Church of the Holy Family

On the night of the Great Chicago Fire, October 8, 1871, Father Damen vowed that seven lights would burn in perpetuity in the east transept of the Church of the Holy Family, if the Church and the adjacent Saint Ignatius College were spared destruction from the Fire that allegedly began in the barn of Holy Family parishioners Catherine and Patrick O’Leary on DeKoven Street at the east end of the Jesuit parish.

On the night of the Fire, the wind shifted, jumped the south branch of the Chicago River and burned north to what today is Lincoln Park. The Church of the Holy Family and Saint Ignatius College were spared.  The seven lights continue to burn in the Church of the Holy Family today.

Father Damen and his fellow Jesuit priests and brothers immediately welcomed thousands of the city’s homeless survivors of the Fire “without distinction of race or creed” with food, blankets and shelter in the church, upstairs and down, and in the adjacent Saint Ignatius College. 

Chicago historian and author Ellen Skerrett asserts, “it’s time to set the record straight.  “Under Fr. Damen’s leadership, the Jesuits of Saint Ignatius College promptly housed victims of the Great Fire and distributed food and supplies to thousands,” she explains.

According to Jesuit historic records which Skerrett researched, “orphans of the Fire were housed in the then new Saint Ignatius College” and its basement was used as “a depot for the distribution of provisions & clothing.” 

This critical outreach by the Jesuit priests and brothers occurred during a time of widespread hostility toward Irish Catholic immigrants.  To read noted Chicago historian, Ellen Skerrett's piece on The Great Chicago Fire, please click the button below.
    Setting the Record Straight - The Great Chicago Fire