Santa Lucia-Santa Maria Incoronata

Timeline

Santa Lucia-Santa Maria Incoronata – 3022 S. Wells St. (Italian)
Neighborhood: Armour Square
Established: 1963 by the consolidation of Santa Maria Incoronata and Santa Lucia Mission.
Unknown: Elementary school opened.
July 1, 2019: Parish and school merged with St. Jerome Croation into SS. Maria, Lucia, and Jerome parish.
October 20, 2019: Last mass.
March 10, 2020: Decree issued relegating the church to profane but not sordid use.
2022: Santa Lucia church sold.

Feast day

December 13

Story

Santa Lucia Mission merged with Santa Maria Incoronata in 1963, with Santa Lucia the parish church. Maria Incoronata’s church became a mission to Chinese Catholics in Chicago’s Chinatown.

As part of the archdiocese’s Renew My Church campaign, the parish and school were closed and merged with St. Jerome Croation in 2019.

Santa Lucia’s school building remains open as a campus of St. Jerome’s school.

The 2019 decree merging Santa Lucia with St. Jerome states:

Significant is that neither the two parishes combined, nor either of them alone, meets two important recommended minimum levels needed for parish vitality in the archdiocese, namely, at least 800 worshipping parishioners and $750,000.00 annual operating revenue. Moreover, Santa Lucia-Santa Maria Incoronata Parish had significant decreases in Sunday Mass attendance over the past five years, and the parish posted operating deficits in each of the last two years.

The March 2020 decree relegating Santa Lucia church to profane but not sordid use states:

The active Catholic population of the neighborhood has decreased significantly since 1990. This is indicated by the continuing decline in Mass attendance at Santa Lucia Church, nearly 75% since the year 2000: 446 to 112. The parish church of St. Jerome is less than three blocks from Santa Lucia Church. It seats 700, more than needed to accommodate the approximately 650 who regularly attend Sunday Mass in the parish.

The June 2022 edition of The Archdiocese of Chicago Parish Directory indicates the merged parish is now known as “St. Jerome (Croation),” with no reference to Santa Lucia-Santa Maria Incoronata.

Sources

Locations of Roman Catholic Churches, 1859-1990 by Jack Bochar
RenewMyChurch.org decision and relegation decrees
The Archdiocese of Chicago Parish Directory June 2022

Santa Lucia Chapel Mission

Timeline

Santa Lucia – 3022 S. Wells St. (Italian)
Established: 1951
1963: Consolidated with Santa Maria Incoronata, renamed Santa Lucia-Santa Maria Incoronata, a personal parish for Italian-speaking Catholics.

Feast day

December 13

Story

Bochar’s Locations lists the founding date as 1951 but also has a note dated 1943, “The chapel (former community hall) was at 3022 S. Wells.” Confusing.

See dedicated page for Santa Lucia-Santa Maria Incoronata parish.

Sources

Locations of Roman Catholic Churches, 1850-1990 by Jack Bochar

St. Lucy

Timeline

St Lucy – Lake St. and Mayfield St. (Territorial)
Established: May 20, 1911
1906: Founded as a mission of St. Catherine of Siena Church (Austin and Washington Blvd, Oak Park, IL).
1906: Church at northwest corner of Lake Street and Franklin (now Mayfield) Ave.
May 20. 1911: Designated a parish.
July 1, 1974: Consolidated with St. Catherine of Siena (designated parish church) and renamed St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy.
Oct. 1977: Church building became Mars Hill Missionary Baptist Church

Feast day

December 13

Story

Pending

Sources

Locations of Roman Catholic Churches, 1850-1990