Cook County IL Archives Biographies.....Ambrozaitis, Casimir 
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Author: Goodspeed, W.A., & Healy, D.D. (Eds.)

REV. CASIMIR AMBROZAITIS, pastor of Our Lady of Vilno, Lithuanian Roman 
Catholic church, 2323 West Twenty-third place, was born in Lithuania, Russia, 
village of Balandei. He was educated at the Gymnazium of Sziaulei, Lithuania, 
and in theology in a diocesan seminary at Vilno, the capital of Lithuania. He 
came to the United States in December, 1895, and was ordained to the 
priesthood in 1898 in Milwaukee by the late Archbishop Katzer for Rt. Rev. J. 
L. Spalding, Bishop of Peoria diocese. His first charge was the pastorship of 
the SS. Peter and Paul Lithuanian Parish at Westville, Ill., of which he took 
charge July 3, 1898. There he remained for three years and three months, 
finishing in the meantime the church at a cost of $5,000.

In 1901 he was transferred to Spring Valley, Ill., and placed in
charge of St. Anna's parish (Lithuanian) of that place. In 1902
he was placed in charge of St. Casimir Polish Roman Catholic
church, for Poles and Lithuanians, at Kenosha, Wis., diocese of
Milwaukee. There in seven months he organized a separate
Lithuanian congregation and bought lots for a church building.
This congregation is now in a flourishing condition. He also organized a 
Lithuanian congregation at Sheboygan and bought a frame
church from one non-Catholic society, Church of Christ, which
church was blessed by Very Rev. A. F. Schinner V. Ge. of Milwaukee, now Rt. 
Rev. Bishop of Superior, September 13, 1903, and another at Port Washington, 
Wis. He served these various congregations faithfully until they were in 
permanent working condition, his labors being those of a missionary. In 1904, 
his Grace, Archbishop Quigley placed him in charge of the St. Bartholomew 
Lithuanian parish at Waukegan, Ill., where he remained until December, 1905, 
when he came to Chicago and on January 17, 1906, was authorized by Archbishop 
Quigley to establish a Lithuanian parish west of Ashland avenue, north of the 
canal and south of West Madison street. There he organized the parish of Our 
Lady of Vilno, "Vilniaus Austros Vartu, P. S. V." He soon purchased real 
estate at 2323 W. Twenty-third place, between Oakley and Western avenues, 
erected thereon a combined building, church and school and rectory. The corner 
stone of the church was laid by Rt. Rev. Bishop Muldoon on November 11, 1906, 
and the building and grounds cost a total of $43,000. The bell was blessed on 
July 11, 1907 by Rev. G. Steponavicius, a Lithuanian pastor of Providence of 
God parish, with a faculty granted him by the archbishop. The church was 
dedicated by His Grace Archbishop Quigley, himself, on September 15, 1907. The 
present membership of the congregation is about 270 families. There is a total 
membership of about 2,000 souls. The parish school has over 200 pupils. The 
church has a seating capacity of 950. There are four men's and one ladies' 
societies connected with the church, all organized for religious beneficial 
purposes.

Additional Comments:
Goodspeed, W.A., & Healy, D.D. (Eds.). (1909). History of Cook County, 
Illinois. Chicago: The Goodspeed Historical Association.

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