By Andrew Hansen EDITOR
Tucked away, on the outskirts of Springfield sits a peaceful and sacred ground. Beautiful, dense trees and treasures of nature surround a property that for more than 100 years has been serving as the Motherhouse for the compassionate and faith-filled Hospital Sisters of St. Francis. The beating heart of this property? One of the most majestic and beautiful churches in the Midwest, St. Francis of Assisi Church, designed by Helmle & Helmle, a Springfield architectural firm, and built by local contractor Frank Fitzsimmons in the 1920’s. The church was dedicated in 1924.
“When I go into that church, the expression is ‘this is a hidden gem,’” said Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. “It is not a parish church, so there are not people coming there every Sunday. A lot of people in our diocese do not even know it exists. It is just a magnificent structure.”
The Romanesque style church is 133 feet long, 115 feet wide, and 84 feet tall and is shaped like a cross. It has spectacular artwork, mosaics, and statues, a vaulted ceiling, elaborate designs, striking stained glass, detailed bronze stations of the cross, and an astonishing scarlet dome.
On display, there is a bone relic of St. Francis of Assisi and a relic of the true cross that belonged to Pope Pius IX. The St. Joseph altar is made from rare Italian and Greek marble and the statue. Made in 1932, is among the first colored marble statues imported to the United States. The Altar of Reservation of the Blessed Sacrament is also made of rare marble from Greece and Italy. The gold covered tabernacle was designed in Belgium after images of the Ark of the Covenant and the door features the four evangelists. A crucifix above the altar was made in Belgium by a master artisan and is the only one of its kind in existence. The baldacchino is modeled after the tent under which the Ark of the Covenant was carried. If the sanctuary does not catch your attention, the large mural of “Christ the Almighty” will. Then, there is the dome, which rises 120 feet from the floor. It contains 24 windows of angels and 750 stars that symbolize the members in the American Province of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis in 1964.
This sacred space has been described as “overwhelming splendor,” all of which is about one thing, reminding us that we are called for holiness and to not live for this world, but for the everlasting reward in heaven.
“When you talk about a favorite thing (about the church), in my first ministry as a Franciscan, I was a pediatric nurse,” said Sister Maureen O’Connor, OSF, the Provincial Superior of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis. “There is a statue of Mary where she is holding Jesus as about a toddler. It is such a wonderful picture of the humanity of Jesus because his little sandal is hanging off his foot. I think most parents would pick up their kids up and they would say that there shoes are here or their hat is there, and I see the loving embrace of Mary for Jesus and two minutes later she put him down and put his shoe back on him. It touches me for the relationship between Mary and Jesus and takes me back to my happy pediatric time.”
The property also features several shrines, including shrines to St. Therese of Lisieux, Our Sorrowful Mother, and St. Felicitas, otherwise known as St. Felicity. The Shrine to St. Felicitas shrine includes a wax body representing her with a small relic encased within. The Relic Chapel, which is situated as you enter the main entrance of the church, contains bone fragments, clothing fiber, and hair, among other relics of saints from all ages of the Church.
Outside on the 300-acre property, there are shrines to Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Lourdes. Several saints are also honored through devotionals along a walking path.
“Our first Motherhouse was at St. John’s Hospital,” said Sister O’Connor. “After the sisters had been there for some time, they acquired the property out here (in 1917), and the first structure was St. John’s Tuberculosis Sanatorium. They cared for TB patients here for many years. That brought our healing presence to this property. We also had the St. John’s Crippled Children’s Home, which took care of a lot of polio children and youngsters with cerebral palsy. We had treatment, and they went to school here. So, this property was initially for the healing ministry, and then the next structure was the church, a place for the sisters to live, and the chapel, and it just continued to grow, but it was always in service of our ministry.”
In May of 2021, the Hospital Sisters and the Diocese of Springfield announced that the diocese would form a new entity that will assume ownership and responsibility in a trust, effective in January, for the operations, care, and maintenance of the St. Francis Convent property. The Hospital Sisters community will continue to live on the property. The diocese also announced that they will form a new institute for religious life and intellectual and spiritual formation for teachers of the Catholic faith, parish teams, priests, and lay faithful living locally and across the country. So, all the treasurers on this property will be available to the faithful.