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SAINT DOMITILLA SCHOOL

In the fall of 1913, Miss Anne E. McLaughlin, a teacher in the public schools of Chicago, obtained permission to teach Catechism at Wolf Road or "Wolf Road Highlands" as it was called. She gathered forty-five or fifty children of Catholic parentage and taught on Tuesdays and Fridays. Later, a friend, Mrs. Mary Cassidy, assisted her. Classes were held in the Sunnyside Public School for a few months but when some difficulty arose with the trustees, classes were held in the homes of Mrs. Julia Murray, Mrs. Emil Burr and Mrs. C. J. Plumb. Finally, the classes were held permanently in the basement of the home of Mrs. Angeline LaRocca.

The classes of 1914 and 1915 made their First Communion at Sacred Heart Church (Father Kramer) in Melrose Park.  Several years later these two classes were confirmed in the same church by Archbishop Mundelein.  (Sacred Heart Church was in Melrose Park as early as 1894.)   Father Strehl began the construction of the school building in Hillside in 1922 and engaged the Sisters of Saint Francis to teach at Saint Domitilla. The four Sisters came from Holy Family Convent, Alverno, Wisconsin, on September 2, 1922 and lived at 1808 Taft Avenue.  The nuns who went back and forth to school daily were:

When the Servite Fathers from Chicago took charge of Saint Domitilla in 1923, Reverend. A. M. Griffin became the first pastor and during this time the school building was completed.  (Reverend Griffin stayed at Saint Domitilla's parish until 1935.)  The Servite nuns, the first to teach in the new classrooms, were:

The new school building on Hillside Avenue was dedicated on November 28, 1948 by His Eminence Cardinal Stritch but by the fall of 1956, Saint Domitilla's school showed a record increase of 1,125 pupils, taught by 15 Servite Sisters and six lay teachers.  Sister Mary Angelica became the Principal of the school.  Reverend Clement H. Hanley was the pastor of Saint Domitilla parish at this time, assisted by the Reverend Peter M. Doherty, Reverend Paul M. Onderbeke, and Reverend Hugh Moffatt.

The old school and convent.

The school progressed rapidly and the eight-room school dedicated in 1948, with the additional classrooms in use by 1956, proved to be inadequate. The second addition to the school and a new Convent were dedicated in 1961. The staff exceeded 30, and the registration stayed over 1,000.

From a modest beginning, the curriculum includes the latest educational innovations. Audio and visual aids are in constant use to supplement regular classroom instruction. The library, science laboratory and music facilities rank among the finest in the area.

Saint Domitilla's encourages sports with basketball, football and wrestling teams. A well-rounded program for Boy and Girl Scout Troops within the leadership of the Church membership is available. In 1980, Saint Domitilla's school numbered nearly 500 students with 10 nuns and 10 lay teachers on the teaching staff.

SAINT DOMITILLA CHURCH

When Catholic families in the Hillside-Berkeley area began to reorganize in early 1916, a former office of Mount Carmel cemetery (pictured to the right) was moved to land offered by John Wolf (Hillside's first president) on the east side of Wolf Road between Butterfield Road and the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin Railroad, near Mr. Wolf’s home. The little mission soon grew to 70 adults and 104 children.

Father William Agnew, the first priest of Saint Domitilla's, began serving the parish on Sunday, January 21, 1917 and two classes made their First Communion under his direction.  Miss Ann Cahill was the organist and Mrs. Grace Beaupre assisted with the instruction of the children. (She lived on Wolf Road and Hawthorne Avenue.)

Father Cavallo, a Mexican refugee priest, succeeded Father Agnew on June 2, 1918. While caring for Saint Domitilla Mission he lived at Sacred Heart church in Melrose Park but later left to return to Mexico.

Father C. Plomin followed Father Cavallo and remained until October, 1920, when Saint Domitilla Mission became a parish. Then Archbishop Mundelein appointed Father Oscar Strehl to take charge of the new parish in Hillside. Father Strehl said mass for the first time on October 17, 1920 and continued as pastor until August, 1923. Under Father Strehl the real estate firm of Eimo and Company purchased the Schreiber farm on the west side of Wolf Road adjacent to the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin Railroad and Saint Domitilla was moved to this site.

The parishioners from Berkeley walked to church along the Great Western tracks often carrying lanterns at night to light their way. While Father Strehl was pastor, the Sacrament of Confirmation was conferred at Saint Domitilla's for the first time, on Sunday, November 13, 1921, by Archbishop Mundelein. Then when Reverend Oscar Strehl resigned in the summer of 1923, Archbishop Mundelein transferred the parish of Saint Domitilla to the Servite Fathers of Chicago.

It is interesting to note that three young women from this district (two before there was a mission) became members of a religious order:

Three young ladies from the parish became Servite nuns:

A boy (John Kyle) became a priest in 1936 and joined the navy as a chaplain in 1942 and saw service both in the Atlantic and the Pacific. By 1948, the parish had grown to such an extent that bigger and better facilities were needed. While Reverend Francis Wiehl, O.S.M., was Saint Domitilla's pastor, the building at 607 Hillside Avenue was completed and dedicated. The parish now had a small church and a parish office. The problem of overcrowding continued and in 1956, Reverend C. H. Hanley led the celebration when an addition to the existing facilities was completed.

Again in the early 60's expansion of church membership made the space limited and the rectory and administration facilities were outmoded.

In the fall of 1965, Cardinal Cody granted permission to start plans for the present Church-Rectory-Administration Complex. Construction began, in August of 1967 and on Sunday, May 4, 1969, His Eminence, John Cardinal Cody, officiated at the Solemn Blessing of the beautiful new parish Complex on Washington Street and Hillside Avenue.

The little mission, started in a small building on the east side of Wolf Road with 70 adults and 104 children in 1916, has grown miraculously to a parish of 2300 families by 1980. Father Augustine Kulbis, O.S.M. is the pastor of Saint Domitilla's Church.

HOW WAS SAINT DOMITILLA NAMED?

Flavia Domitilla was a wealthy Roman noble-woman before 95 A. D. and legend has it that Saint Peter baptized her. During the persecution under Emperor Nero many Christians died, among them Saint Peter and Saint Paul but somehow Flavia Domitilla escaped and when Nero died, her family, the Flavians, became the ruling family in Rome. This made Domitilla untouchable and she became the "Big Mother" of all Christians in Rome.

Flavia hid Christians in her estate, let priests say mass there and gave her family vault to Christians as a burial place, which today is still called the Catacomb of Saint Domitilla.

Flavia Domitilla consecrated her virginity to God and received a veil from Clement I, the fourth Pope, but her suitor was so disappointed he sought revenge and denounced Domitilla to the local police as being a Christian.

Domitilla's grand-uncle, Domitian, was emperor of Rome at this time and since he could not have her put to death, he banished her to a volcanic island prison (Ponza) thirty miles from Naples where she led a miserable life.  Then Trajan became emperor and he, too, persecuted the Christians and ordered the trial of Flavia Domitilla to be reopened at Terracina, 100 miles from Rome.

Flavia was given the choice: "Worship the emperor or die." She chose death and fire was set to her cell where she perished with two others in 95 AD.  Because His Excellency Archbishop Mundelein associated the Catacomb of Saint Domitilla in Rome with the nearby cemetery of Mount Carmel, he named Saint Domitilla the patron saint of Hillside's parish.

The primary source of this information includes but is not limited to:

Last Modified:  01/02/2003