Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica, Chicago

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Upon arriving at the Kedzie Green Line stop, I began to suspect that I had made a mistake.  When I left the train, I expected to see an Italian Renaissance Style Basilica.  Instead, my view consisted of broken bottles, empty lots, and stores with barred windows.  Despite the seeming impossibility of finding a basilica only a few blocks away, sure enough, after a short walk, I arrived at the entrance of Our Lady of Sorrows.

While the exterior of the building was impressive, it was the interior of the building that stunned me.  Upon entering the church, I fixed my attention on the ceiling, which stands eighty feet high and features an enormous barrel vault clad with hundreds of blue panels and silver florets.  I found the ceiling so captivating that only the ‘excuse me’ of a parishioner broke my stare.  After picking up a hymnal and a newsletter, I walked to a pew near the front of the church and took my seat.

Although only about a hundred and fifty people came to the mass, when the music of the choir and parishioners filled the basilica, the number of people in attendance hardly mattered.  I enjoyed the sound of the hymns and allowed my eyes to wander across the seemingly endless adornments of the church.  From my seat I saw a huge marble altar with a golden tabernacle, a series of enormous paintings depicting biblical scenes, and numerous side altars complete with statues of various saints.  I couldn’t wait to tour the rest of the basilica.

Once the service ended and most of the parishioners left, Father Robert began his tour.  With the choir practicing in the background, Father Robert gave a brief history of the basilica.  Construction on Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica began in 1890 with the intention of providing Italian immigrants both a place to worship and a way to remember the churches of their Italian homeland.  Twelve years later, construction of the church finished and for the next thirty years, the congregation grew rapidly in size and influence.  At Our Lady of Sorrows’ peak in 1930, Friday masses served about seventy thousand people and almost 1,000,000 copies of the church’s “Sorrowful Mother Novena Notes” circulated throughout the country every week.  In 1956, Our Lady of Sorrows became the first church in Illinois to receive the papal designation of basilica for its great contributions to the Catholic faith.

Father Robert continued his tour, stopping occasionally to point out architectural and artistic highlights.  Flanking the high altar, for example, are two gilded balconies patterned after the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.  There are also a number of enormous paintings around the basilica each depicting a different biblical scene.  While these paintings are on canvas and not frescos like in a true Italian Renaissance church, the scale and detail of the paintings are still very impressive.  Perhaps the most impressive element of the church, however, is the full scale replica of Michelangelo’s La Pieta.

Handmade in Italy by Spartaco Palla, the replica is such an accurate and impressive portrayal of the original that, after shipping the sculpture to Chicago in the 1930s, the church displayed the replica in the Loop for several months before moving it to the basilica.  When I entered the chapel containing the replica of La Pieta, it was easy to see why the sculpture’s arrival caused such a stir.  Though I initially hesitated to approach it, at the urging of Father Robert, I walked up and touched the forearm of Jesus, feeling the coolness of the marble and the almost human detail of the carving.  As Father Robert later explained, because the original is behind a wall of bulletproof glass in Rome, the replica found in Our Lady of Sorrows provides an opportunity to experience a great piece of artwork in a way that would otherwise be impossible.

After leaving the statue, Father Robert told me about dozens of other sculptures, paintings, and architectural intricacies in the church.  While I could try to describe everything on the tour, I do not have the space, nor do I want to spoil the experience for those of you who will soon take a trip out to East Garfield Park.  However, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed my Sunday morning excursion and when my tour was over, I said goodbye to Father Robert with every intention of returning to visit Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica again.

Homepage: http://www.ols-chicago.org/

Tel: (773) 638-0159, ext. 102

E-mail: olsparish@ols-chicago.org

Direct photo pages: http://www.ols-chicago.org/photo_album.html

Address:

 Our Lady of Sorrows National Shrine

3121 West Jackson Boulevard

Chicago, IL 60612

Nearby Attractions: Garfield Park Conservatory

Nearby Food: Edna’s Soul Food