History of Our Church
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Saints Peter and Paul was founded in 1846 and is the oldest established parish in DuPage County.
The parish was originally established as St. Raphael’s, after the given name of its pastor, Rev. Raphael Rainaldi. The first church served 25 families, and was a small frame structure with a lean-to attached to the south side, which served as both sacristy and priest’s residence. This church was built on the west side of Front Street (Ellsworth) and faced east.
The school was started with a lay person as a teacher in 1853. In 1852 the church was enlarged by a frame addition and the lean-to was moved to the west side of Ellsworth Street and was used as the parish school.
In 1862, Rev. Peter Fischer became pastor of the parish and changed its name from St. Raphael to Saints Peter & Paul. During his time as pastor, work was begun on a stone church to serve the needs of the parish which had grown to 230 families. This new church, located on the same site as the present church, was dedicated in March 1866. The original frame church was converted into a two room school with 100 children attending.
In 1892 a new school was built to accommodate an enrollment of 180 children. Work also began on the rectory located at the site of the present parish office building.
In 1911, the school was destroyed by fire. A new school was built and at its opening in 1912, the enrollment was 250.
Fire was to strike Saints Peter & Paul again. On Pentecost Sunday, June 4, 1922, the church was completely destroyed by a fire that still remains the worst in Naperville’s history. Out of the ashes, the 350 families that comprised Saints Peter & Paul parish at that time, built the magnificent church we have today.
The new rectory was completed in the fall of 1996. Because of the growing needs of Saints Peter and Paul, the new parish Ministry Center was dedicated in 1999. This building houses all the parish offices, the religious education offices, space for meetings and the parish chapel. Today Saints Peter and Paul School educates over 475 students in preschool through grade 8, and the parish serves over 4,000 families.
Throughout its history, the parish has been a vibrant and vital part of the Naperville community through dozens of ministries that focus on parish life, worship, evangelization, and Christian service. Its campus includes seven buildings—including its stunning Gothic edifice with bell tower—on a seven-acre campus in the heart of Naperville, a Chicago suburb with a population over 145,000.
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Our Patron Saints
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St. Peter
St. Peter, originally known as Simon, was the son of a man named John, and his brother’s name was Andrew.
Peter was martyred (crucified upside down on a cross) for the Faith in the year 64 in Rome. St. Peter’s feasts are June 29 (Saints Peter and Paul, our parish’s patronal feast), and February 22
(the feast of the primacy of St. Peter).
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St. Paul
St. Paul’s background and journey of faith is somewhat different from St. Peter’s. Paul, who was originally known as Saul, was an educated Jew and a member of the Pharisee party, as well as being a Roman citizen.
The feast commemorating his conversion is kept on January 25.
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150 Years of Sharing
the WordsesquicentennialIn 1996, as part of its sesquicentennial celebration, Saints Peter and Paul published a history of the parish. Twenty-five families in 1864 began a rich legacy that has grown to over 4,000 families. Each generation of Catholics of this parish have cultivated and nurtured that faith.
The book includes the parish origin story, significant events of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, as well as a list of bishops, pastors, parochial vicars, and religious sisters who have served the parish.
The history of Saints Peter and Paul continues to be written in the lives of her people and the grace of Jesus Christ.
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The Bells of
Saints Peter and PaulFrom the earliest times, bells were named and their inscriptions were written in the first person, as if the bells were speaking.
The three bells of Saints Peter and Paul not only call to prayer, but also have a story to tell. Although its original four bells were destroyed when the church burned down on Pentacost Sunday 1922, the bronze was salvaged and recast into two bells erected when the parish was rebuilt. Those bells were restored in 2013, along with a new third bell, which was also cast that same year.
Saints Peter and Paul remains eternally grateful for the substantial
posthumous bequest made by Cecelia and Magdalen Hatch. The tower bells were restored and a new bell cast through their loving generosity.
The six-figure donation provided the resources to manufacture the Mother of God bell, as well as cover bell tower costs, including structural reinfocements and crane expenses. Their legacy calls the faithful to worship each time the bells ring—past, present, and future.Click here to read more about the bells of Saints Peter and Paul. Click here to see a video of the 2013 Blessing of the Bells.
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Parish Relic Collection
A relic is a remnant of a saint, venerated by Catholics as a way to bring one closer to the saint. In most cases, these relics are a part of the saint’s body; items belonging to saints and pieces of cloth pressed against a saint’s bones are also considered relics. Relics are usually contained in cases called thecas and reliquaries; these cases can be quite ornate, or they can be small enough to slip into a pocket.
The majority of Saints Peter and Paul’s collection is housed within special cabinets in the sacristy, which are displayed in front of the Marian altar each Fall in commemoration of All Saints Day. Others can be found year-round in the Church or St. Francis of Assisi Chapel.
VIEW COLLECTION
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Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto at Saints Peter and Paul CemeteryA grotto is a natural or artificial cave often used as a shrine, and one of the world’s most famous is the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto, where then 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous—now an official saint of the church—saw Marian apparitions in Lourdes, France, in 1858. The image of Our Lady of Lourdes has been widely reproduced in shrines, including at Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery.
The SSPP burial grounds were founded in 1846, and records indicate that the grotto has served as a prayer space within the cemetery since the early 1920s, when it was designed and built by local masons Paul Baumgartner and Arthur (Art) Miller.
The historic structure has been renovated and improved several times over the past century. In the mid-1970s, fallen rocks were cemented back into place and new statues of St. Bernadette and the Blessed Mother were installed. The grotto’s patio was built in 1998 using extra bricks from the Millennium Labyrinth, installed near Naperville’s Riverwalk.
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The 2022 restoration by Marian Restoration included replacing missing stones and cleaning, along with roof, stairway, and archway repairs, including the installation of waterproofing membranes and galvanized steel supports. Lighting and bench seating also were installed by the Diocese of Joliet in 2022.
In addition to serving as an important year-round prayer space, the site is used for outdoor Masses. Parish sacristan Rita Schmidt organized a fall Luminary Mass for many years until her death in 2020. Carolyn (Lauing) Finzer—a 1961 graduate of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School and granddaughter of Arthur Miller—has lovingly maintained the rosary gardens surrounding the structure for decades.
The 2022 restoration was funded by donations made for the Luminary Masses over the years, as well as regular contributions by parishioners who understand the importance and legacy of the local Marian shrine.
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