History

St Matthias Parish, founded in 1887 in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Chicago’s northside, was established as a national parish to support the community of that period’s heavily German-speaking faithful.  Seeing the increasing need for a grand cathedral to house the St Matthias faithful, the parishioners banded together, leveraging their own funds, to build the St Matthias Church at the corner of Ainslie and Claremont.  The Church was completed in 1915 and the first mass was celebrated on Christmas Day (December 25, 1915).

 

For the last 105 years, St Matthias Church has been at the center of the Lincoln Square community.  Sunday masses have been celebrated together.  Tens of thousands of the faithful have received the sacraments here.  Over 100 graduating classes of St Matthias School have had their commencement ceremony in this grand cathedral. 

 

St Matthias as a parish serves over 1,000 members today.