Overview
Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica
1956, Pope Pius XII granted to Our Lady of Sorrows National Shrine the title of Basilica, and this honor was celebrated all through the following year with special pilgrimages.
The Novena is still celebrated weekly, and the Basilica is increasingly being recognized for the splendor of its architecture, and the history it has witnessed.
Tragically, the upper stages of the Western tower were lost to fire in 1984.
But the interior and the exterior brickwork have benefited from periodic and ongoing restoration in recent years, resulting in a shrine that is breathtaking to many who enter for the first time.
Like Lourdes, Czestochowa, Fatima, or the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Sorrows remains a foyer of Heaven, where the Blessed Virgin seems close enough to surprise us with the rustle of her veil.
History of Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica
The Parish of Our Lady of Sorrows was founded in 1874 by three Servants of Mary (Servites): Fathers Austin Morini and Andrew Venturi, and Brother Joseph Camera.
The Bishop of Chicago, Right Reverend Thomas Foley, enthusiastically approved their dream of a sanctuary where the Blessed Virgin could comfort her people and honor her Divine Son.
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Within that first year, a plot of farmland was acquired on the city’s far West Side, and a brick church was built. It was 102 feet long, 38 feet wide, and two stories high.
Midnight Mass was held inside on Christmas Eve, 1874. In the following year, the little church, on the site of today’s Servite monastery, was beautifully frescoed.
Saint Peregrine
Saint Peregrine was healed of a cancerous ulcer on his leg which was considered beyond saving.
The fame of this event in 1325 spread rapidly round the western Church. Christians, and especially the sick, began to invoke his name and seek his intercession for the relief of their suffering and even for a cure from sickness.
The canonization of St. Peregrine in 1726 increased people’s devotion to him which spread to the universal Church.
St Peregrine prayer
St. Peregrine, whom Holy Mother Church has declared Patron of those suffering from Cancer, I confidently turn to you for help in my present sickness. I beg your kind intercession. Ask God to relieve me of this sickness, if it be his Holy Will. Plead with the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Sorrows, whom you loved so tenderly and in union with whom you have suffered the pains of Cancer, that she may help me with her powerful prayers and loving consolation.
But if it should be God’s Holy Will that I bear this sickness, obtain for me courage and strength to accept these trails from the loving hand of God with patience and resignation, because he knows what is best for the salvation of my soul. St. Peregrine, be my friend and patron. Help me to imitate you in accepting suffering, and to unite myself with Jesus Crucified and the Mother of Sorrows, as you did. I offer my pains to God with all the love of my heart, for his glory and the salvation of souls, especially my own. Amen.
Let us remain close in the same prayer! May the Lord bless you abundantly!
Video
Let us remain close in the same prayer! May the Lord bless you abundantly!
By CTA rapid transit (The “L”):
From downtown, take the Blue Line “Forest Park” train to the Kedzie-Homan station. Exit at Kedzie and walk north to Jackson Blvd., then east to the Basilica at Albany Avenue. (About 2 1/2 blocks.)
By CTA bus:
Catch a westbound “Jackson #126” bus on Adams Street in the Loop. Get off at Albany Ave. in front of the Basilica
By CAR or chartered bus:
Heading WEST from the Loop, take Interstate 290 (Eisenhower Expressway) to the California exit. Continue west on Van Buren Street to the Basilica parking lot, just past Albany Ave.Heading EAST from the western suburbs, take Interstate 290 (Eisenhower Expressway) to the Sacramento exit, then go north
on Sacramento and west on Van Buren Street to the Basilica parking lot, just west of Albany Ave.
Let us remain close in the same prayer! May the Lord bless you abundantly!
- Weekdays 8:30am
- Saturdays 11:00am
- Sundays 8:30am, 10:30am
- Saint Peregrine Healing Masses 2nd & 3rd saturday of the month at 11:00 AM
Let us remain close in the same prayer! May the Lord bless you abundantly!
Let us remain close in the same prayer! May the Lord bless you abundantly!
Sorrowful Mother Novena Friday, 8:00am & Saturday, 10:30am
Let us remain close in the same prayer! May the Lord bless you abundantly!
Let us remain close in the same prayer! May the Lord bless you abundantly!
The title of Basilica
Soon a much larger church was needed, and on June 17, 1890, ground was broken for the Italian Renaissance-style church we see today. The building was opened for Masses within months, under a
temporary roof, while the walls had reached only half of their eventual height. It was not until January 5, 1902, that the great church could be dedicated.
When improvements were made to the lower church, Father James M. Keane compiled a booklet of prayers to be used in a new service that would take advantage of this basement shrine. On January 8, 1937, the Sorrowful Mother Novena began an era that would establish Chicago’s Our Lady of Sorrows as a Marian Shrine of national and international fame. Through the 1940’s and into the 1950’s the Great Novena filled the church weekly in up to 38 separate services. The Novena spread to over 2300 additional parishes at the peak of its popularity.
In 1956, Pope Pius XII granted to Our Lady of Sorrows National Shrine the title of Basilica, and this honor was celebrated all through the following year with special pilgrimages. The Novena is still celebrated weekly, and the Basilica is increasingly being recognized for the splendor of its architecture, and the history it has witnessed. Tragically, the upper stages of the Western tower were lost to fire in 1984. But the interior and the exterior brickwork have benefited from periodic and ongoing restoration in recent years, resulting in a shrine that is breathtaking to many who enter for the first time.
Like Lourdes, or Czestochowa, or Fatima, or the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe……Our Lady of Sorrows remains a foyer of Heaven, where the Blessed Virgin seems close enough to surprise us with
the rustle of her veil.
Let us remain close in the same prayer! May the Lord bless you abundantly!
History of the Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows
The Parish of Our Lady of Sorrows was founded in 1874 by three Servants of Mary (Servites): Fathers Austin Morini and Andrew Venturi, and Brother Joseph Camera. The Bishop of Chicago, Right Reverend Thomas Foley, enthusiastically approved their dream of a sanctuary where the Blessed Virgin could comfort her people and honor her Divine Son.
Within that first year, a plot of farmland was acquired on the city’s far West Side, and a brick church was built. It was 102 feet long, 38 feet wide, and two stories high. Midnight Mass was held inside on Christmas Eve, 1874. In the following year, the little church, on the site of today’s Servite monastery, was beautifully frescoed.