WOJTALEWICZ, Rev. Francis M. (Dec. 2, 1861 -- April 12, 1942)Pastor. Few Polish priests knew as much about Chicago before and after the great fire of 1871 as Rev. Francis M. Wojtalewicz. Nearly every wooden house and their possessions, 1,600 stores, 60 factories, 28 hotels, and many railroad stations, public buildings and bridges ended up in ashes. "Even the ashes did not remain," wrote the Rev. Bakanowski on October 31, 1871, "because the wind blew everything away." Yet exactly how Max and Lucyna Wojtalewics and their son, Franciszek, who was nine years old at the time, survived the big fire -- whether they jumped into water, fled on horses and boats, or whatever -- is unknown. The sanctuary where Franciszek Wojtalewicz was confirmed by Father Joseph Juskiewicz about 1870 and the school he attended were snuffed out.
Due to the shortage of Polish priests in the United States in the 1880s, Rev. Vincent Barzynski, C. R., pastor of St. Stanislaus Kostka parish from 1874 to 1899, and a few other priests encouraged the sons of Polish immigrants to study for the priesthood in Rome and German colleges in Canada and Kentucky. The plans to open a novitiate of the Resurrectionist Order in Chicago were dropped. Two Polish priests in Detroit had not yet set up a seminary.
Judging from various records, when the oldest Polish parish in Chicago dedicated a larger, Romanesque church on July 10, 1881, Wojtalewicz, assistant church organist, went either to a Benedictine monastery in southern Indiana or St. Francis Seminary in Wisconsin to study for the priesthood. The St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana has no details of Wojtalewicz. After graduation from St. Francis Seminary, the son of two Chicago tailors (or should it be tailor and tailoress?) was ordained on December 21, 1889, at the cathderal in Chicago by Cardinal Archbishop John P. A. Feehan.
Fortunately, Cardinal Feehan, who had established new houses of worship in all the important cities and towns of northern Illinois since the Papal See at Rome appointed him to succeed the Right Rev. Thomas Foley as Bishop of Chicago in 1879, was a good adminstrator and an astute judge of priests. His Excellency denied the Polish immigrants from Gostyn, Poland, because of their small number, permission to build their own church in the village of Downer's Grove, 21 miles west of Chicago, but in 1891 he appointed Rev. Wojtalewicz to take care of them and other Catholics in various gathering places. With the help of his parishioners, Father Wojtalewicz "built a wooden, tar-paper covered church with 13 pews to seat 25 families." So far more than 25 priests have followed Father Wojtalewicz at St. Mary's in Downer's Grove, now in the Diocese of Joliet, and built brick churches and schools to serve nearly 3,000 families.
On February 25, 1892, Cardinal Feehan transferred Father Wojtalewicz to Sobieski Park, later called West Hammond and Calumet City, to help thirty four Polish families complete the first Catholic church in their hamlet. Although a foundation was dug in 1891, the church was still without a name. The sight of a $8,000 frame church, all in pieces, due to a tornado on June 13, 1892, shocked the immigrants who worked hard largely in meatpacking plants to have a better life. Father Wojtalewicz saved as much lumber as he could from the tornado-battered church and built a rectory for himself. Instead of putting up another frame structure, the Polish congregation built a brick church and named it in honor of St. Andrew, the Apostle, a disciple of Christ, who was present at the Last Supper. It was dedicated May 14, 1893. At the same time, Father Wojtalewicz began serving the pastoral needs of Polish families who lived in Hegewisch, a village built in the swamps between Calumet City and Lahe Michigan, close to the Indiana border, where the Archbishop of Chicago established a Catholic mission in 1884. In 1895, after enrolling 110 children in St. Andrew's school, he was appointed pastor of Immaculate Conception, the fourth Polish parish in Chicago, 12 miles from the center of the city, where he maintained the culture, customs and traditions of his homeland for 48 years. He died April 12, 1942.
As his congregation grew, Father Wojtalewicz realized that his church would not satisfy their needs. For the second time in the history of the archdiocese, the Polish parish was divided and St. Mary Magadelene Church, a three story combination church, school, and hall designed by John Flizidowski, was dedicated on July 17, 1911. The parish did not grow as large as Immaculate Conception, but it grew from 200 families in 1911, to 500 families in 1913, and 1050 families in 1917. It had 1500 families at the time of Father Wojtalewicz's death. Nine out of ten homes surrounding the church at 84th Street and Marquette Avenue were occupied by Polish families.
St. Bronislava was the third parish carved out of territory originally part of Immaculate Conception. The cornerstone of St. Bronislava Church, designed by Leo Strelka, was laid on July 4, 1928, at 87th Street and Colfax Avenue. Father Wojtlewicz delivered the first sermon. The section in which the three parishes served thousands of families were annexed to Chicago in 1889.
Until Father Wojtalewicz began his pastorate, the parishioners quarreled with previous pastors over the design of the church, teachers in the school, and other issues. After he was appointed, the parish ran smoothly, without any trouble, and built a massive brick edifice, dedicated by Cardinal Feehan on April 23, 1899; a new four-story brick school building in 1901; a two-story brick rectory in 1905; opened an evening school for adults in 1906; helped the Polish nuns in the school who belonged to a German body in Milwaukee to form their own union; bought a new church organ in 1930, and never held a bazaar to raise money for the parish.
"Our parish," he said on June 5, 1932, when the parish celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, "has been partitioned twice at our request because we were not interested in an income. We were interested in giving Catholics a place in a church and in making room for their children in a Catholic school."
Although he introduced President William H. Taft, who drew 10,000 to Immaculate Conception school on March 19, 1912, in English, Father Wojtlewicz refused to deliver his eermons in English. "If they really want English sermons," he said to his criticss. "then let them go to the Irish. I cannot act against my conscience and our parish will be a Polish parish. If our youth understands more in English than it does in Polish it is their own fault."
In 1947, five years after Father Wojtlewicz's death, Immaculate Conception became a bilingual parish. Today it is clustered with the following parishes: St. Joseph (Lithuanian); St. Bronislava (Polish); St. Mary Magadalena (Polish); St. Michael (Polish); St. John the Baptist (Slovak); Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexican); and SS. Peter and Paul (German). There was something missing in the cluster from which, like bodies without souls, the sbabel in many languages sank into a grave.
Author: Edward Pinkowski - e-mail: [email protected] - (2011)
Wojtalewicz, Rev. Francis M.
Clergyman. Born Dec. 2, 1861 in Zalesie, Poland. In 1869 came to U.S. Graduated from St. Francis Seminary, St. Francis, Wis., and St. Meinard, Ind., ordained Dec. 21, 1889, Chicago, Ill. Asst. at Immaculate Conception of Mary parish, Chicago, Ill. Chaplain of the Orphanage at Highbridge, Ill. Organized parishes at Downers Grove, Sobieski, and Hammond, Ind. On Sept. 20, 1895 appointed pastor of Immaculate Conception of Mary parish, Chicago, Ill., which position he held until 1942. Former national Chaplain of P.R.C.U., 1905 1915; vice-grand-chaplain, 1915-1922. Decorated by Poland with "Polonia Restituta" and by the Pope: "Pro Ecelesia et Pontifice," medal. Founder of Polish weekly paper: "Polonia." Close friend of late Ignace Paderewski and generous to Polish cause. Died April 14, 1942.From: "Who's Who in Polish America" by Rev. Francis Bolek, Editor-in-Chief; Harbinger House, New York, 1943