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OUR PARISH HISTORY

St. Viator Parish was founded in 1888 by the Clerics of St. Viator at the invitation of Archbishop P.A. Feehan.

The Viatorians were already present in the Archdiocese, operating St. Viator Academy, St. Viator College and Maternity B.V. M. parish in Bourbonnais, Illinois. The original site of St. Viator parish was on Belmont Avenue, near Crawford (now Pulaski) Street. The parish territory encompassed 25 square miles from Fullerton Avenue on the south to Niles Center Road on the north, most of which was farmland. A chapel was built adjacent to the novitiate training school until a larger wood-frame church was built on land donated by Mr. John Sweeney.

The parish began with eight Catholic families but expanded rapidly. In 1889 Jefferson Township was annexed to the city of Chicago and many of its residents were Catholic, prompting the Viatorians to establish a mission church in the Mayfair area in 1899. That mission eventually became St. Edward Parish.

In 1902 the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet were invited to direct St. Viator School and by 1904 the need for larger facilities caused the parish to be relocated on Addison Street and Kedvale Avenue.  A combination building was constructed with the church on the first floor, the school on the second and third floors, and an auditorium and parish hall in the basement area. That building, with several additions, still stands as part of the current St. Viator School. The Sisters had a residence on the third floor of the building until 1915 when a home was purchased across Addison Street to serve as a convent.  A rectory for the Viatorians was purchased on Kedvale Avenue north of the school. In 1916 the Sisters of St. Joseph began a commercial high school program at St. Viator School which continued until 1924 when Alvernia High School for girls was opened nearby.

The rapid housing growth on the northwest side of the city of Chicago in the 1920’s swelled the membership of St. Viator Parish and caused planning to begin for a new and larger church. The cornerstone for the present church was laid in 1927 and the dedication by Cardinal George Mundelein took place in 1929. Both a rectory and a convent were built adjacent to the new church. By this time the parish had grown to over 1000 families and the school enrolled over 800 students. Classrooms took over took over the space of the previous church and two additions were added to the building in the early 1940’s and 1950’s.  A recreation center was constructed in 1958 on the corner of Kedvale and Waveland avenues to serve both the youth and the adult members of the parish community. Religious education and youth ministry programs grew during these years led by the Sisters of St. Joseph and the Viatorian Brothers.

With the expansion of the Chicago suburbs in the 1980’s and 1990’s population shifts began to happen. Demographic movements within the city brought new ethnicities into the St. Viator community. Hispanic, Filipino and Indian families joined the parish and enrolled their children in the school.  The Sisters of St. Joseph were shifting leadership of the school into the hands of lay administrators and faculty. Spanish language ministries began to appear within the parish and by the late 1990’s a Spanish language Mass was added to the parish schedule. In 2002 St. Viator School celebrated 100 years of Catholic education and prepared itself for the future with the addition of pre-kindergarten classes, multiple language studies and computer technology.

​As the parish marked 125th anniversary of the parish in 2013 Cardinal Francis George congratulated the community on its strong history and challenged the parish to bold fidelity in responding to the needs of the future. That mandate, along with the Viatorian charism, continues to shape the vision and mission of the parish.