Holy Name Cathedral at 735 N. State St. celebrates its 150th anniversary this month. The Gothic-style sanctuary is the central place of worship in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.
The limestone building is actually the second to carry this name. The first was consumed by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
Change is a constant inside the long-standing structure. Renovations have been frequent throughout its history. Yet, worshippers continue to visit Holy Name because of its steadfastness. It’s where Catholic Chicagoans go to celebrate marriages, mourn their dead and pray during national and worldly strife.
And peace is found inside not just by the religious.
“For residents of the Near North Side, whether high-living yuppies or poor and homeless, its massive bronze doors represent a gateway into a space of transcendent calm,” former Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin wrote in 2009.
Here’s a look back at some of the significant events that have defined the cathedral and its congregation.
Nov. 21, 1875
The Cathedral of the Holy Name, at the corner of Superior and State streets, was dedicated with Bishop Thomas Foley presiding. The $200,000 building (more than $6 million in today’s dollars) was designed by Patrick Keely of Brooklyn.
The massive cross-shaped cathedral extended 216 feet long, had seating for 2,300 people and could accommodate up to 4,000, the Tribune reported, making it the largest of its kind in Chicago at the time. A spire rose 210 feet into the air. Worshippers were welcomed into the edifice by brightly colored windows and a lavish marble interior and altar.
“Delightfully free from coldness or disdain, it illumines the fancy of the stranger by its splendor, and invites the alien in creed to share the happiness of a faith which finds its most pleasing expression in such joyous proportions,” the Tribune reported. “Silently aggressive, it attracts and charms.”
The Tribune did have one criticism about the church’s interior design: “The decorator deserves whatever censure is bestowed. He appears to have aimed at two objects — light and softness — and to have missed both in the artistic sense.”
Nov. 28, 1880
Bishop Patrick A. Feehan of Nashville, Tennessee, was installed as the first archbishop of Chicago at Holy Name Cathedral. The Archdiocese of Chicago was recognized two months prior.
Feehan served until his death on July 12, 1902.
March 24, 1924
Eight years after he was installed as leader of the archdiocese (and narrowly avoided being poisoned), Archbishop George William Mundelein was elevated by Pope Pius XI as the first cardinal of Chicago.
He and Archbishop Patrick Joseph Hayes of New York became “princes of the church” during an elaborate ceremony in Vatican City on Mother’s Day where their skullcaps were exchanged for wide-brimmed crimson hats denoting their promotions.
Mundelein was welcomed back to Chicago on May 11, 1924. His ceremonial red hat, which is known as a galero, hangs in the rafters of the cathedral along with those of fellow Chicago Cardinals Francis George, Joseph Bernardin, John Cody, Albert Meyer and Samuel Stritch.
Nov. 10, 1924
While arranging flowers for the funeral of gang affiliate Mike Merlo, florist and bootlegger Dean O’Banion, notorious for his erratic and murderous behavior, turned to greet three men at Schofield Co., which was directly across State Street from Holy Name Cathedral. They shot him multiple times.
“O’Banion sprawled on the floor beneath the pots of roses, which shook of his body hitting the show case as it fell,” a Tribune reporter wrote. “Out of the front door sped O’Banion’s wagon driver. Some say he started in pursuit of the murderers. Some say he was too scared to stop. But he hadn’t been heard from late last night.”
Shot dead in his flower shop, bootlegger Dean O’Banion got a classic gangland sendoff
The florist’s slaying sparked a gangland war and gave O’Banion both pop culture and literary fame. The protagonist of the 1931 movie “The Public Enemy,” starring James Cagney, was based on O’Banion. A fictionalized O’Banion similarly appeared in HBO’s series “Boardwalk Empire.”
O’Banion had been an altar boy in the choir at Holy Name Cathedral and was married there, but he was denied a funeral inside the church because of his underworld affiliation.
June 20, 1926
The 28th International Eucharistic Congress — the first to be held in the United States — opened at Holy Name Cathedral and was broadcast on WGN radio.
Mundelein promised Pope Pius XI that if he allowed the event to take place in Chicago, “a great spiritual banquet” of 1 million communions would open the festivities. In all, 6,000 Masses were celebrated on the event’s first day in the archdiocese’s more than 360 churches, the Tribune reported.
Oct. 11, 1926
After two failed attempts to kill Earl “Little Hymie” Weiss, Al Capone had two of his men rent a room at Superior and State streets that allowed a clear shot at Weiss as he entered or left his headquarters above Dean O’Banion’s old flower shop across the street from Holy Name Cathedral.
The end came for Weiss in a hail of bullets that also killed his driver, Sam Peller, wounded three others, including Weiss’ lawyer, and damaged the cornerstone of the cathedral. The archdiocese, the Tribune reported, refused last rites and funeral services for both Weiss and Peller.
Ten days later, a peace pact was worked out between the two rival gangs at the Hotel Sherman.
June 6, 1944
Chicagoans sat in prayer at the city’s houses of worship — including Holy Name Cathedral — as Allied troops invaded Nazi-occupied France on D-Day during World War II.
Archbishop Samuel Stritch departed from his prepared address about Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary, the Tribune reported, to speak about the significance of the day.
April 15, 1968
In early 1967, Cardinal John Cody unveiled a $250 million, 10-year plan called “Project: Renewal” that included a massive renovation of Holy Name Cathedral. In addition to installing new heating and air conditioning systems, weakened wooden beams would be replaced with steel ones to firm up the building’s infrastructure. In response to Second Vatican Council updates, the altar’s placement was also adjusted so clergy would face the congregation while celebrating Mass.
The cathedral closed the Monday after Easter in 1968 and welcomed 1,500 parishioners back for midnight Mass on Christmas Eve in 1969.
Feb. 14, 1974
Cardinal Cody, who had just left Cathedral High School in the cathedral’s complex, was robbed of $200 by two men.
Oct. 4, 1979
As world-renowned opera singer Luciano Pavarotti sang “Ave Maria,” Pope John Paul II — the only pontiff to visit Chicago — sat in a chair at the center of the sanctuary’s altar. He “appeared slightly weary upon his arrival in Chicago, the third city he visited during the day,” the Tribune reported.
The next day, the pope presided over an open-air Mass in Grant Park with an estimated 1 million people in attendance.
1989
A 5,558-pipe gallery organ, handmade in the workshops of Flentrop Orgelbouw in the Netherlands, was dedicated by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.
Nov. 14, 1996
Bernardin died at 1:33 a.m. in Chicago after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer; he was 68.
The life of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, 25 years after his death
Bernardin’s funeral Mass was celebrated at Holy Name.
Feb. 27, 1998
Chicago Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray — who died Feb. 18, 1998, in Rancho Mirage, California — received a final standing ovation during his funeral Mass at the cathedral. “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” played as his casket left the sanctuary.
April 24, 2005
Cardinal Francis George became Chicago’s first native son to vote in a papal election with the selection of Pope Benedict XVI.
Feb. 4, 2009
Fire erupted in the building’s attic just three months after Holy Name reopened after a previous restoration. The church became the third significant one within the city to catch fire during renovations, which caused preservationists to plead for stronger guidelines.
A resplendent cathedral reopened for Mass in August 2009.
April 8, 2013
Hundreds of film executives, politicians, media personalities and friends gave a standing ovation as Chaz Ebert, wife of beloved Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, approached the pulpit during his funeral. “He would have loved this. He would have loved the majesty of it,” she told them.
The audience laughed when Mayor Rahm Emanuel told them, “We trusted Roger because he was one of us. Roger spent much of his time sitting through bad movies so we didn’t have to.”
Aug. 16, 2025
Cardinal Blase Cupich celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination — his Golden Jubilee — at Holy Name.
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