[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15973]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING 125TH ANNIVERSARY OF ST. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY CATHOLIC CHURCH

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARCY KAPTUR

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 16, 2017

  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, as co-chair of the Congressional Hungarian 
Caucus, I rise today with great pleasure and enthusiasm to congratulate 
St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church in Cleveland on their 125th 
anniversary. St. Elizabeth is North America's oldest Hungarian Church.
  The history of this notable congregation begins in 1892, where a 
small wood-framed church on the corner of Buckeye Road and East 90th 
Street in Cleveland held mass for the faithful.
  On June 4, 1893, the cornerstone of the first St. Elizabeth's 
Catholic Church was laid, providing seating for up to 800 Hungarian 
immigrants at a single mass. Ten years later, the church was too small 
to accommodate the thousands of Roman Catholic Hungarian immigrants who 
settled in this area. In 1907, the Pastor of the church began to 
petition the Bishop of Cleveland for permission to raise money to build 
a new church which could accommodate more parishioners. Construction of 
the new church begun in 1918 and was completed in 1922.
  In addition to the completion of the church structure that still 
stands today, the community built a parish hall that became a community 
center for the neighborhood's Hungarians, a true social and religious 
meeting center of ``Little Hungary'' on Buckeye Road.
  St. Elizabeth's was designed by Cleveland architect Emile Uhlrich and 
is an example of Italian-influenced Baroque Revival architecture. It 
was partly modelled after the church of Sant' Agnese in Agone in Rome.
  St. Elizabeth's Church was listed on the National Register of 
Historic Places, qualifying both because of its place in Cleveland's 
history and because of its historically significant architecture.
  The congregation of St. Elizabeth's weathered many changes throughout 
the decades, but remained true to its mission and to its dedication to 
Hungarian heritage.
  St. Elizabeth's Church is a magnificent example of all that a 
spiritual home should be for the past 125 years. Our hope is that St. 
Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church's congregation continues to grow 
and prosper through the years.
  Gratulalok.

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