About Us

OUR

SCHOOL

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OUR

PRIESTS

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OUR STAFF

Fr. Jacek (Jack) Wrona - Pastor of our Parish. Father Jacek was born in Brzesko a town in southern Poland where his parents are still living. He entered the Major Seminary of the Tarnow Diocese in 1989. He graduated from the Seminary in 1995 and he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Tarnow. During the next three years he served as an Associate Pastor of St. Catherine Parish in Grybow. In 1998 he moved to Lublin to further specialized studies at the John Paul II Catholic University in Lublin until 2002. In that year he took his Doctorate there, in the field of homiletics. Soon after that in September 2002, he came to United States . He worked in St. Constance Parish in Chicago for five years and in St. Theresa Parish in Palatine for two years.

Fr. Jan Mucha - was born in Poland (near Tarnow). After his seminary studies he was ordained in 1983. He then engaged in pastoral work in Poland in the diocese of Czestochowa.for 24 years; he worked 5 years as an associate in 2 different parishes and 19 years as a pastor in Wanaty (near Czestochowa). During his time as pastor, Fr. Jan built a new church, a new rectory, and established a new cemetery.

Fr. Andrzej Bartosz - father Andrzej was born in Poznan, Poland.He graduated from the seminary and was ordained on May 16, 1991 at St. Peter & Paul Archcathedral Basilica in Poznan. In 1990 he earned his Masters Degree in Divinity and in 1992 he earned Licentiates in Divinity, both from the Papal Theological Faculty in Poznan.After nine years of pastoral work in Poznan, Father Andrzej came to Chicago in 2000. He served at St. Thecla’s for six years and comes to us from his most recent assignment, St. Germaine Parish in Oak Lawn. Father Andrzej’s hobbies include Ham Radio, Maps & Navigation, Biking, Traveling (here & abroad), and Weather. (If you read Polish, check out Father Andrzej’s personal website about APRS (Ham Radio) at www.aprs.pl.

about our church

Our History
Our Patron

Founded in 1914 as a Polish parish in a still rural area that had been annexed to the city in 1889 in advance of the World's Columbian Exposition. The Polish term for the surrounding area, Władysławowo derives from the Polish name for the church's patron, St. Ladislaus. Originally a mission of St. Wenceslaus, the first church, a combination church and school building, was already in place by August 1915, an impressive feat given that the parish still only numbered about 100 families in 1920. The parish was key in spurring growth in the Portage Park area as it drew in Polish immigrants from the tenements west of the city center concentrated in the Polish Downtown area of West Town. Nearby Chopin Park stands as a testament to this, named after Poland's most famous pianist and composer of the infamous Funeral March. With this development, the original pastor's residence above the Hupka (now Kopec) Funeral Chapel at 5259 W. Roscoe at the time of the building of the first church gave way to the parish plant typical of Polish parishes in the Chicago area, as first the school was enlarged and a convent as well as a rectory were bought. The cost of all these improvements totalled nearly $76,000.

Rapid growth of the Portage Park area had led to rapid growth of St. Ladislaus in the same way the parish served as a magnet for this development. By the time St. Ladislaus celebrated its silver jubilee, the parish had paid off all its debt, and a building fund for the new church had already been started. However construction was delayed by the outbreak of World War II. Finally, on Nov. 17, 1952, ground was broken for the church at the northwest corner of Long and Henderson. The cornerstone was laid on Apr. 12, 1953, and the imposing brick edifice was opened on June 12, 1955 for its first Mass.

King of Hungary, born 1040; died at Neutra 29 July, 1095; one of Hungary's national Christian heroes. He was the son of Béla I; the nobles, after the death of Geisa I, passed over Solomon, son of Andrew I, and chose Ladislaus to be their king in 1077. It is true that he made peace with Solomon, when the latter gave up all claims to the throne of Hungary; however, later on he rebelled against Ladislaus, who took him prisoner and held in the fortress of Visegrád. On the occasion of the canonization of Stephen I, Ladislaus gave Solomon his freedom, but in 1086 Solomon, with the aid of the heathen Cumans, revolted against Ladislaus a second time; the latter, however, vanquished them, and in 1089 gained another victory over the Turkish Cumans. In 1091 Ladislaus marched into Croatia, at the request of his sister, the widowed Queen Helena, and took possession of the kingdom for the crown of Hungary, where, in 1092, he founded the Bishopric of Agram (Zágráb). In the same year (1092), he also founded the Bishopric of Grosswardein (Nagy-Várad), in Hungary, which, however, some trace back to Stephen I. Ladislaus governed the religious and civil affairs of his assembly of the Imperial States at Szabolcs, that might almost be called a synod. He tried vigorously to suppress the remaining heathen customs. He was buried in the cathedral of Grosswardein. He still lives in the sagas and poems of his people as a chivalrous king. In 1192 he was canonized by Celestine III.