A Brief History of Our Lady of Victories Parish

A movement began among the Irish and German Catholics of Harrington Park to have a Catholic Church built in Harrington Park. The Harrington Park Catholic Church Building Association was formed on October 2, 1910 and met at the HP Post Office, located at the corner of Giles and Carmen Roads. Forty-six people attended the meeting, and Mr. H.J. Steinhoff was elected president of the association, and Mrs. W.J. Naught was elected vice-president. The first Mass was celebrated by Fr. James Delehanty on November 6, 1910 at the home of Mrs. E.W. Walters, which was located on the corner of Harriot Avenue and Herring Street. Besides the Walters home, Mass was eventually held at a number of homes including the Gleason and the Dunphy homes. On June 6, 1911, it was announced that land was donated by Mrs. Laura Skinner, at the eastern corner of the Ward Farm, at the corner of Harriot Avenue and Dawer Road (Lynn Street) for the building of a Catholic Church.
During the blessing of the cornerstone on April 14, 1912 a crowd of about three-hundred fifty people entered the unfinished church, and the floor collapsed, injuring fifty and killing two. Incidentally, it was the same day the Titanic sank. By September 1912, a Church was erected with the title of Our Lady of Victory at a cost of $6,000. The new pastor, Fr. Andrew Schonhart, came by horse and buggy from Our Lady of Mercy in Park Ridge.
The Church building is the original wooden structure which was built in 1912.

A History of the Name of the Parish

Our Lady of Victories is the title given to Mary for her intercession in the great Naval Battle of Lepanto, which took place on October 7, 1571 when a galley fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of Venice, the Papacy (under Pope Pius V), Spain, Republic of Genoa, Duchy of Savoy, the Knights of Malta and others, defeated a force of Ottoman galleys. The five-hour battle was fought at the northern edge of the Gulf of Patras, off western Greece, where the Ottoman force sailing westward from their naval station in Lepanto met the Holy League forces, which had come from Messina, on the morning of Sunday, October 7. It was the final major naval battle in world history solely between rowing vessels. The Holy League's fleet consisted of 206 galleys and 6 galleasses, and was ably commanded by Don Juan of Austria.
Vessels had been contributed by the various Christian states: 109 galleys and 6 galleasses from Venice, 80 galleys from Spain and Naples/Sicily, 12 Tuscan galleys hired by the Papal States, 3 galleys each from Genoa, Malta, and Savoy, and several privately owned galleys. The member nations of the Papal alliance viewed the Turkish navy and their army as a significant threat to the existence of Christianity in Europe. The various Christian contingents met the main force, that of Venice, in July and August, 1571 at Messina, Sicily.