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The La Pietà statue, which depicts Mary cradling Jesus’ body on her lap after the crucifixion, was moved Tuesday morning after the city issued a permit earlier this month for its removal from St. Adalbert Church, a historic parish in Pilsen. The move comes after months of protests from neighbors, parishioners and other advocates who say the statue is a beloved relic of the church’s history.
The Archdiocese of Chicago told the Tribune that the statue will move from St. Adalbert to St. Paul Catholic Church, about a mile southwest.
A small group of protestors formed a human chain in front of the truck moving the statue before some of them were detained by police. The truck then left as neighbors came out of their homes to watch the commotion.
“Se llevaron a la Virgencita,” a passerby said in Spanish. They took the Virgin Mary.
The statue’s removal was initially scheduled for October, but was postponed due to a permit issue. The new permit, issued Nov. 9, clears workers to create a 6-feet-by-7½-feet hole in a wall on the east side of the church.
Judy Vazquez and other members of St. Adalbert’s Rosary Group have kept watch over church property as they wait for the construction to commence. She has arrived on site as early as 6 a.m.
“We’re going to keep vigilant about being there,” Vazquez said. “We’re going to keep the challenge up.”
In August, workers started to remove a section of brick on the rear, east exterior wall of the church. That work stopped since they did not have the proper permit for the job.
Since then, attempts to save the church, which closed in 2019, and its beloved replica of Michelangelo’s La Pietà statue have united Polish, Spanish and English communities alike. In October, about 40 people braved the cold voice their concerns and protest the sculpture’s removal.
“Parishioners will have access to worship before and better enjoy the sculpture in its new home,” said a statement from the Archdiocese of Chicago. “Moreover, this valued community treasure can be better safeguarded and preserved in an active parish church.”
The permit confirmed the worst fears of advocates like Dalia Radecki, a Pilsen resident, retired Chicago Public Schools teacher and volunteer for The Resurrection Project.
“This is going to happen ASAP,” she said. “I don’t know what we’re going to do at this point. All I know is that we’ll be there praying.”
Radecki lives close to the church. She and other community members previously watched over the sculpture day and night for 40 days.
“Some of us were sleeping in cars and trucks out in the cold, protecting the Pietà because it’s so sacred to us,” she said last month. “It’s going to be a very sad and traumatic day for a lot of us when it’s removed. Maybe a miracle will happen.”
Radecki said she wants church leaders to be more transparent about their intentions, sharing concern that the church will be torn down altogether in the future.
“We have dreams, and we have hopes,” she said. “Why doesn’t the Archdiocese come talk to us? They’re people of God, and they don’t come and talk to us.”
St. Adalbert Catholic Church sits on 1650 W. 17th Street in the Pilsen neighborhood. The church was first constructed in 1874 and rebuilt in 1912 following a fire. The place has long maintained its Polish roots, even though Polish immigrants have since dispersed from Pilsen, which now boasts a large Latinx immigrant community.
Julie Sawicki, president of the Society of St. Adalbert, sees the church as a representation of the two groups’ shared values, faith and history. As a daughter of Polish immigrants, she said it is her “obligation” to honor those who came before her.
“This church is one of their achievements, and we should be protecting it and celebrating it as an example of what immigrants contribute to our society,” she said.
Even after the parish held its final Mass in a trilingual service in 2019, the Society of St. Adalbert and other community groups have rallied for the church’s reinstatement as a sacred space. Cardinal Blase Cupich attributed the church’s closure to declining parish populations and at least $3 million in renovations.
“It is reprehensible at every single level,” Sawicki said. “It’s sad that people can’t put their personal interests aside because it sits on valuable land.”
According to Sawicki, the church is designated historic with architectural significance on the city’s “orange” list. But she has demanded the city to designate the church as a landmark, which would cushion it with even more stringent protections.
She said the statue’s Carrara marble was mined from the same quarry that Michelangelo used for the original Pietà.
Ald. Sigcho-Lopez, who represents Pilsen, has petitioned the city for that classification, she said. He has also called on Cardinal Blase Cupich and Mayor Lori Lightfoot to meet with parishioners and protesters about their concerns.
After three and a half years of work, no progress, Sawicki said.
“We’re here in 2022, and it still hasn’t been landmarked,” she said. “You have something like this in jeopardy because politics is more important than saving something that is a jewel for the city of Chicago.”
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For Schiller Park Illinois resident Irene Moskal-Del Giudice, the thought of the statute’s removal brought her to tears.
While she doesn’t live in the neighborhood, the church’s history has resonated with Moskal-Del Giudice, who is of Polish ancestry and previously served as the president of the Polish American Congress Illinois Division.
She remembers visiting St. Adalbert around the time it closed and being struck by its beauty.
“That church is a beautiful reminder of everything we worked for,” she said. “This church is so beautiful, so inspiring. Everything about it reaches your heart.”
With the statue’s removal, she staunchly believes in preserving a sculpture she said represents the mother of God herself.
“We pray to our blessed mother, and we see her as there in a statue,” she said. “We see her in our hearts. To remove the Pietà is to remove our hearts.”
Tribune reporter Adriana Perez contributed.
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