Saint Clement Parish was founded in 1905 when a group of men and women mostly of German heritage, asked Archbishop Quigley for a parish to serve the large German-speaking population along Lincoln Avenue in the Lincoln Park area. Rev. Francis Rempe (later Monsignor) was the first pastor. He served at Saint Clement until his death in 1946.
The first Mass was held at Alcott Public School just north of the church. Saint Clement School opened in 1906 and Mass was celebrated there until 1918 when the present church was completed. Shortly after Saint Clement was founded, it cecame a parish for all residents of the neighborhood regardless of language, as it remains today.
The patron of the church is Saint Clement, third successor to Peter as Bishop of Rome and an early Doctor of the Church, known particularly for his letter to the Corinthians. He died a martyr. After imprisonment and exile to the marble quarries near the Black Sea (Crimea), he was tied to an anchor and cast into the sea. The anchor is the symbol of Saint Clement.