist Hans Muench. Besides, in the side chapel there is a copy of the image of Our Lady from Jasna Góra, donated to Bishop Alojzy Wycisło, a Pole and an auxiliary bishop of Chicago in the years 1960-1968, by Primate of Poland Stefan Wyszyński as a gift from the Polish Episcopate on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of Christianity in Poland and an expression of gratitude for the support given to the Church in Poland. A copy of the statue of the patroness of Polish highlanders, Our Lady of Ludźmierz, also refers to Polish religiosity. The contemporary objects connected with the church include a noteworthy bronze statue of Christ the King of the Universe, made by professor Czesław Dźwigaj from Cracow. It was donated by Polish-American entrepreneurs in 2003, to commemorate the new millennium of Christianity. At present it is located in front of the façade.

Chronology

1892 - initial meeting of the community

1895 - erection of the parish of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Cicero

1898 - construction of the first wooden church

1905 - consecration of the cornerstone for a new church

1908 - construction of the convent

1914 - preparation of the design of a new church

1918 - installation of the stained-glass windows

1918 - dedication of the new church

1934 - fire inside the church

1945 - renovation before the anniversary of the parish

1958 - completion of the convent

1960 - construction of a parish youth centre

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. 215-222.