| SS. Cyril and Methodius Church | |
|---|---|
  SS. Cyril and Methodius Church | |
| 41°40′13″N87°59′40″W / 41.6702°N 87.9945°W /41.6702; -87.9945 | |
| Location | Lemont |
| Country | United States |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Website | SS Cyril and Methodius's Parish |
| History | |
| Founded | 1884 |
| Founder | Polish immigrants |
| Dedication | SS. Cyril and Methodius |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
| Heritage designation | For Polish immigrants |
| Architect | Erhard Brielmaier |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Style | Polish Cathedral style |
| Completed | 1929 (1929) |
| Specifications | |
| Materials | Brick |
SS. Cyril and Methodius in Lemont (Polish:Kościół Świętego Cyryla i Metodego) - historic church of theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, located inLemont, Illinois.
It is a prime example of the so-called 'Polish Cathedral style' of churches in both its opulence and grand scale. Along with theHindu Temple of Greater Chicago, it is one of the two monumentalreligious edifices that dominate the Lemont skyline.
Poles are noted in the Lemont area as early as 1860 working in the local quarries.SS. Cyril and Methodius parish was founded in 1884 as a Polish parish. The surrounding area was calledJasna Góra, in reverence to the shrine of theBlack Madonna in Poland. The parish offers mass in both Polish and English and is currently home to 1,965 families.
The church was designed byErhard Brielmaier, and sons, who are most well known for their design of the magnificentSt. Josaphat Basilica inMilwaukee as well as the now closed parish of St. Salomea in Roseland. TheRomanesque style edifice was completed in 1929, replacing a former church that burned down in 1928. Some of the church's highlights are the beautiful originalrose window, the new entryway, and the church'ssteeple which is the highest elevation in all ofCook County, Illinois.
Cyril and Methodius were brothers born ofMacedonian nobility, who became priests inConstantinople. They evangelized to theSlavic peoples, translated the liturgy intoSlavonic and made numerous converts. They are also credited with devising and spreading theGlagolitic alphabet, which was used for Slavonic manuscripts before the development of theCyrillic, the alphabet derived from Glagolitic, that, with small modifications, is still used in a number ofSlavic languages. Both brothers werecanonized in The Eastern Orthodox Church as "equal-to-apostles". In theRoman Catholic Church they are also jointly revered as Apostles to the Slavs and their cult was further glorified in 1980 whenPope John Paul II declared them thepatron saints of Europe.
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