Image, © 2008, Jeremy Atherton
CV NEWS FEED // A recent article from the Chicago Catholic reminded readers that its city boasts the rare distinction of hosting three Catholic basilicas. Each is renowned for its historical, artistic, and religious significance.
The September 16 article shared that because the U.S. only has 93 basilicas total, very few dioceses have more than one, and even fewer have three.
Chicago Catholics have the unique opportunity to visit three basilicas. Each represents a chapter in the city’s rich religious and architectural history.
Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica was the first to receive this honor, according to the report. Established in 1902, Our Lady of Sorrows has a Renaissance-style interior, modeled after 15th-century Italian architecture, and features a striking 80-foot-high barrel-vaulted ceiling and an array of chapels housing relics and artworks.
The article shared that the parish was founded in 1874 and celebrates its 150th anniversary this year.
The basilica is renowned for its perpetual novena to Our Sorrowful Mother, which began in 1937. The Chicago Catholic shared that at one point, the parish was scheduling 38 novena services each week to accommodate over 70,000 attendees.
Queen of All Saints Basilica was designated a basilica in 1962 by Pope John XXIII. The parish, founded in 1929, began with a small community of 40 Catholic families. It has since expanded with the construction of the basilica, and now includes a high school, rectory, and convent.
According to the article, the Gothic church is known for its expansive lawns and stained-glass windows depicting various saints.
The basilica’s baptistery contains relics of hundreds of saints, and its stained glass windows feature the Potawatomi tribe signing the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, which ceded land in Illinois and Wisconsin to settlers, an event that occurred within the basilica.
St. Hyacinth Basilica, the newest of Chicago’s basilicas, achieved this status in 2003. It was recognized by Pope John Paul II after Polish Cardinal Jozef Glemp’s visit in the early 2000s. At the time, Cardinal Glemp was the archbishop of Warsaw. The basilica is celebrated for its sanctuary inscriptions and bronze doors illustrating Polish history, including the life of St. Hyacinth, who was a Polish bishop. The Chicago Catholic shared that the parish, which was established in 1894, at one time drew over 8,000 people to Mass on Sundays.
