In June of 1912 St. Wenceslaus Parish was created from the older neighboring Polish parish of St. Hyacinth, located at George Street and Lawndale Avenue since 1894. Rev. Ferdinand C. Scieszka, former pastor of SS. Cyril and Methodius Church in Lemont, Illinois, began organizing Polish families who lived north of Belmont Avenue and west of the Chicago and North Western railroad tracks in the Park View district. The first church of St. Wenceslaus was a frame building which had been used as a school in St. Hyacinth parish. This structure was moved five blocks north on Lawndale Avenue to Roscoe Street. Mass was celebrated for the first time that September for approximately 300 Polish families.

Ill health forced Father Scieszka to resign his post in 1923. The second pastor of St. Wenceslaus Church was Rev. Theodore Czastka. After years of planning and saving, the pastor and parishioners were able to finance the construction of a new church at the northeast corner of Roscoe Street and Lawndale Ave. Ground was broken on March 27, 1940. St. Wenceslaus Church was designed in a Byzantine Romanesque style by the architectural firm of McCarthy, Smith and Eppig.

Monsignor Czastka, who served the people of St. Wenceslaus for 42 years, died on January 16, 1965. In February 1965, Rev. Joseph J. Mackowiak was named the third pastor of St. Wenceslaus Church.

On July 1, 1975, His Eminence, John Cardinal Cody, named Rev. Joseph Mackowiak, Pastor Emeritus of St. Wenceslaus Parish and appointed Rev. Edmund J. Siedlecki as the fourth Pastor of St. Wenceslaus Church. On July 1, 1981, Father Siedlecki²s appointment as Pastor was extended for six additional years to June 30, 1987.

On July 1, 1987, Rev. Eugene Winkowski, after having served as associate pastor since 1979, was named the fifth pastor of St. Wenceslaus Parish.
In July of 2000, Cardinal Francis George asked for the help of the order of the Resurrectionists to administer St. Wenceslaus Parish. Rev. Michael Danek, CR was named the sixth pastor of St. Wenceslaus that year. His formal installation was celebrated on November 5, 2000.

In the year 2000, St. Wenceslaus saw many changes to its community. A growing Hispanic population in the St. Wenceslaus area, created the necessity of a Spanish Mass and Hispanic Ministry. On December 17, 2000 the first Spanish Mass was celebrated at 12:00 Noon at St. Wenceslaus Parish.

After serving St. Wenceslaus Parish for almost five years, Fr. Michael Danek was elected the Provincial Superior of the United States Province of the Congregation of the Resurrection. The Resurrectionists, with the approval of Francis Cardinal George, appointed a new pastor for St. Wenceslaus. On January 1, 2005, we welcomed Rev. Henry Licznerski, CR as the seventh pastor of St. Wenceslaus Parish.

Fr. Henry came to the United States from Poland in 1996. After receiving a short course in English in California, he was given his first assignment in Montgomery, Alabama in June of 1997. In February, 2001, he was assigned to Fontana, California and served for almost four years as associate pastor.
Today, our parish is a thriving community with Mass celebrated in three different languages every weekend! We are growing in our ministry to serve the needs of the almost 2000 people who come to worship here.
St. Wenceslaus Pray for Us!

Who are the Resurrectionists?

The Religious Order of the Resurrectionists was founded in 1836 in Paris, France by a layman named Bogdan Janski. Bogdan underwent a great conversion in his life and believed that the gospel message called for the resurrection of society. He organized a group of men who shared his vision and financed the education and eventual ordination of two men, Peter Semenenko and Jerome Kajsiewicz. They gathered five other men and began to live in the vision of Bogan Janski. Today the Resurrectionists minister in many different cities, countries and continents and in many diverse ministries.

Our Mission Statement

The Congregation of the Resurrection announces and gives witness to the Paschal Mystery. Convinced of God²s unconditional love for us we herald the liberation and salvation of each person and society as a passage from death to life in which every situation of evil and injustice will be overcome.
We call others, especially youth and families, to communities of the Risen Christ in which faith, hope and love radiate as a sign of union with Christ and his mother, Mary, in the Church. We are convinced that to do this our Congregation must be a model of Christian community in which people are one in heart and mind.

We reach out to all people through our pastoral-educational ministry but especially join in solidarity with people diminished by unjust structures.
We assist the laity in their own efforts to become prophets to the world and to transform it by providing them with a deeper experience of the Paschal dynamic in their lives.
As an international community we assist each other in various parts of the world by sharing our ministries, experiences and resources.
We share Christ²s own desire to enkindle the fire of divine love in the heart of every person on this earth.

 

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Wenceslaus was born in 907 at a time when most of Bohemia was only partially Christianized. His father, Duke Wratislaus, was killed in a war with the Magyars when Wenceslaus was thirteen. Wenceslaus was well educated and trained in habits of devotion by his grandmother, St. Ludmilla; but his brother, Boleslaus and his mother, Drahomira, made themselves leaders of an anti-christian party. When his mother tried persistently to lure him from the faith, Wenceslaus was forced to practice it and receive the sacraments in secret. His grandmother, St. Ludmilla, was murdered by this opposing faction.

Having come of age at eighteen, Wenceslaus became ruler and immediately set about to implant the faith more firmly throughout the country. He built churches, recalled exiled priests and promulgated laws protecting the Church, the poor and the oppressed.

He hated war and bloodshed, but when a neighboring tribe invaded his country, he was forced to take up arms. When the two armies faced each other, Wenceslaus challenged the duke of Kourim to single combat in order to prevent the spilling of much blood. He advanced with a short sword and shield and the duke was about to throw a javelin at him when he saw two angels guarding the saint. Whereupon he surrendered.

Wenceslaus married and had a son. His brother, Boleslaus, deprived of hope of succession to the throne, plotted with rebels to kill Wenceslaus. Boleslaus invited his brother to keep with him the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian. Next morning while on his way to attend Mass, Wenceslaus was set upon by his brother and the rebel group. Wenceslaus died at the church doors praying: “Brother, may God forgive you.”

Wenceslaus, only twenty two years old, died in 929. Soon many miracles took place at his tomb. He was speedily proclaimed a martyr by the people; and in time became the Patron of Bohemia. His repentant brother, Boleslaus, had the body enshrined in the Church of St. Vitus in Prague. Even to this day it is a place of many pilgrimages.

ST. WENCESLAUS PRAY FOR US!