The Illinois and Michigan Canal was one of the greatest public works projects to take place at that time in the young life of the United States. Chicago and the area adjacent to the canal progressed rapidly after the commencement of work on the fourth of July 1836. Within the first two years of construction on the canal, the growth of the Catholic population along the project rivaled the growth of the Catholics within Chicago.
Just three years prior to the groundbreaking ceremony for the Illinois and Michigan Canal a young priest in his prime mounted a horse at St. Louis on the 18th of April 1833. Chicagoan Anson Taylor escorted him on the journey. Working their way north and east through Illinois they arrived at Chicago on the first of May. It was just two weeks before his departure, on April 6, that he was ordained by Bishop Rosati at the St. Louis Cathedral. Having been appointed vicar general of the Illinois Territory, Bishop Rosati assigned Father John Mary Iraneaus St. Cyr as resident pastor at the Mission of Chicago.
The Catholics of Chicago were predominantly of French, French-Canadian and indigenous tribal origin. They had petitioned the See at St. Louis for a pastor. The growing lakeside town counted around two hundred people as citizens with about half that number being Catholic. The numbers were increasing at such a rate that no one could keep an accurate count. Just five days after his arrival, on the 5th of May, Father St. Cyr conducted his first Mass at Chicago. Entering the town he was befriended by Mark Beaubien. Father St. Cyr was sheltered at Beaubien's Sauganash Hotel while his belongings slowly worked their way up from St. Louis. The 'Apostle of Chicago' remained at the hotel for a year as the guest of Beaubien. Father St. Cyr's first baptism in Chicago was George Beaubien, Mark's son, on the 22nd of May 1833.
John Mary Iraneus St. Cyr was born at Guineie on the Rhone, Lyons, France, on the second of November 1803. He responded to a call by the French Association for the Propagation of the Faith requesting workers for the American missions. Minor orders were bestowed on the 18th of December 1830. Upon completion of his studies at Lyons, St. Cyr embarked towards America in June of 1831. He arrived at St. Louis on the first of August 1831.
Father St. Cyr established the first parish of Chicago that continues today as 'Old' Saint Mary's Church at Van Buren Street and Wabash Avenue in Downtown Chicago. Saint Mary's was originally dedicated as Notre Dame Du Lac. The church was located on a canal lot at State and Lake Streets, adjacent to the old military reservation that housed Fort Dearborn. The church was the center of Catholic Chicago for the first quarter century after the arrival of Father St. Cyr. Mark Beaubien paid the $400 fee for the construction of the church to Augustine D. Taylor with 800 new silver half-dollar pieces.
With the establishment of the See at Vincennes in late summer of 1834, Bishop Bruté pleaded with Bishop Rosati of St. Louis for an extension of Father St. Cyr's stay at Chicago. Permission was granted and the reverend continued at Chicago until April of 1837. In 1837, Father St. Cyr's last year at the Mission of Chicago, the Catholic population there and at the canal swelled to above two thousand people. "His labors were not confined to the mission of Chicago, but embraced a large portion of the state. Hence he was kept busy during the years he remained in charge - 1833 to 1837." [Rev. James J. McGovern. Catholic Church in Chicago. Chicago. 1890, p.3]
Father St. Cyr's diary is carefully preserved in the Rare Book Room at Quincy University. The diary seems to be mainly an account of his expenses for various items purchased during his travels, and Mass intentions. There are no references to any work in the canal area. In 'Chicago's Catholics', Charles Shanabruch writes: "St. Cyr noted that one of the priests [him or Fr. Schaeffer] should minister to the Irish who worked on the canal, but the existence of only one chalice and missal between them precluded such services." [Chicago's Catholic's. Charles Shanabruch. Chicago. 1981, p.5] If he did not actually organize Haytown or other canal settlements into actual missions it is obvious that he planted the seeds which did not take long to sprout: "As a very large number of laborers on the canal were Catholic, Father St. Cyr found he could not possibly attend to the spiritual needs of his increased flock, and he wrote to Bishop Rosati, urging him to send more priests, who referred the matter to the Bishop of Vincennes, beseeching him to see to the growing necessities of the Church in the northern part of Illinois." [Catholic Church in Chicago: Rev. James J. McGovern: p.15]
In early 1837 Father St. Cyr was recalled to the Diocese of St. Louis. Once again he embarked on horseback, tramping along the roads of western and southern Illinois and parts of eastern Missouri. "On one occasion a prairie cyclone arose and the Catholics were looking out for the priest. Father St. Cyr came near one of the settler's cabins as the winds increased in fury and the people, fearing he and his horse would be blown away, a tall Herculean Kentucky Catholic ran and lifted Father St. Cyr and his little horse into a cellar and saved both." [Rev. John Larmer. Epitome of the Catholic Church in Illinois: Lives of Early Catholic Missionaries in Illinois. Chicago. 1907, p.7]
From October 17, 1849 to April 1, 1862 Father St. Cyr was pastor at one of the oldest settlements along the Mississippi River, Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. He was responsible for introducing the Sisters of St. Joseph teaching order into this community. His association with the order would be a lifelong venture.
Saint Augustine in Fulton County, Illinois, was his headquarters during his missionary odyssey in this state. He remained an ardent missionary until late in his life. One of his most noteworthy missions was his work in the 1870's among French communistic followers of John Cabet, known as Icarians. The Icarians had established colonies in western Illinois at Warsaw and Nauvoo. When the colonies disbanded Father St. Cyr worked among them restoring their faith in the Church. Large numbers resumed relations with the faith they had abandoned.
In later years as his eyesight gave out Father St. Cyr acted as chaplain to the Sisters of St. Joseph at Carondolet near St. Louis. This loss of sight must have been an extreme test of faith for the priest for he was known as an avid reader. He died at Nazareth Convent near St. Louis on the 21st of February 1883.