page_title: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago
section_title: First parish
hierarchical_section_title: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago / Diocesan history / First parish
caption_attribution_description: English: St. Mary's Cathedral in Chicago. It was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
context_page_description: The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago was established as a diocese in 1843 and elevated to an archdiocese in 1880. It serves the more than 2.3 million Catholics in Cook and Lake counties in Northeastern Illinois, in the United States, an area of 1,411 square miles. The archdiocese is divided into six vicariates and 31 deaneries.
  Blase Joseph Cupich was appointed Archbishop of Chicago in 2014 by Pope Francis, and is assisted by six episcopal vicars, who are each responsible for a vicariate. The cathedral parish for the archdiocese, Holy Name Cathedral, is in the Near North Side area of the see city for the diocese, Chicago. The Archdiocese of Chicago is the metropolitan see of the Province of Chicago. Its suffragan dioceses are the other Catholic dioceses in Illinois: Belleville, Joliet, Peoria, Rockford, and Springfield.
  Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, Archbishop of Chicago from 1982 to 1996, was arguably one of the most prominent figures in the Church in the United States in the post-Vatican II era, rallying progressives with his "seamless garment ethic" and his ecumenical initiatives.
context_section_description: At the cost of four hundred dollars, Father Saint Cyr purchased a plot of land at what is now the intersection of Lake and State Streets and constructed a church building of 25 by 35 feet (7.6 by 10.7 m). It was dedicated in October 1833. The following year, the Bishop of Vincennes visited Chicago, where he found over 400 Catholics with only one priest to serve them. The bishop asked permission from Bishop Rosati to send Fathers Fischer, Shaefer, Saint Palais, Dupontavice, and Joliet from Vincennes to tend to the needs of the Chicago region. In 1837, Fr. Saint Cyr was allowed to retire and was replaced by Chicago's first English-speaking priest, the Rev. James Timothy O'Meara. Father O'Meara moved the church built by Fr. Saint Cyr to what is now the intersection of Wabash Avenue and Madison Street. When Fr. O'Meara left Chicago, Saint Palais demolished the church and replaced it with a new brick structure.
caption: St. Mary's Cathedral, Chicago
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