Founded in 1857 on what was then the outskirts of the city by Jesuit missionary, educator, pastor and an immigrant from Holland, Rev. Arnold Damen, S.J., Holy Family was the first Jesuit church in Chicago. Holy Family Church is the city’s only example of pre-Civil War Victorian architecture. It is one of five public buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The church embodies the cultural heritage and ethnic diversity of the City of Chicago. Father Damen established a network of elementary schools that served nearly 5,000 students. He founded St. Ignatius College which became St. Ignatius High School and later Loyola University Chicago, two of the city’s important educational institutions. O’Learys and Comiskeys Among Early Holy Family Parishioners Among the memorable Chicago families who worshiped at Holy Family were Catherine and Patrick O’Leary, whose small barn at De Koven and Jefferson streets on the east side of the parish, was said to have ignited during a lengthy fall drought on October 8, 1871 and sparked the Great Chicago Fire. According to Holy Family’s records, between 1860 and 1866, three O’Leary children were baptized in the church: Cornelius, 1860; James, 1863 and Catherine, 1866. The family lived at 137 De Koven Street, now 537 under the city’s 1909 numbering system and the site of the Chicago Fire Academy today. John Comiskey, president of the Chicago City Council, was an active member of the parish who walked the neighborhood collecting funds for the new parish. He is memorialized in one of the church’s 12 round clerestory windows, the oldest stained glass in Chicago which dates to 1860. His son, Charles Comiskey, baseball player, manager and founder of the Chicago White Sox, was a member of the parish and oneof the first students to enroll in St. Ignatius College in 1870. Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first American saint, was a familiar figure in the neighborhood as she raised funds for nearby Columbus Extension Hospital in 1911. Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVMs) Serve Holy Family for 150 Years Many vocations to the priesthood and religious life were fostered in Holy Family, said Ellen Skerrett, Chicago historian and author, who wrote a history of Loyola University Chicago. “Four religious communities made many important contributions to the parish: the Society of Jesus (Jesuits); Religious of the Sacred Heart, whose Convent Academy of the Sacred Heart was a landmark on Taylor Street in the parish from 1860 to 1908 when it became the Chicago Hebrew Institute; and the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVMs), whose members have served the parish for more than 150 years. Additionally, the Sisters of Holy Family of Nazareth, a predominately Polish community, taught African American children at St. Joseph’s Mission School at 13th and South Loomis Avenue in Holy Family parish for many years,” Skerrett said. “The BVMs arrived in Holy Family from Dubuque in 1867, shortly after the end of the War Between the States. The sisters opened St. Aloysius School for Girls on Maxwell Street between Jefferson and Clinton Street and St. Stanislaus (later renamed Sacred Heart) school was at 18th street near Peoria Avenue. “In collaboration with Father Damen, S.J., by 1893 the BVMs established and operated a network of elementary schools throughout the vast parish. Other schools were: St. Veronica at 18th and Paulina Ave. later renamed St. Pius; Holy Guardian Angel in the 700 West block of Arthington St.; St. Joseph, at 1413 West 13th St. and St. Agnes at the corner of Maxwell and Morgan streets,” Skerrett explained. Over the years, members of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary have served Holy Family parish as educators, sacramental ministers and community outreach workers. In recent times, the late Sister Marion Murphy, B.V.M. served as Holy Family parish’s administrator. Today, members of the BVM community at Holy Family are active in pastoral ministry and community service programs. Scores of Jesuit priests and brothers began their early education in the parish including: Rev. Gilbert J. Garraghan, S.J., who earned fame as an American historian; and Rev. Arnold J. Garvy, S.J., who founded St. Joseph’s Colored Mission in Holy Family parish and ministered to the area’s African American community in the 1930s and early 1940s. Loyola University’s eighth president, Rev. Thomas S. Fitzgerald, S.J., grew up in the parish; Samuel Knox Wilson, S.J., the university’s 17th president, attended St. Ignatius College; Rev. Joseph M. Egan, S.J., the Jesuit school’s 18th president, graduated from Holy Family elementary school as well as St. Ignatius High School; and Rev. James F. Maguire, S.J., Loyola’s 20th president, was born in the parish, baptized here and was a graduate of St. Ignatius High School. Other Jesuit apostolates stemming from Holy Family parish include the Ephpheta School for the Deaf established by Father Damen in 1884. Three years later it was operating in the rear of St. Joseph’s Home at 1100 South May Street. To meet the special needs of immigrants and their American-born children, the Sunday School Association was founded by Rev. Andrew O’Neill, S.J. and operated from 1868 to 1904. Rev. John Lyons, S.J. founded the Catholic Instruction League a movement that spread across the U.S. Several community service organizations were founded in the neighborhood to serve Italian families in the Holy Family neighborhood. They included the St. Ann Day Nursery, 710 S. Loomis street, sponsored by the Catholic Women’s League, and the Madonna Center, 718 S. Loomis street. The National Catholic Society of Foresters traces its beginnings to the Illinois Catholic Order of Foresters which began at Holy Family in 1883. The national insurance society has served thousands of widows and orphans and made significant financial contributions to the restoration of Holy Family church in recent years. While most Holy Family parishioners were poor or at the most people of modest means, among prominent Chicagoans who lived in the parish between its founding and the first half of the 20th century were: David Bremner, president, Bremner Brothers Baking Company, Charles Brennan, Cook County commissioner; Edward Brennan, who created Chicago’s unique street numbering system in 1909; John Campion, chief, Chicago Fire department; Harry F. Chaddick, a major real estate developer; and Col. Robert C. Clowry, president, Western Union Telegraph Company and a former officer in U.S. Military Telegraph Corps. Holy Family was closed in 1984 because of a leaking roof, interior plaster damage and limited resources to make necessary repairs. At Christmas 1987, its owners, the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) announced plans to demolish Holy Family and build a small utilitarian worship center to serve a shrinking congregation. The following spring, parishioners began a campaign to counter the proposed demolition. The Jesuit Province of Chicago countered with a unique challenge: the Province pledged $750,000 toward the endowment fund and gave the Preservation Society permission to raise restoration funds provided that $1 million in cash (no pledges) could be raised by December 31, 1990 or the church would be demolished. After two years of aggressive fund raising, by mid-December 1990, the Society was some $300,000 short. So, the Holy Family Preservation Society launched a last-ditch national plea for funds, asking people to “say prayers and send money.” Father Lane and the Preservation Society organized nightly prayer vigils on the steps of the shuttered Holy Family church in the closing days of December, 1990. But after four nights the Preservation Society still remained far short of its $1 million goal. On Sunday, December 30, 1990, the Feast of the Holy Family, the church was opened to the public for the first time in six years. Chicagoans were urged to “come home to Holy Family” for a special one-day final open house and closing prayer vigil. An estimated 3,000 persons toured the church and nearly every one of them brought a donation and a personal story about their connections to this historic structure, Father Lane said. On January 1, 1991, the Holy Family Preservation Society announced that it had received $ 1.1 million cash, the church was saved from demolition. In subsequent years, more than $ 5 million was raised, renovations made and Holy Family restored to service. In 1995, Holy Family Parish became an Archdiocesan run parish and continued its dedicated service to the people of the community. [from the former Holy Family website]