Shrine of Christ the King Sovereign Priest

The parish that would become the Shrine of Christ the King was founded in 1894 as St. Clara to serve the majority-German Catholic community in the Woodlawn neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, a population boom that followed the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Originally staffed by Carmelite priests, the parish outgrew its first church and in 1923 contracted the city's pre-eminent ecclesiastical architect, Henry J. Schlacks — close friend of Cardinal Mundelein and later the founding director of the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture — to design a monumental new church. Schlacks designed the building in the Renaissance Revival style, deliberately evoking the great churches of Rome; he described his own structure as 'solidly built entirely of masonry and stone,' with a tower of solid stone walls that he called 'indestructible.' The new church was completed in 1927 (some sources cite 1928 for full dedication) at a cost equivalent to roughly $9.39 million in 2025 dollars. Following the canonization of St. Thérèse of Lisieux by Pope Pius XI in 1925, St. Clara was designated the National Shrine of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and during the 1926 Eucharistic Congress in Chicago nearly 100,000 pilgrims visited the church in devotion to the 'Little Flower.' By the mid-twentieth century the demographics of Woodlawn had shifted dramatically; by 1960 the neighborhood was majority African American, and the pastor at the time, Father Tracy O'Sullivan, was known for gang outreach and advocacy for non-discriminatory housing. In 1969 the parish was renamed St. Clara–St. Cyril, and in 1990 the parish absorbed nearby Holy Cross (which was being closed) and was renamed St. Gelasius I — for a pope of African heritage — in a nod to its membership. An April 1976 fire destroyed most of the original interior, and although the exterior walls and tower stood firm, the parish struggled for decades to rebuild. By June 2002 weekly attendance had fallen below 100 and the Archdiocese of Chicago closed the church and slated it for demolition. The greater Woodlawn community protested, and on January 14, 2004, the city of Chicago designated the building a Chicago Landmark under the Chicago Landmarks Ordinance. In 2004 the late Cardinal Francis George invited the canons of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest — a young society of apostolic life founded in 1990 by Monsignor Gilles Wach and Father Philippe Mora — to restore both the building and its parish life, re-establishing it as the only remaining Catholic church in Woodlawn and the American provincial headquarters of the Institute. The church was renamed the Shrine of Christ the King in honor of the Infant Christ the King. The Institute cleaned and stabilized the exterior, installed provisional altars and pews, and began hosting community and cultural events. On October 7, 2015 — the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary — a second, three-alarm fire ripped through the building, destroying the roof, choir loft, windows, and almost all of the interior work done since 2004. The structure was declared to be in 'hazardous condition' and again faced possible demolition. The Archdiocese formally deeded the property to the Institute on February 28, 2016, after the Institute confirmed it had raised sufficient funds to stabilize the shell. Over the next three years the Institute executed Phase I of a three-phase restoration, investing roughly $4 million in a new steel-frame roof system, metal decking, drainage, tuck-pointing of the century-old mortar, replacement of 24,000 bricks, anchoring of interior masonry to the exterior stone, and laminated-safety-glass windows by Daprato Rigali Studios of Chicago. The brand-new roof structure was completed in November 2018 and a Mass of Thanksgiving was offered inside the newly-sheltered walls, with the statue of the Holy Infant King — which had miraculously survived the flames — temporarily returned to the sanctuary. In February 2021 the Institute acquired the former St. Clara school building, renaming it Holy Family House, to serve as a center of parish life while the main church continues to be restored. Phase II — the 'yeoman's work' of installing modern HVAC, plumbing, electrical, fire-suppression, accessibility ramps and elevators, and drywalling the carved vaulted interior — is being overseen by architect William Heyer of William Heyer Architect, whose interior design is meant to continue Schlacks's Roman classicism. A redesigned sanctuary will enshrine the statue of the Infant Christ the King on a sunburst background above the high altar, with side shrines dedicated to the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Epiphany, the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, St. Francis de Sales, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Benedict of Nursia, St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, and the Crucifixion. As of August 1, 2022 the public celebration of Masses at the Shrine was suspended, and the Institute continues its phased fundraising and restoration.