FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 23, 2010
WHAT:
Holy Family Parish Celebrates 150th Anniversary of its Opening; Honors Descendents of Anton and Sebastian Buscher, Wood Carvers
Chicago’s second oldest (1857) church that survived Great Chicago Fire of 1871, threatened demolition by its owners in 1990; and escaped a near disastrous 2003 fire, will celebrate the 150th Anniversary of its opening the weekend of April 23-25, 2010.
A highlight of Holy Family’s sesquicentennial celebration will be to honor members of the Buscher family, descendents of Anton and Sebastian Buscher, 19th century immigrant woodcarvers from southern Germany who spent a decade in Holy Family from 1860-70 carving the church’s 52-foot high Gothic main and its side altars, confessionals and scores of statues.
WHEN:
Sunday, April 25, 2010 9:45 a.m. Mass to Celebrate 150th Anniversary of opening of Holy Family Church, Chicago’s second oldest, in 1860
WHERE:
Holy Family Church, 1080 West Roosevelt Rd. Chicago
WHO:
Descendents of Anton and Sebastian Buscher, immigrant German wood carvers who created much of Holy Family’s distinctive art
Christine Simon, of San Diego, Sebastian Buscher’s great granddaughter, can share considerable memorabilia, photos, copies of original drawings of Holy Family’s main altar and principal statues. This will be the first Mass in Holy Family that she has ever attended.
Donald Buscher is a retired high school shop teacher from Brighton, Illinois who began researching his family’s history in 1957 as an extra credit project in an American history course. His research has taken him to Germany a number of times and he has drawn on his computer research skills and intuition to uncover members of the family all across the U.S., Chile and Germany. He’s been successful in tracing tracing the Buscher family back 10 generations to 1723 in Dirmstein Germany.
Other Members of the Buscher Family who have traveled to Chicago for this celebration.
Rev. Jeremiah Boland, parish administrator, an Archdiocese of Chicago priest who manages the many charitable works and outreach programs of the parish and ministers to a diverse and widely scattered group of parishioners.
“Father Arnold Damen, the farsighted Jesuit missionary who was Holy Family’s first pastor, turned to the best and brightest of his day to build a magnificent house of worship on what was the outskirts of Chicago in 1857-60,” said Father Boland.
“From the architects of this magnificent building, Dillenburg and Zucher, to John Van Osdel, Chicago’s first registered architect who designed its interior, Father Damen found wonderful talented artisans. Woodcarvers Anton and Sebastian Buscher of Germany, Charles Oliver Dauphin of Montréal were among the many talented people who built this beautiful house of worship.
“As we mark the 150th anniversary of the opening of Holy Family, we give thanks for the legacy of what we have been given-- a beautiful church that praises our God.
“We also honor the descendents of the Buschers and acknowledge a remarkable group convened in recent years by Father George Lane to restore Holy Family. They include: architects John Vinci and Ward Miller; construction manager Tom Zintl; artists and painters Anne and Dieter Meister; volunteer restoration artist, Leon Keller, D.D.S.; organ patron, Keith Hooper; conservation authority, Tim Barton; and many others.
“The tradition of beauty and greatness continues,” Father Boland said.
Rev. George A. Lane, S.J., founding board member, Holy Family Preservation Society, a not-for-profit organization that conducted a successful national campaign to save from certain demolition and restore to service, Chicago’s second oldest church. Father Lane, President and Publisher of Loyola Press Chicago, is the author of “Churches and Synagogues of Chicago,” a definitive work of the city’s houses of worship.
Present day artists, artisans, painters, decorators, architects and engineers (see names above) who helped save Holy Family from certain demolition in 1990 and restore it to full service today.
Buscher Family Background
Franz Anton Buscher was born in Gamburg, Germany in 1825. He immigrated to America and worked in New York City as an ornamental carver. Later, Anton moved to Chicago where Rev. Arnold Damen, S.J., founding pastor of Holy Family Church and first president of St. Ignatius College (Loyola University Chicago) saw some of the artist’s cigar store Indian statues being loaded into an open wagon. Father Damen was struck by the careful workmanship and detail and hired the carver to create Holy Family’s massive 52-foot high Gothic main altar and the 13 principal statues that surround it. According to the terms of a contract between Anton and Father Damen, dated February 1, 1863, the work was to be completed within 18 months and Buscher was to be paid $1,450.
Anton died in Chicago in 1879.
Sebastian Buscher, Anton’s nephew, was born in Baden, Germany in 1849. He joined his uncle in 1868 at Holy Family and carved the famed miniature of the “Last Supper,” on the face of the church’s main altar table. It is an unusual interpretation of Da Vinci’s masterpiece, for the table is set with tableware, knives and forks!
In 1876, Sebastian entered the Royal Academy of Arts in Munich and returned to Chicago in 1879 where he married Maria Schmitt a year later.
Sebastian and his brother, Thomas, operated a carpentry shop near the parish at 11th and Taylor Street. After carving scores of major pieces throughout Holy Family—confessionals, side altars and scores of statues, Sebastian continued a career creating liturgical art throughout the Midwest. In 1900, Sebastian joined Deprato Statuary Company, a well known religious sculpture house. Many of his pieces are found in churches all over the U.S.
Sebastian died Christmas day, 1926 in Chicago at the age of 77.
A legendary historic Chicago parish—Holy Family – serving the city since 1860
Holy Family Church, built in 1857 and dedicated in 1860, is the city’s only example of pre-civil war Victorian architecture. It is one of five public buildings that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The church embodies the cultural heritage and ethnic diversity of the City of Chicago.
Once the largest English-speaking congregation in the U.S., Holy Family was known as the “Ellis Island of the Midwest,” for it has served as a place of refuge for generations of Chicagoans from many races and ethnic backgrounds.
Father Arnold Damen, S.J. (Damen Avenue), founder and first pastor, built the church on what was then the outskirts of the city—a European cathedral on the Illinois prairie. The original congregation of this first Jesuit church in Chicago were Irish. More than one-third of Chicago’s Irish trace their roots to Holy Family. They were followed by German, Italian, Hispanic and African American people.
Father Damen established a network of elementary schools that served nearly 5,000 students. He founded St. Ignatius College which became both St. Ignatius College Prep and Loyola University Chicago, two of the city’s important educational institutions.
In 1874, Holy Family’s 226-foot tower designed by architect J.P. Huber was the tallest structure in the city. The tower’s two bells, each weighing two tons, were cast by J. Stuckstede Co., St. Louis in 1863, Once hand pulled by parishioners who still attend Holy Family, the bells are now automated.
The tower houses a giant 130-year-old four-faced clock, now restored and gilded. First installed in 1877, the clock is now activated and synchronized by a crystal-controlled computer which maintains accurate time, even in the event of a power failure.
Holy Family was threatened with demolition in 1988. But a national effort led by Rev. George A. Lane, S.J., founding member of the Holy Family Preservation Society, coupled with a massive media appeal to “ say prayers and send money,” saved the church at Christmastime, 1990. Since that time, restoration work has continued virtually uninterrupted following the principle of “saving the past to serve the future.”
Holy Family Church escaped serious damage by a fire in 2003, that was quickly struck by members of Chicago Fire Department Engine Co. 18 stationed in what was then the oldest active firehouse in the city just across Roosevelt Road.
Holy Family Parish Today
Today, Holy Family Parish continues to be owned by the Chicago Jesuits and is operated by the Archdiocese of Chicago.
“Holy Family reaches out to people representing a broad range of ethnic, racial and economic groups– whites, blacks, Latinos and Asians– drawn from the near west side community and the entire Chicago metropolitan area,” Father Boland, parish administrator, said.
The parish continues to expand its community outreach with a food pantry, the West Side Employment Education Center and youth and parish ministry programs, he explained.
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