St. Vitus's Church, Cleveland

St. Vitus is a Roman Catholic church at 6019 Lausche Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The church was completed in 1932; construction took two years and cost about $350,000.

The first Slovenian to settle in the Cleveland area was Joseph Turk, who came about 1883, most likely from Carniola, and settled on Marble Avenue, near the steel mills. He helped organize the Catholic Slovenes in Cleveland, and requested that Bishop Richard Gilmour of Cleveland appoint a permanent Slovenian priest in Cleveland. Soon after, Joeseph Turk began gathering money from prospective parishioners to form a parish.

Finally, in 1893, Monsignor Vitus Hribar became the first pastor at the temporary headquarters of St. Peter's Church on East 17th in Cleveland. Eventually, in June 1894, land was purchased for the parish at the northwest corner of Norwood and Glass Avenues (Glass Avenue is now known as Lausche Ave). After a $6,000 construction, the first Church of St. Vitus stood on the present location of St. Martin DePorres High School. After disagreements between parishioners and Right Reverend Monsignor Hribar, a new pastor by the name of Right Reverend Monsignor Bartholomew Ponikvar was assigned in 1907.

Monsignor Ponikvar gradually quelled differences in opinion about how funding should be appropriated in the parish. From there, Monsignor Ponikvar set out to build a new three-story school, and was completed shortly after 1912. However, the largest goal of Monsignor Ponikvar was to yet to come. He set out to build a new church to serve the quickly-growing parish. After a two-year construction, in 1932, the second St. Vitus Church was constructed on East 61st and Glass Avenue. It cost about $350,000 ($6,500,000 in 2016 dollars). The architect was William Jansen of Cleveland. It still stands as the largest Slovenian church in the United States of America.

After the death of Monsignor Ponikvar in 1952, the third pastor of St. Vitus was assigned. Monsignor Louis B. Baznik was a former parishioner and son of a founder of the parish. His first project was the dedication of four new bronze bells to the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary, Saint Vitus, and Saint Aloysius in the west bell tower of Saint Vitus Church. Soon after, in 1955, he set out to have an auditorium/gymnasium constructed at the site of the former church, as well as a convent. In addition to these additions, revisions to the school made it more competitive to other schools in the Cleveland area. Parishioners, expecting Monsignor Baznik to remain with the parish for the rest of his life, were shocked to learn that he was reassigned to St. Patrick's in Geauga County, and thus a new pastor was named in 1969.

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