This is the oldest church dedicated to venerable St. Patrick in the archdiocese (there are three others). Its adventurous history began before the diocese of Chicago!

Built in 1895, designed by architect Martin Carr, this edifice has gothic archways along the nave, a lovely open trussed ceiling and has added a rose window over the altar.

The craggy pale yellow stone of its rugged exterior came from the town’s quarries and is known as “Athens marble.”

The area surrounding the parish was once derisively dubbed “Cork Town,” after the hard-working Irish immigrants who dug the nearby Illinois-Michigan Canal.

Many of them became founding parishioners here and stayed for the same reason so many families are moving to the area today— a small town of friendly neighbors.

One concession to the big city, however— St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated a week earlier here but with undiminished fervor.

Pastor: Father Richard J. Shannon
Masses: Saturdays 5 p.m./ Sundays 7:30, 10 a.m., noon and 5 p.m.
Seating capacity: 320
Parish founded: 1839
Phone: (630) 257-6134

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