Luxembourgers heard the homily preached in German at the first Mass in St. Nicholas Parish in 1887. Today, this red-brick edifice, built in 1906, has bi- and tri-lingual homilies at times.

Designed originally in a German neo-Gothic Revival style by Herman J. Gaul, ringed with 20 spectacular windows made by the Tyrolean Stained-Glass Co. of Innsbruck, Austria, it once had a Gothic “wedding cake” altar.

Last year the building saw a well-planned $1.2-million renovation with the interior reconfigured by John Voosen, Gaul’s great nephew. While retaining intrinsic elements, he created a simple in-the-round chancel on a raised octagon of oak.

Additions include a painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe by renowned artist Octavio Ocampo. The parish does a number of festivals yearly to honor its various ethnic groups and finds “any excuse possible” to bring people together.

It is the benchmark in parish commitment to combatting and eliminating racism and building a reconciling community of faith.

Pastor: Father Robert H. Oldershaw
Masses: Saturdays 4:30 p.m./ Sundays 9 and 11 a.m. (English); 1 p.m. (Spanish)
Phone: (847) 864-1185
Web site: www.nickchurch.org

Photo by Sandy Bertog