History

The Parish was founded in 1898 and the first Mass was said in the new wooden church on September 21.  On June 27, 1908, the church and school house were completely destroyed by fire.  However, by November a new church, which faced Genesee Street, was blessed.  This second church was considered a temporary structure, and by 1914, the present church was built for a total cost of $93,500.00.  The church was dedicated to God and placed under the patronage of St. Stephen, first king of Hungary.

Architectural Design

The church seats 750, has a 30 x 36 Sanctuary with two sacristies and bull basement, is 135 feet long, 63 feet wide over the two towers, which are 16 feet square.  The width at transepts is 68 feet, the inside height is 45 feet; the towers are 102 feet high from grade to top of cross.  The interior plaster walls are pressed brick trim, stone columns and brick arches and steel panel ceiling.  The exterior is pressed brick trimmed with cut stone and tera cotta with Spanish tile roof; each tower being surmounted with copper dome, lantern and cross.

The architectural treatment is Early Christian Basilica with certain features of the churches of Northern Italy and of Spain from early Renaissance; this type of architecture is also widely used in Hungary, where through the past ages it has been adopted as the national church-style.  The furniture and two-manual pipe organ were designed to fit in their particular place and are of oak.  The organ-pipes fit gracefully around the rose window; the oaken confessionals are flush with inside wall forming bay on outside.  The richly

colored art glass of the windows which illustrate the usual scenes of Christ’s life and pictures from the lives of the various Hungarian saints is the work of Flanagan & Biedenweg; the mural paintings and decorations, pious legends from Hungary’s history of the Saints, chiefly of King St. Stephen, are by Louis Linek, a Hungarian artist of Cleveland.

The iconography on the outside of the Church represents symbols of the Roman Catholic faith; for example, theTrinity (on the west side of the Church, facing Genesee) is represented:  God (eyes), Jesus (cross with crown of thorns) and the Holy Ghost (dove).

Under the three arches, in the back of the church, are the mosaics done by Father Peter Prokop in 1973.  These mosaics show the three theological virtues – faith, hope and charity.

In the Cupola, above the altar, is a typical painting in a Roman Basilican type of church.  The main figure is Christ, Christ the Victor on His Throne in the midst of Saints.