The unique Baroque Interior has remained intact for more than a century and is reminiscent of the sumptuous art and architecture of 18th-Century Krakow, Poland. Of all the “Polish Cathedral”-style Churches in Chicago, St. John Cantius stands closest to Downtown. The imposing 130 ft. Tower is readily seen from the nearby Kennedy Expressway. St. John's is particularly well known for its programme of Solemn Liturgies and Devotions, Treasures of Sacred Art and Rich Liturgical Music.
In 2013, St. John Cantius completed an ambitious Restoration, returning the lavish Interior to its original splendour.
St. John Cantius Church, near Chicago/Ogden/Milwaukee (and the Gonnella bakery).
A Church whose Parish was largely razed by highway construction.
At Polonia's peak, before World War I, as many as 23,000 people would attend
Sunday Mass, here, and doubtless similar numbers at five similarly-huge Churches
within a mile. Now the Parish survives by offering Mass
to Suburban-ites in Latin or Gregorian Chant.
Photo: 22 April 2005.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Designed by Adolphus Druiding, begun in 1893, and completed in 1898, St. John Cantius Church took five years to build.
Saint John Cantius Church was founded in 1893 by the
Congregation of the Resurrection to relieve overcrowding at
St. Stanislaus Kostka, the city's first
Polish Parish. The Parish retained its Polish character for years, but the building of the
Kennedy Expressway, which cut through the heart of
Chicago's Polonia, began a period of decline for the Parish as many longtime residents were forced to relocate.
Holy Mass in the impressive Church of St John Cantius,
The Parish was slated for closure as Chicago's inner city neighbourhoods declined further through the 1960s and 1970s. A revival of the Parish began in the Late-1980s, when the Parish became the focus of a renaissance of
Traditional Catholic Rituals and
Devotions that had fallen out of favour after the
Second Vatican Council, such as the
Tridentine Mass in
Latin, as well as
Vespers and
Benediction, the
Corpus Christi Procession, the
Stations of the Cross,
Tenebrae Services, and the
St. Joseph Novena and
St. Anne Novena. Today, the Parish has a rich programme of
Sacred Music, supported by seven Parish
Choirs. The Parish is presently administered by the
Canons Regular of Saint John Cantius, a Religious Community founded at the Parish in 1998.
St. John Cantius Church has witnessed a number of famous visitors within its walls. In March 1989, the Parish hosted a visit by
Tadeusz Mazowiecki,
Prime Minister of the newly-Democratic Poland, while, in 1998,
Józef Glemp, the Cardinal
Primate of Poland, came to celebrate a
Mass of Thanksgiving and Bless the Church's new
copper Cupola.
English: Church of St. Anne, grave of St John Cantius ,
13 sw. Anny street, Old Town, Krakow, Poland.
Polski: Kościół św. Anny, grób św. Jana z Kęt ,
ul. św. Anny 13, Stare Miasto, Kraków.
Photo: 9 August 2012.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Although the Parish's school has closed, the building now houses the
Chicago Academy for the Arts, often called the "Fame" school and compared with New York City's
High School of Performing Arts.
St. John Cantius Church's majestic elegance has always drawn the attention of those who happened to pass by, making it an area landmark since its building over a hundred years ago. Authors and filmmakers have seen it as natural to use the Church, both as a point marking familiarity as well as from the purely aesthetic pleasure of its beauty. Some of the more notable examples are:
St. John Cantius serves as the backdrop for Steffi Rostenkowski's great realisation in
Nelson Algren's work "Never Come Morning", where, night after night, she heard the iron rocking of the Bells of Saint John Cantius. Each night, they came nearer, till the roar of
The Loop was only a troubled whimper beneath the rocking of the Bells. "Everyone lives in the same big room", she would tell herself, as they rocked. "But nobody's speakin' to anyone else, an' nobody got a key".
Another Church dedicated to Saint John Cantius.
This Church, is at Tremont, Cleveland,
Ohio, United States of America.
Photo: 12 January 2008.
(Wikimedia Commons)
St. John Cantius has also been featured in two films that were both shot in the Summer and Fall of 1990. The first was a made-for-television movie, entitled "Johnny Ryan". The second was a major
Hollywood film, entitled "
Only the Lonely", directed by
John Hughes and starring
Maureen O'Hara and
John Candy.
The Church building's design is by
Adolphus Druiding. Work began on this grandiose structure in the Spring of 1893 and was completed by 1898. The building has a façade of rusticated
stone, in the
High Renaissance style, which dictated the use of classical elements, such as
Columns,
Capitals and
Arches. At the very top, is a monumental
Pediment, decorated with the
Coat-of-Arms of Poland's failed
January Uprising, under which is found the inscription "
Boże Zbaw Polskę" ("God Save Poland" in
Polish).
Holy Mass at St. John Cantius,
Chicago, United States of America.
Just below this, on the Entablature, is the Latin inscription "
Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam", a text which proclaims that this building is for "the Greater Glory of God", a
Jesuit motto, popular in many Churches built around the start of the 20th-Century. Three
Romanesque Portals, set in receding Arches, lead into the Interior. Like
St. Michael's, the entrance is flanked by two asymmetrical Towers, topped with
copper Cupolas, styled after
St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków, Poland. The whole structure is 230 feet (70 m) long and 107 feet (33 m) wide and can easily accommodate 2,000 people.
The Interior reflects the
High Renaissance style of the Exterior. Eight stone
Columns, with
Corinthian Capitals, support the Vault. The present decoration is the result of several Interior decorations within the first forty years of completion. The Church's High Altar, as well as its matching two Side Altars, reputedly originate from the
1893 Columbian Exposition. In 1903, the Interior was painted for the first time, and it was at this time that all the
plaster and
wood ornaments were added, and the Church received the character it has today. The
Stained Glass windows were made by Gawin Co. of
Milwaukee, while the Interior
murals were painted by Lesiewicz, around 1920. In addition to religious scenes, such as the
Resurrection under the High Altar, the artist decorated the side walls with paintings of Polish Patron Saints.
St. John Cantius Church,
Chicago, United States of America.
A new inlaid
hardwood floor was installed in St. John Cantius Church in 1997, in a design by Jed Gibbons . Sixteen varieties of
wood from around the world were used for the inlaid medallions. The floor is not only a beautiful contemporary work of
Sacred Art, but it is also designed as a teaching tool. The medallions, inlaid into the main
Aisle, tell the story of Salvation:
Star of David -
Jesus was born as a
Jew; Three
Crowns - with the arrival of the
Three Kings, Jesus was made manifest to the world; Instruments of the
Passion - Christ's suffering for our Salvation; Banner - the
Resurrection; Star - Christ is the Light of the World. This floor, which is reputedly the only one of its kind in the United States, has already won three national awards.
In 2003, work was completed on a replica of the
Veit Stoss Altar. Carved by artist Michał Batkiewicz over an eight-year period, this imposing one-third scale copy is the largest and most detailed work of its kind, and was commissioned as a tribute to the
Galician immigrants who founded the parish in 1893.
A permanent exhibit of
Sacred Art, located in the Church's North Tower, is open on Sundays, as well as upon special request. The collection's centerpiece is an elaborate Neapolitan "
praesepio" (Italian
creche) from Rome. Among St. John Cantius's many other treasures, are: A 19th-Century copy of the
icon of
Our Lady of Częstochowa, adorned with jewelled
crowns, personally Blessed by Blessed
Pope John Paul II; a reproduction of the famous miraculous
Crucifix from Limpus, Portugal; a 19th-Century
Pietà from
Bavaria, Germany; a hand-written Altar Missal; as well as several hundred authenticated
Relics of
Saints.
Marian Feast Day at St. John Cantius, Chicago, United States of America.
Festival Mariano en San Juan Cantius (Chicago) | Una Voce Cordoba.
The following Text is from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
20 October.
Feast Day of Saint John Cantius.
Confessor.
Double.
White Vestments.
Born at Kenty, a market town in the Diocese of Cracow, Poland, Saint John was raised up by Providence to keep alight the torch of Faith and the flame of Christian Charity during the 15th-Century in Poland.
He obtained all the academic degrees at the University of Cracow, where he taught for several years. Ordained a Priest, he every day offered the Holy Sacrifice to appease Heavenly Justice, for he was deeply afflicted by the offences of men against God.
He shone especially by his exquisite Charity, which is shown in the Introit, the Collects, the Epistle, the Gradual, the Offertory and the Communion of his Mass. He took from his own food to help those who were in need and even gave them his clothes and shoes (Epistle); and he would let his cloak fall to the ground so as not to be seen returning home bare-foot.
While on a pilgrimage to Rome, he was robbed by brigands, and, when he declared that he had no other possessions, they allowed him to pursue his journey. The Saint, who had sewn some pieces of money in his cloak, suddenly remembered this, and calling the thieves he offered them the sum. But they, touched by his goodness and candour, gave him back all that they had taken.
Saint John Cantius died on Christmas Eve, 1473. He is especially invoked in cases of consumption. ["Owing to your Prayers, we see epidemics disappear, stubborn diseases averted, and the blessing of health restored. Those whom consumption, fever and ulcers condemn to a painful end are, by you, delivered from the embraces of death." (Hymn of Second Vespers)]
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