Remember My Church

The founding committee of St. Gregory the Great Parish was formed in the winter of 1904 due to a need for a German-speaking parish to accommodate the community of immigrants from Luxembourg in the neighborhood. These four men, Peter Reinburg, H.P. Kransz, Nick Mann, and J.H. Miller, petitioned the newly appointed Archbishop James E. Quigley for the creation of their parish. They collected the names of potential parishioners and promised their devotion to fostering a prosperous parish community. Initially, the archbishop refused the request. But after a council Quigley appointed to survey the neighborhood reported that a parish could thrive in what was then called the Summerdale neighborhood, the archbishop agreed. He approved the formation of a new parish in what is now Andersonville on April 27, 1904. The founding committee remained ntegral to the development of this new parish. They were responsible for proposing the appointment of the parish’s first pastor and organizing the first meetings. 

In a little real estate office on the corner of Bryn Mawr and Ashland, the newly appointed pastor Father Michael Klasen gathered the founding committee and, according to church lore, inspired them with the prayer in his heart and his soon-to-be famous smile. It was decided that the first parish meeting would be held just days later on July 15, 1904 at Matt Evert’s Restaurant.  

At this meeting, the legacy of the parish was established. St. Gregory was proposed by Father Klasen as the patron for the church and was enthusiastically accepted by the forty men gathered. Next, an eight-man choir was organized, cementing the arts as a central focus of the worship at St. Gregory.  

Local politician Peter Reinberg was the first to pledge $5,000 towards the creation of the parish. Nick Mann then pledged ten lots for parish property. One after the other, names filled the subscription list as the men gathered made pledges to the first St. Gregory Building fund. This list shows the founding fathers of St. Gregory the Great. 

Father Michael Klasen

As much as the neighborhood proposed the formation of St. Gregory, the early years of the parish are very much associated with the church’s founding pastor. Father Klasen, a man of “intense energy and enthusiasm,” was born on Chicago's old West Side in 1874. He was baptized in St. Francis Assisi church, where he spent his childhood attending Mass and going to the parish school. After 9 years of study at St. Lawrence college, he was ordained a priest on July 19, 1897 by Archbishop P. A. Feehan at Holy Name Cathedral. His first Mass was held the following week in St. Aloysius church, which was his first curate appointment. In July of 1904, Archbishop Quigley commissioned Fr. Klasen to organize St. Gregory. 

Father Klasen’s legacy marks him as the visionary of St. Gregory. From its founding in 1904 until his passing on May 6, 1945, Fr. Klasen was devoted to the parish community. His service to the community eventually earned him the title of Very Reverend Monsignor. Yet in many ways, Klasen’s most lasting legacy became the sanctuary he helped build at Paulina and Gregory Streets.