Joseph A Suneg commissioned Leo A Daly, the firm whose many credits include the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and the National World War II Memorial,[3] to design the Rural English Gothic church.

Parson's Construction Company began work the autumn before Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and just nine months later on June 14, 1942, the dedication mass was celebrated.

[6] In 1952, Italian artist Sirio Tonelli installed his reproduction of "The Frieze of the Prophets" by American portraitist John Singer Sargent on the sanctuary wall.

[8] In 1963, the iconic 112-foot-tall Leo A Daly-designed High Gothic bell tower was dedicated by Archbishop Gerald Thomas Bergan in memory of attorney Daniel J Gross.

[12] Inside the church, a first-class relic of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque is permanently ensconced in a reliquary at the base of the statue bearing her likeness.

[13] A March 26, 1955, document of authenticity signed by the Chaplain of the Visitation of St. Mary at Paray-le-Monial, Roman Catholic Diocese of Autun, France, certifies that “…authentic parcels of the ashes of St. Margaret Mary have been deposited and enshrined within a silver reliquary, adorned with a metal crown of thorns, round in shape, with a glass on its anterior face, closed with cords of red silk and sealed with the seal of the said monastery affixed once, on red wax of Spain.”[14] On December 21 each year at 7:46 am CST a winter solstice viewing takes place on the east lawn where the award-winning 1927 bronze statue of St. Francis of Assisi, entitled “The Canticle of the Sun” by Professor Arturo Tomagnini of Turin, aligns perfectly with the rising sun.