Officially opened in 1958, Our Lady of Victory Parish is located at 490 St. Clair St.
In the 1930s Polish families made their way to Chatham in search of work after emigrating from Poland to Canada in the 1920s determined to find a better way of life. Several came to establish farms on the rich soils of Kent County. Many of the surnames can still be found in the parish register. Names such as Peszat, Wilkosz, Solski, Habas, Nalewayek, Wisniewski, Zych, Srokosz, Giera, Szymanski, Ptaszynski, Gruszka to name a few.
After the Second World War, a wave of Polish Veterans and Displaced Persons arrived in Chatham-Kent and solidified the Polish numbers. These were men, women and young families that could not or would not return to their native Poland because of the known oppression of the Communist government that took over their homeland. Many emerged from the front lines, prison camps, concentration camps and work camps suffering from memories of beatings, injuries and watching relatives and friends die at the hands of Nazism and communism. Injured and wounded but not dead - they refused to die and were determined to live.
In their new found home many celebrated mass in various English-speaking parishes throughout Chatham-Kent. The mass was celebrated in Latin in those days but the Liturgy of the Word was in English. But still there were gaps in the liturgical celebrations and traditions in those parishes compared to what the Polish people were accustomed to in their native language celebrations.
In the 1950s these immigrants wished to establish a Polish parish and build a church.
With the help of Fr. Jan Achtobowski and Fr. Pluta and the co-operation of His Excellency Bishop JE Cody the wheels were put into motion.
In the time-frame April 2, 1957 to April 27, 1958 the Bishop appointed Fr. L.A. Wnuk as the founder and first pastor who with the faithful picked a name for the Church; purchased a building site; constructed the Church and had it blessed - all in one year.
The cornerstone was blessed by a delegate of the Primate of Poland which strengthened the connection between the community of faithful here with their homeland. At the time of the blessing of the Church His Excellency Bishop Cody stated in his homily "This Church will not only be a House of God but also an environment around which you concentrate your whole life. This is where you will seek God's care and ask for His graces... I am happy that our Church has increased by a parish which will not only bring glory to Him but will also strengthen the Polish spirit in this new homeland.... You are a people that did not surrender..."
The name "Our Lady of Victory" also has significant history behind it. Poland's devotion to Our Blessed Mother dates back to 1656 when the King of Poland entrusted the destiny of the nation to Her after the battle of Jasna Gora where, against all odds, a handful of Poles defeated the Swedish Army. Our Blessed Mother was the guardian of that site at the time of the battle. Likewise, during the second world war Polish soldiers taken prisoner by the Russians found themselves being massacred in the Russian Katyn Forest. Prisoners in the midst of disaster and the reality of massacre carved and painted a likeness of Our Lady. In these camps many of Poland's academics, military and elite perished, others were tortured. Those that survived, some of whom are registered parishioners in this parish, smuggled the bas-relief out of Russia and Our Lady accompanied the soldiers of the Polish Army on their combat trail and helped them attain Victory over their oppressors. It is through Her intercession that many survived and lived to tell the rest of the world the truth about what happened at Katyn. Other senior parishioners experienced similar horror in Siberia and in German prisons, concentration and work camps.