|
St. Florian Parish, 1905~2005,
A Century of Faith
FATHER FLORIAN CHODNIEWICZ BUILDS
THE FIRST ST.FLORIAN CHURCH
(From a translation of the Silver Anniversary keepsake book)
Father Florian Chodniewicz received a group of Polish delegates inquiring about building a church for Polish citizens in 1902, shortly after his appointment at St. Columba Church.
A noble and beautiful project was impossible to implement right away mainly due to the fact the parish was too small, the times were “hard” and the project of that scale meant a lot of funds would have to be channeled for that. However, persistent work of Father Chodniewicz resulted in a construction of a wooden Church in 1905.
The early Polish community considered the building to be a Polish heritage watch tower and the first refuge of Catholicism. What a joy it was within the Polish community of Hegewisch, when on October 02, 1905 a celebration of consecration of this small but tidy building took place. At this time, the Polish community of Hegewisch finally had its own church.
|
