It is the Polish temple closest to the center of Chicago (1.2 miles to the northwest). It was built on the site of the former seat of the St. Stanislaus Kostka Society, the oldest Polish organization in Chicago (1864), associated with St. Stanislaus Kostka’s parish, the first Polish parish of in the city. In 1892 the parish priest, Father Wincenty Barzyński, made a decision, confirmed by the church authorities in the following year, to establish a new community, choosing St. John Cantius as its patron.

In the early spring of 1893 Fr. Barzyński purchased land for the construction of the church and the works started immediately. However, the investment posed numerous difficulties. It was expensive due to the attractive location of the plots, and additionally the construction works were prolonged due to economic recession. The first stage of the works comprised erecting the lower floor of the church, where social rooms and the chapel were located. Interestingly, before the construction of the second floor of the church was completed the parish already owned a copy of the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa (probably brought from Poland by Father Barzyński), which was eventually placed in the upper church.

The construction according to the design of Adolphus Druiding was completed in 1898. The size of the building was impressive: 230 feet long, 107 feet wide, the lower tower was 100 feet high, the higher one – 129 feet. There were nearly a thousand seats inside the church. The building housed the presbytery and school until separate buildings were erected in 1903, and in 1917 a new convent was constructed. The parish developed dynamically. In 1918, at the peak of its development, it had 23 thousand parishioners, and the school, which employed 47 teachers, was attended by 2300 students. The community was actively involved in patriotic activity. During the First World War it held rallies at which volunteers were recruited to the Polish army, and organized ceremonial farewells to the soldiers going to the front. Women from the Red Cross unit sewed woolen garments for General Józef Haller’s Blue Army. During World War II about a thousand parishioners joined the American armed forces.

Since the 1920s the functioning of the parish has been affected by Chicago’s urban planning, especially the new communication arteries intersecting the parish or running near its borders. Already in the 1940s a decline in the number of parishioners was noticeable, as they moved to other districts and suburbs. In the next decade this process was accelerated by the construction of the huge Kennedy Expressway. The number of children attending the school decreased and it was eventually closed in 1967. The difficult period in the life of the parish culminated in the 1980s, when its existence was endangered due to the small number of parishioners and the disastrous technical condition of the church buildings.

The breakthrough came in 1988, when the parish was taken over by Fr. Frank Phillips, who ten years later established the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius (S. J.C.). The mission of this young community is to restore sanctity – in the Church, in the world and in one’s own life, through solemn liturgies and services, art and sacred music. Currently, the faithful fill the church again, willingly participate in rituals celebrated according to both current forms of Roman rite liturgy (post-conciliar and Trent), illuminated by remarkable music and choral singing.

St. John Cantius Church was built in the style which is a fusion of Classical, Renaissance and Romanesque features. The main body is made of brick, but the façade is made of light-colored Bedford limestone. Originally it was flanked by two huge towers, one of which was dismantled probably in the 1990s. The façade is preceded by a wide stone staircase, redesigned in 1915. The church is a three-nave basilica with a transept, with a shallow chancel terminated with a semi-circle. The interior is very richly decorated, and to a large extent has retained its original character, which was almost completely shaped during the times of the parish priest Father Stanisław Rogalski (1902-1909), who was highly appreciated and respected by the community.

The interior design refers to the iconography of the patron saint of the church. The main altar features a painting depicting the miracle of St. John Cantius, who – according to his hagiography – while walking through the Cracow market square on 16 June 1464, heard a crying maidservant, who had inattentively dropped and smashed a clay pitcher filled with milk. Offering a prayer, the saint collected the broken pieces and gave back the miraculously repaired pitcher to the servant, recommending that she fill it with the Rudawa River water, which he then turned into milk. The author of this interesting painting is Tadeusz Żukotyński, who was a pupil of Pillati and Matejko at the Cracow School of Fine Arts and of Von Piloty in Munich, and who lived and worked in the United States from the 1880s. The next two scenes from the life of the church’s patron saint, Jan Cantius teaching and giving money to robbers, decorate the apse of the chancel. Between them there is a representation of the Resurrection. An interesting reference to the history of the parish can be found in the decoration of the vault of the northern arm of the transept, where Christ among children is accompanied by two groups: Sisters of the Resurrection with schoolchildren and priests of the Resurrectionist Congregation surrounded by parishioners. In the landscape background of these representations we recognize the buildings of St. John Cantius school and the characteristic shape of the Chicago church.

The decorative stained-glass windows on Christological and Marian themes were made in 1905 and 1909-1914 by the Gawin company from Milwaukee and the renowned Munich-based Franz X. Zettler label. On one of the windows there is a very popular representation of the Prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Olives, highly appreciated by the community and priests. It is based on the tradition of the 19th century German religious painting. One cannot miss the unique Polonica housed in the church. One of them is a replica of St. Mary’s Altar by Veit Stoss. The author of the idea of transferring the Cracow work to Chicago was the parish priest Fr. Frank Phillips, who asked the sculptor Michał Batkiewicz to perform the work. The work, which required extraordinary precision, lasted for eight years (1995-2003). In order to make the work as exquisite as possible, the same materials were used as in the original – oak and linden wood (the latter was used to create the statues and ornaments). It is one third of the original and so far it is the largest replica of the Nuremberg master’s great work.

Chronology

1893 - erection of the parish of. St. John Cantius

1887 - consecration of the church bells by Archbishop Patrick A. Feehan

1898 - completion of the construction of the church

1903 - purchasing the organ

1907 - installation of a clock on the tower

1905 - installation of stained glass windows by the Gawin company from Milwaukee

1915 - construction of stairs in front of the façade

1918 - construction of stairs in front of the façade

1934 - visit of General Józef Haller to the parish

1941 - visit of General Władysław Sikorski, the Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile and Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces

1943 - a polychrome by the artist Lisecki in the interior

the 1990s to 2012 - complete restoration of 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. 165-172.