Jump to content

Archdiocese of Chicago

From Catholicism Wiki
Archdiocese of Chicago
Archidiœcesis Chicagiensis
Holy Name Cathedral
Holy Name Cathedral
Location
Country United States
Territory Counties of Cook and Lake
Ecclesiastical province Chicago
Statistics
Area 1,411 sq mi (3,650 km2)
Population
Total
Catholics 		(as of 2026)
5.9 million
1,947,000[1] (33%)
Parishes 216[1] (As of 1/2026)
Schools 146 archdiocesan-run[1]
34 non-archdiocesan-run[1]
Information
Denomination Catholic Church
Sui iuris church Latin Church
Rite Roman Rite
Established November 28, 1843
Cathedral Holy Name Cathedral
Patron saint Immaculate Conception
Secular priests 638[1]
Current leadership
Pope Leo XIV
Archbishop Blase Joseph Cupich
Auxiliary Bishops Mark Andrew Bartosic
Robert J. Lombardo
Timothy J. O'Malley
Lawrence J. Sullivan
José Maria Garcia Maldonado
Robert Fedek
John S. Siemianowski
Vicar General Lawrence J. Sullivan
Bishops emeritus Francis J. Kane
George J. Rassas
Joseph N. Perry
Andrew P. Wypych
Map
Website
archchicago.org

The Archdiocese of Chicago (Latin: Archidiœcesis Chicagiensis) is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in Northeastern Illinois, in the United States. The Vatican erected it as a diocese in 1843 and elevated it to an archdiocese in 1880. Cardinal Blase Joseph Cupich is the archbishop. The cathedral parish for the archdiocese is Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago.

The archdiocese serves over 2 million Catholics in Cook and Lake counties, an area of 1,411 square miles (3,650 km2). It is the metropolitan see of the province of Chicago. The province covers all the dioceses in Illinois.

History

1600 to 1800

During the 17th century, the Illinois Country was part of the French colony of New France, which was under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Quebec.[2]

The first Catholic presence in present-day Illinois was that of a French Jesuit missionary, Jacques Marquette, who landed at the mouth of the Chicago River on December 4, 1674. A cabin he built for the winter became the first European settlement in the area. Marquette published his survey of the new territories and soon more French missionaries and settlers arrived.[3]

In 1696, a French Jesuit, Jacques Gravier, founded the Illinois mission among the Illinois, Miami, Kaskaskia and others of the Illiniwek confederacy in the Mississippi River and Illinois River valleys.[4] During this period, the French-Canadian and Native American Catholics in the region were under the jurisdiction of the bishop of the Diocese of Quebec in New France.

With the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, the British took control of Illinois. Their rule ended after the American Revolution in 1783 when the British ceded Illinois and other Midwestern territories to the new United States.[5] In 1795, the Potawatomi nation signed the Treaty of Greenville that ended the Northwest Indian War, ceding to the United States its land at the mouth of the Chicago River.[6]

1800 to 1840

In 1789, Pope Pius VI erected the Diocese of Baltimore, covering the entire United States. In 1822, Alexander Beaubien became the first person to be baptized as a Catholic in Chicago.[7] By 1826, the Vatican had created the Diocese of St. Louis, covering Illinois and other areas of the American Midwest.[8]

In 1833, Jesuit missionaries in Chicago wrote to Bishop Joseph Rosati of St. Louis, pleading for a priest to serve the 100 Catholics in the city. In response, Rosati appointed John Saint Cyr. a French priest, as the first resident priest in Chicago. Saint Cyr celebrated his first mass in a log cabin on Lake Street in 1833.[7] At a cost of $400, Saint Cyr constructed St. Mary, a small wooden church near Lake and State Streets. The first Catholic church in the city, it was dedicated in 1833.[9] The next year, Bishop Simon Bruté of the new Diocese of Vincennes in Indiana, visited Chicago. He found only one priest serving over 400 Catholics. Brulé asked permission from Rosati to send several priests from Vincennes to Chicago.

In 1837, Saint Cyr retired as pastor of St. Mary and was replaced by James O'Meara. He moved St. Mary to another wooden structure at Wabash Avenue and Madison Street. When O'Meara left Chicago, Saint Palais demolished the wooden church and replaced it with a brick structure.[10]

1840 to 1850

Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Chicago on November 28, 1843. It included all of the State of Illinois, taking territory from the Dioceses of St. Louis and Vincennes.[11] In 1844, Gregory XVI named William Quarter of Ireland as the first bishop of Chicago.[7] On his arrival in Chicago, Quarter summoned a synod of the 32 priests to begin the organization of the diocese.[7]

Quarter secured the passage of a state law in 1845 that declared the bishop of Chicago an incorporated entity, giving him the power to hold real estate and other property in trust for religious purposes.[12] This law would allow Quarter and future prelates to construct churches, colleges, and universities in the archdiocese.

Quarter invited the Sisters of Mercy to come to Chicago in 1846. Over the next six years, the sisters founded schools, two orphanages and an academy. One of their projects was the St. Xavier Female Seminary, a secondary school that attracted students from wealthy Catholic and Protestant families.[13] St. Mary of the Lake University, the first university or college in Chicago, opened in 1846.[14] Quarter died on April 10, 1848.[15]

On October 3, 1848, Pope Pius IX appointed James Van de Velde of the Society of Jesus as the second bishop of Chicago.[16] During his brief tenure in Chicago, Van de Velde built two elementary schools, a night school for adults, an employment office, and a boarding house for working women.[13] After the 1849 cholera outbreak in Chicago, he established residences for the many children orphaned by the epidemic.[13]

1850 to 1860

Van De Velde opened the Illinois Hospital of the Lakes in 1851, the first hospital in Chicago.[13] Suffering from severe rheumatism during the harsh Chicago winters, Van De Velde persuaded the pope in 1852 to appoint him as bishop of the Diocese of Natchez in Mississippi.[17] The Vatican erected the Diocese of Quincy in 1853, taking Southern Illinois from the Diocese of Chicago. The Diocese of Quincy later became the Diocese of Alton and then the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.[11]

In December 1853, Anthony O'Regan was appointed as the third bishop of Chicago by Pius IX. During his tenure, O'Regan purchased property for the construction of several churches and Calvary Cemetery in Chicago. A systematic administrator and strong disciplinarian, O'Regan generated significant dissatisfaction among his clergy.[18] Many French-speaking congregants accused him of stealing their property.[19][20] In 1855, the Sisters of the Holy Cross founded an industrial school in Chicago for girls, both Catholic and non-Catholic.[13]

Frustrated by the opposition he faced in the diocese, O'Regan submitted his resignation in 1857 to the Vatican, which accepted it in June 1858.[21] The pope appointed Bishop James Duggan of St. Louis as the apostolic administrator of the diocese.

On January 21, 1859, Pius IX named Duggan as the fourth bishop of Chicago.[22] Duggan faced challenges in Chicago: the legacy of the decade-long lack of leadership in the diocese, the aftereffects of the financial panic of 1857, and of the American Civil War. German Catholics were hostile to an Irish bishop. Irish-born priests were hostile to Dugan's stand against the Fenian Brotherhood: he denied the sacraments to anyone tied to this secret society. Some clergy faulted Duggan for failing to support the University of St. Mary of the Lake, which closed in 1866 due to financial problems and low enrollment.[23] In 1859, Dugan founded the House of the Good Shepherd in Chicago as a residence for "delinquent women."[13]

1860 to 1880

After Duggan returned from the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1866, he began to exhibit sign of mental instability. When he left Chicago for a European trip, several diocesan priests wrote to the Vatican, questioning Dugan's mental health.[24] Three years later, in 1869, Pius IX sent Duggan to a sanitarium in St. Louis and appointed Monsignor Thomas Foley as coadjutor bishop to operate the diocese. In 1870, a Jesuit educator, Arnold Damen, established St. Ignatius College in Chicago.[25]

In October 1871, the diocese suffered nearly a million dollars in property damage in the Great Chicago Fire, including the destruction of St. Mary's Cathedral.[26][27] In 1875, Foley dedicated the new Cathedral of the Holy Name in Chicago, designed by architect Patrick Keely.[28] Foley invited the Franciscans, Vincentians, Servites, Viatorians, and Resurrectionist religious orders to establish parishes and schools in the diocese. In 1876, disagreements between Foley and Mother Mary Alfred Moes of the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate of Joliet led her to relocate her order to Minnesota.[29]

In 1877, the Vatican erected the Diocese of Peoria, taking several counties in Central Illinois from the Diocese of Chicago. Foley died in 1879,

1880 to 1900

In 1880, the Vatican elevated the Diocese of Chicago to the Archdiocese of Chicago making it the metropolitan see for all of Illinois. At that time, it transferred five more counties to the suffragan Diocese of Peoria.[12] Pope Leo XIII named Bishop Patrick Feehan from the Diocese of Nashville as the first archbishop.[30]

From 1880 to 1902, the Catholic population of Chicago nearly quadrupled to 800,000, mainly due to immigration. While the existing Irish and German communities expanded, Polish, Bohemian, French-Canadian, Lithuanian, Italian, Croatian, Slovak and Dutch Catholics arrived in the archdiocese, bringing their own languages and cultural traditions.[31]

During his tenure as archbishop, Feehan founded 140 new parishes. Fifty-two of them were national parishes serving particular ethnic communities, staffed by religious orders from their home countries. The parishes provided the new immigrants with familiar fraternal organizations, music, and language, safe from xenophobia and anti-Catholic discrimination.[31]

In 1881, Feehan established the St. Vincent Orphan Asylum and in 1883 the St. Mary's Training School for Boys. They were followed in 1887 with the founding of St. Paul's Home for Working Boys.[32] A strong supporter of Catholic education, Feehan promoted it with an exhibition at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago[33] "Archbishop Feehan believed a strong system of Catholic education would solve the problem of inconsistent religious instruction at home, and unify a rapidly diversifying Catholic America."[34] He also brought the Vincentians to Chicago to start what is now DePaul University.

1900 to 1930

After Feehan died in 1902, Leo XIII in 1903 named Bishop James Quigley from the Diocese of Buffalo as the next archbishop of Chicago.[21] In 1905, Quigley asked John De Schryver, a professor at St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, to organize St. John Berchmans Parish for Belgian Catholics.[35] Quigley also established parishes for Italian and Lithuanian immigrants. "Chicago's urban parishes flourished as an important spiritual, cultural, and educational component of Chicago's life."[36]

Pope Pius X erected the Diocese of Rockford in 1907, with 12 counties transferred from the Archdiocese of Chicago.[37] In 1910, Quigley approached Francis X. McCabe, president of DePaul University, about the lack of higher education opportunities for Catholic women in the archdiocese. DePaul began admitting women the following year.[38] Quigley died in 1915.[39]

The next archbishop of Chicago was Auxiliary Bishop George Mundelein from the Diocese of Brooklyn, appointed by Pope Benedict XV on December 9, 1915.[40] Almost half the Chicago population was Catholic by the 1920s. For decades, the parishes had been building and running their own schools, employing religious sisters as inexpensive teachers. The languages of instruction were often German or Polish. On taking office, Mundelein centralized control of the parish schools. The archdiocesan building committee now picked the locations for new schools while its school board standardized the school curricula, textbooks, teacher training, testing, and educational policies.[41]

In 1926, the archdiocese hosted the 28th International Eucharistic Congress.

1930 to 1960

Mundelein died in 1939.[40] To replace him, Pope Pius XII named Archbishop Samuel Stritch from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.[42] After Stritch died in May 1958, Pius Xll appointed Archbishop Albert Meyer of Milwaukee as archbishop of Chicago on September 19, 1958.[43] Pius XII erected the Diocese of Joliet in 1948, taking four counties from the Archdiocese of Chicago along with counties from the Dioceses of Rockford and Peoria.[44] This created the current territory of the archdiocese.

On December 1, 1958, a fire at Our Lady of the Angels School in Chicago destroyed part of the school and killed 92 students and three nuns. While visiting survivors in the hospital and viewing the deceased in the city morgue, Meyer was overcome with grief. In 1959, the National Fire Protection Association report on the fire criticized the archdiocese for "housing their children in fire traps". The report noted that the archdiocese continued to operate schools with inadequate fire safety standards. The archdiocese faced $44 million in lawsuits from the families of fire victims and survivors. After six years of negotiations, Meyer agreed to a financial settlement with the victims and survivors.[14]

1960 to 1980

In 1960, Meyer banned parishes from hosting bingo games in response to reports of corruption.[14] In January 1961, during riots in the African-American Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, Meyer made this statement:

We must remove from the church on the local scene any possible taint of racial discrimination or racial segregation, and help provide the moral leadership for eliminating racial discrimination from the whole community.[14]

After Meyer died in 1965. Pope Paul VI appointed Archbishop John Cody from the Archdiocese of New Orleans as the next archbishop of Chicago. During his tenure in Chicago, many priests and lay people criticized Cody for an autocratic management style. The Association of Chicago Priests censured Meyer in 1971 for failing to advance the Second Vatican Council reforms in the archdiocese. Cody closed 27 schools as well as several parishes in inner city Chicago.[45]

1980 to 1990

In September 1981, the US Attorney's Office in Chicago announced an investigation of Cody over the diversion of over $1 million archdiocesan funds to Helen Dolan Wilson, whom Cody described as his step-cousin. That same week, the Chicago Sun-Times revealed that Wilson was on the archdiocesan payroll, but had no discernable duties. Cody denied all charges of wrongdoing.[46] When Cody died in 1982, the official investigation was terminated.

Pope John Paul II in 1982 chose Archbishop Joseph Bernardin of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati as Cody's replacement. Bernardin found an archdiocese in disarray, its priests disheartened by arbitrary administration and charges of financial misconduct under Cody. "With his patient charm and willingness to listen, Bernardin won back the confidence of the clergy and the laity."[47] Within a few months of his arrival in Chicago, Bernadin had spoken personally to every priest in the archdiocese. He also prepared and released an audit of the archdiocesan finances.[48]

During the 1983 mayoral election campaign in Chicago, the African-American Congressman Harold Washington faced bitter opposition from the Chicago political machine. Bernadin urged Chicago Catholics to reject racist attacks against Washington; when he was elected, Bernadin met with Washington the day after the election.[48]

In 1984, Bernadin began the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago,[49][50] the successor group to the Chicago Conference on Religion and Race.[51] The archdiocese also established covenants with the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago in 1986 and with the Metropolitan Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1989.[49]

1990 to 2020

In 1990, Bernadin announced that the archdiocese was closing 37 churches and schools.[52] After Bernadin died in 1996, John Paul II appointed Archbishop Francis George from the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon as the eighth archbishop of Chicago,[53] George was the first native Chicagoan to become its archbishop.

In 2011, George terminated the foster care program of Catholic Charities in the archdiocese. The State of Illinois had ruled that it would not fund any charities that refused to consider same-sex couples as foster care providers or adoptive parents. George refused to comply with this requirement.[54]

In 2011, the City of Chicago proposed a new route for the June 2012 Chicago Pride Parade, a celebration by the LGBTQ community. However, the archdiocese objected to the new route, saying the parade would pass by Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church during Sunday morning mass. George told an interviewer: "you don't want the Gay Liberation Movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism."[55] In response, LGBTQ advocates called for George's resignation, but George said:

"When the pastor's request for reconsideration of the plans was ignored, the organizers invited an obvious comparison to other groups who have historically attempted to stifle the religious freedom of the Catholic Church."[56][57]

City administrators negotiated a compromise plan that delayed the parade start by two hours, allowing it to pass by Our Lady after its mass concluded. Two weeks later, George apologized for his remarks.[58] George died in 2014.

Pope Francis named Bishop Blaise Cupich from the Diocese of Spokane as the next archbishop of Chicago. Cupich announced a major reorganization of the archdiocese in 2015. Approximately 50 archdiocesan employees accepted early retirement packages offered by the archdiocese.[59] In 2016, increasing costs, low attendance at mass and priest shortages prompted the archdiocese to close or consolidate up to 100 parishes and schools over the next 15 years.[60]

2020 to present

On December 27, 2021, following the issuing of the motu proprio Traditionis custodes in July and the subsequent issuing of guidelines released by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in December, Cupich imposed restrictions on the celebration of the traditional Latin mass in the archdiocese. He banned the usage of the Traditional Rite on the first Sunday of every month, Christmas, the Triduum, Easter Sunday, and Pentecost Sunday.[61] In 2021, the archdiocese announced plans to combine 13 parishes into five clusters, to minister to regions south of Chicago.[59]

On August 1, 2022, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) announced the celebration of public masses and sacraments at Shrine of Christ the King Church, its headquarters in Chicago.[62] The archdiocese had sent the ICKSP in 2021 its new regulations on the use of the traditional Latin Mass.[63]

As of 2026, 39 churches in Chicago and 24 in the surrounding suburbs have closed and the number of parishes has reduced from 344 to 216.[64][65]

On May 8, 2025, Robert Francis Prevost, who was born and raised in Chicago and educated at schools run by the Archdiocese of Chicago, would become the first U.S. Pope, taking the name Pope Leo XIV.[66]

Churches

In the 1950s, Chicago-area Catholics spoke of which churches they attended and identified themselves via these churches. University of Notre Dame professor Kathleen Sprows Cummings stated that knowing one's church revealed demographic information and that it "was an identifier, almost more identifiable than the particular neighborhood that they lived in."[67]

Archbishop's residence

The archbishop's residence in Chicago is a private guesthouse owned by the Archdiocese of Chicago. It served as the official residence of the archbishops until 2014, when incoming Archbishop Blaise Cupich decided to live in the rectory of Holy Name Cathedral.[68]

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the archbishop's residence was built in 1885 by Bishop Feehan. A three-story, red brick building, it is one of the oldest structures in the Astor Street District, according to the Landmarks Preservation Council. Before its construction, the bishops of Chicago resided at a home on LaSalle Street and North Avenue. When John Paul II visited Chicago in 1979, he became the first pontiff to stay at the residence. However, both Pius XII and Paul VI resided there during their visits to Chicago as cardinals.[69]

Bishops

Since 1915, the Vatican has designated each archbishop of Chicago as a cardinal priest, with membership in the College of Cardinals. As such, they also have responsibilities in the dicasteries of the Roman Curia.

  • All but two of the bishops and archbishops of Chicago previously served as diocesan priests.
  • Bishop Van de Velde belonged to the Society of Jesus and Archbishop George was a member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.[7]

Bishops of Chicago

  1. William J. Quarter (1843–1848)
  2. James Oliver Van de Velde (1849–1853), appointed Bishop of Natchez
  3. Anthony O'Regan (1854–1858)
  4. James Duggan (1859–1880)

Archbishops of Chicago

  1. Patrick Augustine Feehan (1880–1902)
  2. James Edward Quigley (1903–1915)
  3. Cardinal George Mundelein (1915–1939)
  4. Cardinal Samuel Stritch (1940–1958), appointed Pro-Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith
  5. Cardinal Albert Gregory Meyer (1958–1965)
  6. Cardinal John Cody (1965–1982)
  7. Cardinal Joseph Bernardin (1982–1996)
  8. Cardinal Francis George (1997–2014)
  9. Cardinal Blase J. Cupich (2014–present)[70]

Current auxiliary bishops

Former auxiliary bishops

  • Alexander Joseph McGavick (1899–1921), appointed Bishop of La Crosse
  • Peter Muldoon (1901–1908), appointed Bishop of Rockford
  • Paul Peter Rhode (1908–1915), appointed Bishop of Green Bay
  • Edward Francis Hoban (1921–1928), appointed Bishop of Rockford and later Bishop of Cleveland
  • Bernard James Sheil (1928–1969), appointed Archbishop ad personam in 1959
  • William David O'Brien (1934–1962)
  • William Edward Cousins (1949–1952), appointed Bishop of Peoria and later Archbishop of Milwaukee
  • Raymond Peter Hillinger (1956–1971), appointed Bishop of Rockford
  • Cletus F. O'Donnell (1960–1967), appointed Bishop of Madison
  • Aloysius John Wycislo (1960–1968), appointed Bishop of Green Bay
  • John L. May (1967–1969), appointed Bishop of Mobile and later Archbishop of St. Louis
  • Thomas Joseph Grady (1967–1974), appointed Bishop of Orlando
  • William Edward McManus (1967–1976), appointed Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend
  • Michael Dempsey (1968–1974)
  • Alfred Leo Abramowicz (1968–1995)
  • Nevin William Hayes (1971–1988)
  • John George Vlazny (1983–1987). appointed Bishop of Winona and later Archbishop of Portland in Oregon
  • Plácido Rodriguez (1983–1994), appointed Bishop of Lubbock
  • Wilton D. Gregory (1983–1994), appointed Bishop of Belleville and later Archbishop of Atlanta and Archbishop of Washington
  • Timothy Joseph Lyne (1983–1995)
  • John R. Gorman (1988–2003)
  • Thad J. Jakubowski (1988–2003)
  • Raymond E. Goedert (1991–2003)
  • Gerald Frederick Kicanas (1995–2002), appointed Bishop of Tucson
  • Edwin Michael Conway (1995–2004)
  • George V. Murry (1995–1998), appointed Coadjutor Bishop of St. Thomas and subsequently succeeded to that see
  • John R. Manz (1996–2021)
  • Joseph N. Perry (1998–2023)
  • Jerome Edward Listecki (2001–2005), appointed Bishop of La Crosse and later Archbishop of Milwaukee
  • Thomas J. Paprocki (2003–2010), appointed Bishop of Springfield in Illinois
  • Francis J. Kane (2003–2018)
  • George J. Rassas (2006–2018)
  • Alberto Rojas (2011–2019), appointed Coadjutor Bishop of San Bernardino and later succeeded as bishop
  • Andrew Peter Wypych (2011–2023)
  • Robert Gerald Casey (2018–2025), appointed Archbishop of Cincinnati
  • Ronald Aldon Hicks (2018–2020), appointed Bishop of Joliet and later Archbishop of New York
  • Kevin M. Birmingham (2020–2023)
  • Jeffrey S. Grob (2020–2025), appointed Archbishop of Milwaukee

Other archdiocesan priests who became bishops

Structure of the archdiocese

Office of Catholic Schools

The Office of Catholic Schools operates a system of primary and secondary schools in the archdiocese. A 2015 article in the Chicago Tribune described the archdiocesan schools as the largest private school system in the United States.[71]

The first school in the archdiocese was a boys' school, opened in Chicago in 1844. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the archdiocese established schools serving Germans, Poles, Czechs, Bohemians, French, Slovaks, Lithuanians, Puerto Rican Americans, African Americans, Italians, and Mexicans. Many of these schools were founded by religious sisters.[72] The school construction boom in the archdiocese ended when Cardinal Cody froze school construction in Lake County and suburban Cook County.

Between 1984 and 2004, the archdiocese closed 148 schools and 10 school sites.[73] By 2005, over half of its urban schools had closed.[74] In January 2018, the archdiocese announced the closure of five school and In January 2020 it closed five more schools.[72][23] As of 2022, the archdiocese contained 33 secondary schools; seven were all-girls. seven were all-boys and 19 were co-ed[75] The system had an enrollment of 44,460 students in its primary schools and 19,200 in its secondary schools.[76]

Respect Life Office

Cardinal George established the Respect Life Office in the archdiocese. It provides educational resources and a speakers bureau, and sponsors conferences, retreats and rallies. The Office runs Project Rachel Post Abortion Healing, a program for women who have abortion procedures; and the Chastity Education Initiative, which advises youth and young adults on sexuality issues.[77][78]

The office has coordinated the local 40 Days for Life campaign and trips to the March for Life rallies in both Chicago and Washington, DC, for college and high school students.[79][80]

Seminary

Province of Chicago

  • Diocese of Belleville
  • Diocese of Joliet in Illinois
  • Diocese of Peoria
  • Diocese of Rockford
  • Diocese of Springfield in Illinois

Canonical status and jurisdiction

Archdiocese of Chicago is a metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church.[81]

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Archdiocese of Chicago — (Chicagiensis).

Diocese created 28 November, 1842; raised to the rank of an archdiocese, 10 September, 1880; comprises the State of Illinois, U.S.A., north of the south line of Whiteside, Lee, De Kalb, Grundy, and Kankakee Counties, a territory of 10,379 square miles.

Any historical sketch of the Archdiocese of Chicago, however brief, must commence with the name of the intrepid Jesuit missionary James Marquette, who on 25 October, 1674, set out with two attendants from the station of St. Francis Xavier on Green Bay, to found a mission on the Illinois River. This was in pursuance of a promise he and made to the Illinois whom he had met at their village of Kaskaskia when returning from his voyage down the Mississippi the year previous. On the 4th of December he reached on his journey the mouth of the Chicago River. With his two companions he pushed his way over the frozen surface of the river, following the South Branch. Having proceeded about four miles, he was obliged to halt because of sickness. Here he built a cabin, the first white habitation, it would appear, erected on the site of the city of Chicago. After Marquette, many of the French missionaries and voyageurs traversed the land now covered by that municipality. Father St. Cosme, in all probability, passed this way in 1699. Father Gravier was there in the year following. In 1795 the Pottawotomies by the treaty of Greenville ceded to the United States a track of land six miles square at the mouth of the Chicago River. Here, in 1804, Fort Dearborn was erected, and about this garrison settled the Catholic pioneers. The Rev. Gabriel Richard of Detroit preached at the fort in 1821. In 1822 Alexander Beaubien was baptized there by Father Badin, the first priest ordained within the limits of the thirteen original United States. As far as known this is the first case of the administration of baptism to a white person in the vicinity of Fort Dearborn. In 1833 a petition was addressed to the Right Rev. Joseph Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis and Vicar-General of Bardstown in which latter diocese the state of Illinois then lay, praying for the appointment of a resident pastor. The petition declared that there were about one hundred Catholics in Chicago and was signed by thirty-eight men representing one hundred and twenty-two souls. In answer to this request Bishop Rosati appointed Father John Mary Irenæus St. Cyr to take charge at Chicago, and he celebrated the first Mass in Mark Beaubien's log cabin on Lake Street, near Market, 1833. Shortly thereafter Fr. St. Cyr secured a lot near the corner of Lake and State Streets and put up a church building twenty-five by thirty-five feet, at the cost of four hundred dollars. This modest structure was dedicated in October, 1833. A little later when Bishop Bruté, the first Bishop of Vincennes, visited Chicago, he found there a congregation of four hundred souls. The growing necessities of the missions in northern Illinois soon demanded the services of more than one priest. So, at the solicitation of Bishop Rosati, Bishop Bruté sent Fathers Fischer, Shaefer. St. Palais and Dupontavice. The last named was appointed to Joliet. Father St. Cyr was recalled in 1837. He was succeeded as pastor of the English-speaking congregation by Father O'Meara, who removed the church building erected by Father St. Cyr to Wabash Avenue and Madison Street. After the departure of Father O'Meara, Father St. Palais built on this site a new brick structure. To the priests already mentioned the names of Fathers Plunkett and Gueguen should be added as having rendered good services in the first period of the Church's history in Chicago.

Creation of Diocese

The needs as well as possibilities of the Catholic settlement about Fort Dearborn and its vicinity were recognized to be such that the Plenary Council of Baltimore recommended in May, 1843, the formation of the new See of Chicago. Rome acted favorably upon this advice, and in 1844 appointed as the first bishop of the see the Rev. William Quarter of New York. He was born in Killurine, Kings Co., Ireland, 21 January, 1806. After a classical course made in private academies, he attended Maynooth College. He emigrated to America in 1822, where, soon after his arrival, he entered Mt. St. Mary's College at Emmitsburg, Maryland. Ordained priest, 19 September, 1829, he laboured thereafter with marked success in the diocese of New York, until summoned to the new see of the West, for which he was consecrated bishop in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, by the Right Rev. John Hughes, 13 March, 1844. On his arrival in Chicago, the fifth of May following, he found there less than twenty priests. Of these, only two were in Chicago, and they were of the number loaned to the mission by Bishop Bruté. Hardly a month after Bishop Quarter's arrival they were recalled to Vincennes. But one church, St. Mary's was in the city limits at the time. The new building commenced by Father St, Palais was unfinished, and the parish moreover was encumbered with a debt of nearly five thousand dollars. This, owing to their poverty, the parishioners were unable to liquidate. It is eloquent of the unselfish zeal of the bishop and his brother that out of their private means they paid off all the indebtedness of the parish. The demand for the services of more priests was in large measure soon met. Only two years after his arrival Bishop Quarter was able to summon to a diocese synod thirty-two clergymen. To the credit of his administration it must be noted that he established the first theological conferences held in America.

Thirty days after his arrival in Chicago, Bishop Quarter opened a college. Two professors, Rev. Jeremiah Kinsella and Rev. B. R. McGorsk. constituted the teaching corps of this institution in the beginning, while six young men made up its student body. Not content with a college, however, the bishop projected a university. In December, 1844, a charter was granted for the University of St. Mary's of the Lake, and on the 4th of July, 1846, the new institution, the first of its kind to appear in the city of Chicago, was ready to receive students. To provide for the religious instruction of young ladies, Bishop Quarter secured the services of five Sisters of Mercy. These, with Sister Mary Francis Ward, arrived in Chicago from Pittsburgh, 23 September, 1846. The work of this religious community, begun in the first days of the Chicago diocese, has kept pace with the city's development. It was due principally to Bishop Quarter that the legislature of the State of Illinois passed in 1845 the bill according to which the bishop of Chicago was incorporated as a "corporation sole" with power to "hold real and other property in trust for religious purposes". Bishop Quarter died 10 April, 1848. The four years of his episcopacy were years of foresight, zeal, and energy, fraught with lasting blessings for the Diocese of Chicago.

Second Bishop

The successor of Bishop Quarter was a Jesuit, James Oliver Van de Velde, born 3 April, 1795, near Tearmonde in Belgium. His early education was obtained from a French priest, who had escaped to Belgium during the time of the French Revolution. Young Van de Velde had a marked talent for languages and, while a professor of languages while at the seminary at Mechlin, hearing the apostolic Father Nerinckx appeal for priests for the American missions, he decided to go to the New World, where he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Georgetown. In 1827 he was ordained priest in the cathedral of Baltimore. After some years of missionary work in Maryland, Father Van de Velde was made professor of rhetoric and mathematics in the Jesuit College at St. Louis. He was rector of this institution in 1820, and a year later was sent to represent the Missouri province at a general congregation of the order held in Rome. Consecrated Bishop of Chicago at St. Francis Xavier's Church, St. Louis, 11 February, 1849, he was installed in his see 1 April following. At this time there were in the diocese forty priests and fifty-six churches. In the city of Chicago itself there were four churches: the cathedral of St. Mary; St. Patrick's founded in 1846 by Rev. Walter J. Quarter; St. Peter's (German) founded by Rev. John Jung; and St. Joseph's (German), the first pastor of which was the Father Jung above mentioned. Bishop Van de Velde in 1849 erected, on Wabash Avenue between Jackson and Van Buren Streets, an orphan asylum, to shelter the little ones bereft of their parents through the cholera that visited the city that year. His name is to be associated too with the General Hospital of the Lake, founded at this time by the faculty of Rush Medical College, but in which, with the permission of the bishop, the Sisters of Mercy took care of the sick. Bishop Van de Velde found the climate of Chicago detrimental to his health, and tendered his resignation to the Holy See. This was at first refused; finally, however, he was transferred to the diocese of Natchez, where, after two years, he died a victim of yellow fever.

Third Bishop

The third bishop of Chicago was the Right Rev. Anthony O'Regan, b. at Lavalleyroe, County Mayo, Ireland, in 1809. After completing his studies at Maynooth College he was ordained priest November, 1833, and for ten years was professor of Scripture, Hebrew, and dogmatic theology at St. Jarlath's College, Tuam, of which institution he later became president. He then accepted the invitation of Archbishop Kendrick to become the head of the theological seminary of St. Louis, U.S.A. It was from this post he was summoned to occupy the See of Chicago. Consecrated in St. Louis, 25 July, 1854, he was installed in St. Mary's Cathedral the third of September following. Bishop O'Regan invited the Jesuits to establish themselves in his diocese. One of those sent in response to this call was the Reverend Arnold Damen, who arrived in Chicago, May, 1857, and though offered the pastorate of the Church of the Holy Name, preferred instead to found a parish out upon (what then appeared) an uninhabitable prairie. Undaunted by obstacles, he persevered until a monument to his zeal appeared in the capacious edifice of the church of the Holy Family. But Father Damen's work was not circumscribed by the limits of a single parish. No quarter of the diocese but could testify to his zeal as a missionary. Gifted with a power of rugged eloquence, Father Damen was particularly effective as a preacher to the masses. Adjoining the Holy Family Church is Saint Ignatius' College, begun in 1869. For years it was the only Catholic institution of its kind in the city of Chicago, and its alumni are counted in large numbers not only the priests of the archdiocese, but among the representatives of all the higher walks of civic life. In 1857 Bishop O'Regan was relieved of a portion of his responsibility by the erection of the new See of Alton. However, he was anxious to resign the high office which in the beginning he had sough to escape. His administration had met with severe complaint on the part of some of his clergy. And so, after two years and a half in the administration of his diocese, he set forth for Rome to resign his charge. His resignation (3 May, 1858) was accepted, and he was appointed titular bishop of Dora 25 June, 1858. He died in London, 13 November, 1866, having never returned to America.

Fourth Bishop

The Right Rev. James Duggan, who has acted as administrator of the diocese, was then appointed its bishop. He was born at Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland, 22 May, 1825, and emigrated, in 1842, to St. Louis U.S.A., where he was ordained priest 29 May, 1847. In 1857 he was appointed auxiliary to Archbishop Kendrick, and consecrated titular bishop of Antigone. Two years later he was transferred to the vacant see of Chicago. From this is dated a new era in the Catholic life of Chicago. The parochial school system was organized, and charitable institutions sprang up on all sides. In 1860 the Redemptorists, and in the following year the Benedictines, established foundations among the Germans of the North Side. The Religious of the Sacred Heart opened the institution that has since rendered high service in the cause of Catholic education. Bishop Duggan chose as his vicar-general the Rev. Dennis Dunne, pastor of St. Patrick's, a priest whose noble and generous nature endured him to all who new him. The Rev. Thaddeus Butler was made secretary and the Rev. John McMullen chancellor. It was the last named who induced the sisters of the Good Shepherd to take up their beneficent work in Chicago. St. Columbkill's, St. Bridget's, St. James, the Immaculate Conception, and St. John's parishes were also organized at this time. The refinement and gentleness of Bishop Duggan, his ease and grace of manner, made him socially very popular; while his public spirit was much appreciated by the community at large. In 1862 he went to Rome to be present at the canonization of the Japanese martyrs, and he attended, in 1866, the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore. It was about this time that he gave unmistakable signs of the mental aberration of which he was finally to fall victim. Acting upon the advice of friends, he went to Carlsbad, expecting to recuperate his shattered health, but the effort was in vain, and the condition of Bishop Duggan became such that he was removed, 14 April, 1869, to the asylum of the Sisters of Charity in St. Louis. There, without recovering his mental powers, he remained till his death, 27 March 1899. Bishop Duggan being incapacitated, the Rev. H.T. Halligan took charge of the diocese.

Administrator Appointed

The Right Reverend Thomas Foley was appointed coadjutor and administrator of the practically vacant see, and consecrated titular bishop of Pergamus, 27 February, 1870. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, 6 March, 1822. On the completion of his preparatory studies at St. Mary's College, in his native city, and of his theological course in the seminary attached to this college, he was ordained priest by Archbishop Eccleston, in the cathedral of Baltimore, 16 August, 1846. After a short period spent of the mission of Montgomery County, Maryland, and as assistant pastor of St. Patrick's Church, Washington, he was appointed rector of the cathedral. He was made chancellor by Archbishop Kendrick, and attended, in the capacity of secretary and notary, the plenary councils held in that city in 1852 and 1866. He was installed in the pro-Cathedral of the Holy Name, Chicago, 10 March 1870. Bishop Foley had hardly more than become acquainted with the needs of his charge when he was called upon to witness the devastation of the church property by the great Chicago fire. Seven churches together with their parochial residences and schools, the Alexian Brothers' Hospital, The House of Providence, St. Xavier's Academy and Convent, an orphan asylum, and a select school conducted by the Christian Brothers were swept away. The bishop sustained the disaster with courage, and set himself to the work of reconstruction with commendable energy. St. Mary's Cathedral being thus destroyed, the new cathedral of the Holy Name soon appeared on the site of the old church of that name. The structure is one of the impressive church edifices of Chicago. With generous assistance from other diocese and the exercise of indomitable energy on the part of its priests and laity, Catholic Chicago soon arose from the prostrate state in which it had been left by the fire. At this time many of the religious orders began to assist in the development of the new life which seemed to have been infused into the diocese. The bishop welcomed to his diocese the Franciscans, the Lazarists, the Servites, the Fathers of Saint-Viateur, and the Resurrectionists. Owing to the growth attained by the diocese, Bishop Foley in 1872 recommended that a portion of it be cut off and erected into a new see, and the Diocese of Peoria was created. The period of Bishop Foley's administration was for much of the Diocese of Chicago a new birth. He saw churches, convents, asylums, and schools, the work of years, wiped out in a few hours. He saw these for the most part replaced by structures more commodious. He witnessed the erection of more than twenty-five new churches, and saw in process of construction five new convents and seven academies. He purchased the Soldier's Home at the foot of Thirty-fifth street for an orphan asylum, and St. Mary's church, at Wabash Avenue and Eldridge Court, he bought from the Congregationalists. At his death, on the 19th of February, 1879, there were about three hundred churches in the diocese, and the number of priests had increased from one hundred and forty-two to two hundred and six. On the occasion of his installation he declared that he had come to do honour to the peace of Christ. That his episcopacy had rendered this promised service was universally admitted. Upon his death, after a brief administration of the diocese by the Rev. Dr. John McMullen, who had been the late bishop's vicar-general, Bishop Feehan of Nashville, Tennessee, was promoted to the vacancy.

Created Archdiocese

Patrick Augustine Feehan was born at Spring Hill, Co. Tipperary, Ireland, on 29 August, 1829. At fifteen years of age he entered Castle Knock College, going from there to Maynooth, where he was appointed to the Dunboyne establishment. In 1852, he departed for America, proceeding to St. Louis. where he was ordained priest, 1 November, 1852. Two years later he was appointed successor to Father O'Regan in the Theological Seminary of Carondelet. He was made pastor of St. Michael's church in 1858, and shortly after was transferred to the pastorate of the church of the Immaculate Conception, in both of which charges he ever showed himself the devoted and zealous priest. On the 7th of July, 1867, Father Feehan was chosen to succeed Bishop Whelen of Nashville, Tennessee. This diocese had suffered severely during the Civil War. Under the quiet but energetic administration of Bishop Feehan the demoralization of religion that followed in the wake of battle passed; churches multiplied, convents and parochial schools were reared, while the number of priests increased during his administration from twelve to twenty-seven. During the visitation of his diocese by cholera and yellow fever the labours and self-sacrifices of the bishop were unremitting. On 10 September, 1880, Chicago was raised to the dignity of an archdiocese, and Bishop Feehan was made its first archbishop. The ceremony of his installation took place in the cathedral of the Holy Name in the November following. The archdioceses at this time comprised of eighteen counties in the northern part of Illinois and there were one hundred and ninety-four churches and two hundred and four priests. In 1883 the archbishop went to Rome with the other archbishops of the country to prepare the matter to be submitted to the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. In the next year he participated in the deliberations of this council. At this synod the first irremovable rectors of the archdioceses were appointed.

On 1 November, 1890, Archbishop Feehan commemorated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his elevation to the episcopacy, and the demonstration with which the Catholics of the archdiocese celebrated this event gave touching proof of the love and esteem they felt for their venerable archbishop. In 1899, the archbishop, failing in health, and pressed with the constantly multiplying cares of his charge, asked for an episcopal assistant. In answer to this request, the Rev. Alexander McGavick was chosen auxiliary bishop of the diocese and consecrated titular bishop of Narcopolis, 1 May, 1899. Poor health, however, directly incapacitated him, and the Holy See was again petitioned for the needed aid, and the Reverend Peter James Muldoon was consecrated titular Bishop of Tamassus, 25 July, 1901. His energy and zeal were of valuable assistance to the archbishop, while upon his personal loyalty the aged prelate could ever rely. Archbishop Feehan died 12 July, 1902. His administration in Chicago saw a development of Catholic life unprecedented in any other period of the city's history. When he was installed there were in the diocese two hundred and four priests, while at his death there were five hundred and thirty-eight. At his advent there were one hundred and ninety-four churches, when he died there were two hundred and ninety-eight. The city of Chicago, when he was promoted to the see, had thirty-four churches, at his passing away there were in the city one hundred and fifty churches. Some idea of the manner in which Catholic education was promoted under this archbishop can be gathered from the list of institutions which sprang up in his time, among them: the De La Salle Institute, St. Cyril's College, St. Vincent's College, St. Viateur's College at Bourbonnais, St. Patrick's Academy, and the Loretto Academy at Joliet.

Second Archbishop

Bishop James Edward Quigley of Buffalo, New York, was promoted (8 January, 1903) to the Archbishopric of Chicago, and installed 11 March following. Born at Osshawa, Ontario, 15 October, 1855, he attended St. Joseph's College in Buffalo, from which he was graduated in 1872. In this year he won a competitive examination for entrance into the military academy at West Point, but relinquished military ambition to study for the Church. To this end he entered the seminary of Our Lady of the Angels at Niagara Falls. In the following year he went for a time to the university of Innsbruck in the Austrian Tyrol, and thence to Rome where, having completed his theological course in the College of the Propaganda, he was ordained priest 13 April, 1879. He was appointed rector of St. Vincent's Church, Attica, New York, in 1879, leaving this mission to become rector of St. Joseph's Cathedral in Buffalo in 1884. Two years later he became pastor of St. Bridget's Church in the same city and while ministering in this parish was appointed Bishop of Buffalo, his consecration taking place 24 February, 1897. The administration of Bishop Quigley in Buffalo was characterized by a clear, far-reaching discernment. His public spirit, too, made him ever a controlling power in the community, and he was particularly alert to the weal of the labouring classes. His mediation in the dock strike of Buffalo in 1899 and his forceful pronouncements on Socialism were especially noteworthy. In Chicago his talent for mastering details and his regard for due procedure brought a new order and system into the government of the archdiocese, while a synod held 14 December, 1905, marked the introduction to the see of a body of beneficent legislation. A diocesan college for ecclesiastical students was opened in 1905, and the measures of previous administrations for the spiritual care of the immense foreign-born and constantly increasing population was continued and broadened.

Statistics

Ten nationalities other than English-speaking were represented in the Archdiocese in 1908. Of the total of 314 churches they had ninety-six divided as follows: German 33, Polish 21, Bohemian 9, Italian 8, Lithuanian 7, Slovak 6, Croatian 5, French 3, Syrian 2, Rutheian 2. Religious orders and congregations having foundations in the archdiocese are: Men: Augustinians; Benedictines (St. Procopius Abbey); Carmelites; Franciscans; Fathers and Brothers of the Holy Cross; Jesuits; Lazarists; Fathers of the Precious Blood; Servites; Clerics of St. Viateur; Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle; Alexian Brothers; Brothers of the Christian Schools; Congregation of St. Charles Borromeo; Brothers of Mary; Society of the Divine Word. Communities of Women: Sisters of St. Agnes; Benedictine Sisters; Bohemian Benedictine Sisters; Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul (Emmitsburg, Maryland); Sisters of Christian Charity (Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania); Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Dubuque, Iowa); Poor Clares; Sisters of the Third Order of St. Dominic (Sinsinawa, Wisconsin); Sisters of St. Dominic (Blauvelt, New York); Sisters of St. Dominic (Adrian, Michigan); Sisters of the Third Order of St. Dominic (St. Catherine, Kentucky); Franciscan Sisters (St. Louis. Missouri); Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart (Joliet, Illinois); Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis (Peoria, Illinois); School Sisters of St. Francis (Milwaukee, Wisconsin); Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis (Joliet, Illinois); Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis of Assisi, M. C. (St. Francis, Wisconsin); Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis (under the protection of St. Cunegunde); Sisters of St. Francis (Lafayette, Indiana); Sisters of St. Francis (Clinton, Iowa); Felician Sisters, O.S.F. (Detroit, Mich.); Sisters of the Good Shepherd; Sisters of the Holy Cross (Notre Dame, Indiana); Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth; Sister-Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary (Paris); Hospital Sisters of St. Joseph; Sisters of St. Joseph (St. Louis, Missouri); Sisters of St. Joseph (Concordia, Kansas); Sisters of St. Joseph (La Grange, Illinois); Little Sisters of the Poor; Little Company of Mary (Rome); Ladies of Loreto (Toronto, Canada); Sisters of Mercy (Chicago, Illinois); Sisters of Mercy (Oakley Avenue, Chicago, Illinois); School Sisters of Notre Dame (Milwaukee, Wisconsin); Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame (Montreal); Sisters of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ (Ft. Wayne, Indiana); Sisters of the Precious Blood (O'Fallen, Missouri); Sisters of Providence (St, Mary of the Woods, Indiana); Ladies of the Scared Heart (Chicago Province); Sisters of Jesus and Mary (Montreal); Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Buffalo, New York); Polish Sisters of St. Joseph (Stevens Point, Wisconsin); Sisters of the Holy Ghost (Holland); Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart (New York); Sisters of Misericorde; Visitation Nuns; Sisters of the Resurrection; Sisters of St. Mary (St. Louis, Missouri);

Archbishop, 1, bishops, 2, mitred abbot 1; priests 631: secular, 400, of religious orders, 191; churches, 314: with resident priests city of Chicago, 176, country 138; missions with churches, 35, stations 5, chapels 61; ecclesiastical students 115, seminaries of religious orders 3, students 330; colleges and academies for boys 11, students 2575, training schools 2, pupils, 452; academies for girls 27, students 7585; parishes and missions with parochial schools city, 125, pupils 80,520, outside the city, 64, pupils 10,650; orphan asylums 9, orphans 1499; infant asylums 1, inmates 676; industrial and reform schools for boys 2, for girls 2, inmates 710; working boys' homes 1, inmates 350; working girls' homes 1, inmates 195; total persons under Catholic care 93,657; hospitals 19, homes for the aged poor 9, inmates 1150, communities nursing sick in their homes, 3 Catholic population about 1,200,000.

Andrews in The History of Chicago; O'Gorman, A Hist. of the R. C. Church in the U.S. (New York, 1895); Shea, Hist. of the Cath. Ch. in the U.S. (New York, 1904); McGovern, The Life of Bishop McMullen (Chicago); Idem, Souvenir of the Silver Jubilee of the Most rev. P. H. Feehan; Catholic Directory (Milwaukee, 1908).

References

  1. Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Back to citation occurrence 1.2 Back to citation occurrence 1.3 Back to citation occurrence 1.4 "Facts and Figures - Archdiocese of Chicago". www.archchicago.org. Archived from the original on February 26, 2018. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
  2. Back to citation "Illinois, Catholic Church in". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  3. Back to citation Monet, J. (1979). "Marquette, Jacques". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. 1. University of Toronto/Laval University. Archived from the original on October 14, 2012. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  4. Back to citation "Jacques Gravier". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Archived from the original on October 11, 2012. Retrieved March 1, 2010.
  5. Back to citation "Treaty of Paris, 1783". Archived from the original on February 5, 2009. Retrieved November 20, 2024 – via United States Department of State.
  6. Back to citation Hemenway, Eric. "Summer 1795: The Treaty of Greenville creates an uneasy peace". National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 9, 2022. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
  7. Back to citation occurrence 7.0 Back to citation occurrence 7.1 Back to citation occurrence 7.2 Back to citation occurrence 7.3 Back to citation occurrence 7.4 Melody, John (1908). "Archdiocese of Chicago". Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  8. Back to citation "Saint Louis (Archdiocese)". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
  9. Back to citation "History". Old St. Mary's Chicago. July 24, 2017. Archived from the original on August 12, 2025. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  10. Back to citation "Father O'Meara biography". St. Dennis Church. Archived from the original on March 10, 2007. Retrieved April 29, 2006.
  11. Back to citation occurrence 11.0 Back to citation occurrence 11.1 "Chicago (Archdiocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  12. Back to citation occurrence 12.0 Back to citation occurrence 12.1 Avella, Steven M. (2005). "Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago". Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society/Newberry Library. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  13. Back to citation occurrence 13.0 Back to citation occurrence 13.1 Back to citation occurrence 13.2 Back to citation occurrence 13.3 Back to citation occurrence 13.4 Back to citation occurrence 13.5 Walch, Timothy (1978). "Catholic Social Institutions and Urban Development: The View from Nineteenth-Century Chicago and Milwaukee". The Catholic Historical Review. 64 (1): 16–32. ISSN 0008-8080. JSTOR 25020237. Archived from the original on December 19, 2024. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
  14. Back to citation occurrence 14.0 Back to citation occurrence 14.1 Back to citation occurrence 14.2 Back to citation occurrence 14.3 "Albert Cardinal Meyer Is Dead;I Archbishop of Chicago Was 621; Leader of Largest A rchdioces in U.S. Urged Interfaith Ties at Council in Rome". The New York Times. April 10, 1965. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on January 17, 2025. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  15. Back to citation "Bishop William Quarter (1806–1848)". Offaly Historical & Archaeological Society. September 2, 2007. Archived from the original on January 5, 2006. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  16. Back to citation "Bishop James Oliver Van de Velde [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Archived from the original on November 27, 2024. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
  17. Back to citation De Smet, Pierre-Jean. Death of Bishop Van de Velde Archived 2012-10-20 at the Wayback Machine, 1855 eulogy to Belgian newsletter by fellow Belgian-born Jesuit; accessed April 12, 2009; Biographical Sketch of Bishop James O. Van de Velde, S. J. Archived 2011-07-28 at the Wayback Machine, St. Mary Basilica Archives. Accessed April 13, 2009; Archdiocese of Chicago: (Chicagiensis) Archived June 28, 2025, at the Wayback Machine, New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia. Accessed April 15, 2009.
  18. Back to citation Garraghan, Gilbert Joseph (1921). The Catholic Church in Chicago, 1673–1871. Loyola university press.
  19. Back to citation Clarke, Richard Henry (1888). Lives of the deceased bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States. New York, R. H. Clarke.
  20. Back to citation "Founding Fathers". Hidden Truths: Catholic Cemetery.
  21. Back to citation occurrence 21.0 Back to citation occurrence 21.1 "Meet the previous leaders of the church in Chicago". Chicago Catholic. Archived from the original on November 26, 2024. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
  22. Back to citation "Bishop James Duggan [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
  23. Back to citation occurrence 23.0 Back to citation occurrence 23.1 Hope, Leah; Elgas, Rob; Hickey, Megan (January 19, 2018). "Archdiocese of Chicago to close 5 Catholic schools". ABC7 Chicago.
  24. Back to citation John J. Treanor, "Chicago's fourth bishop "home" after 102 years" The Catholic New World April 1, 2001 "The Catholic New World - 04/01/01 - Final chapter, final rest: Chicago's fourth bishop "home" after 102 years". Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved September 26, 2010.
  25. Back to citation Young, Kathy. "Research Guides: Archives and Special Collections: History of Loyola University Chicago". libguides.luc.edu. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  26. Back to citation "Avella, Steven M., "Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago",Encyclopedia of Chicago, 2005, Chicago Historical Society". Archived from the original on April 20, 2006. Retrieved April 29, 2006.
  27. Back to citation "History - Old St. Mary's Chicago". oldstmarys.com. July 24, 2017. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
  28. Back to citation "Holy Name Cathedral, history". Archived from the original on December 10, 2024. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
  29. Back to citation ""History of Mayo Clinic Hospital, Saint Marys Campus", Mayo Clinic". Archived from the original on December 5, 2019. Retrieved October 8, 2025.
  30. Back to citation "Archbishop Patrick Augustine Feehan [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
  31. Back to citation occurrence 31.0 Back to citation occurrence 31.1 Brachear, Manya A., "Chicago's first archbishop was 'good prelate, good man'" Chicago Tribune, May 19, 2013
  32. Back to citation Tribune, Chicago (May 19, 2013). "Chicago's first archbishop was 'good prelate, good man'". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on August 12, 2025. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
  33. Back to citation "From Feehan to Cupich: meet Chicago's Catholic leaders" Chicago Tribune, September 23, 2014
  34. Back to citation Mercado, Monica. "Archbishop Patrick A. Feehan and Catholic Chicago" Archived February 6, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, Faith in the City
  35. Back to citation ""Our History", St. John Berchmans School". Archived from the original on June 28, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
  36. Back to citation "Avella, Steven. "Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago", Encyclopedia of Chicago". Archived from the original on April 20, 2006. Retrieved April 29, 2006.
  37. Back to citation "Rockford (Diocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Archived from the original on November 30, 2024. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
  38. Back to citation "Into the Archives | Sections | DePaul University Newsline | DePaul University, Chicago". resources.depaul.edu. Archived from the original on January 22, 2025. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
  39. Back to citation "Archbishop James Edward Quigley [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
  40. Back to citation occurrence 40.0 Back to citation occurrence 40.1 "George William Cardinal Mundelein [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Archived from the original on December 3, 2024. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
  41. Back to citation James W. Sanders, The education of an urban minority: Catholics in Chicago, 1833-1965 (Oxford UP, 1977) pp. 126-136, 147-160.
  42. Back to citation "Samuel Alphonsus Cardinal Stritch [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Archived from the original on November 12, 2024. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
  43. Back to citation "Albert Gregory Cardinal Meyer [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Archived from the original on December 4, 2024. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
  44. Back to citation "Chicago (Archdiocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
  45. Back to citation "JOHN CARDINAL CODY DIES; CHICAGO LEADER WAS 74". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
  46. Back to citation "CARDINAL CODY INVESTIGATION IS NOW THE TALK OF CHICAGO". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 18, 2024. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
  47. Back to citation Death as a Friend Archived June 25, 2025, at the Wayback Machine "Death as a Friend", The New York Times Magazine, December 1, 1996]
  48. Back to citation occurrence 48.0 Back to citation occurrence 48.1 "CHICAGO'S ACTIVIST CARDINAL". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
  49. Back to citation occurrence 49.0 Back to citation occurrence 49.1 Bernardin, Joseph (2000). Spilly, Alphonse P. (ed.). Selected Works of Joseph Cardinal Bernardin: Church and society. Liturgical Press. p. 339. ISBN 978-0-8146-2584-2.
  50. Back to citation Frisbie, Margery (2002). An Alley in Chicago: The Life and Legacy of Monsignor John Egan. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 266. ISBN 978-1-58051-121-6.
  51. Back to citation Baima, Thomas A. (2012). "What We Have Learned from 40 Years of Catholic–Jewish Dialogue". A Legacy of Catholic-Jewish Dialogue: The Cardinal Joseph Bernardin Jerusalem Lectures. ISBN 978-1-61671-063-7.
  52. Back to citation Marx, Gary (January 29, 1990). "CHURCHES MAY SHUT, COMMUNITY DOESN'T". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on July 21, 2023. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  53. Back to citation "Francis George Biography". Archdiocese of Chicago. Archived from the original on August 15, 2009. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  54. Back to citation Goodstein, Laurie (April 18, 2015). "Cardinal Francis E. George, 78, Dies; Urged 'Zero Tolerance' in Abuse Scandal". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 4, 2024. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
  55. Back to citation "Cardinal Francis George Warns That Chicago Gay Pride Parade Might 'Morph Into Ku Klux Klan'". Fox News Chicago. December 21, 2011. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  56. Back to citation "Cardinal Defends KKK Analogy, Stokes Controversy". NBC Chicago. December 28, 2011. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
  57. Back to citation Erbentraut, Joseph (December 29, 2011). "Cardinal George Stands By KKK Comment, Calls For His Resignation Continue". Huffington Post. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  58. Back to citation "Cardinal Apologizes For Linking Gay Parade To KKK". Huffington Post. January 7, 2012. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  59. Back to citation occurrence 59.0 Back to citation occurrence 59.1 "Chicago archdiocese announces another round of parish mergers". The Catholic Telegraph. CNA. March 12, 2021.
  60. Back to citation "Archdiocese May Close Nearly 100 Churches in Next 15 Years". Curbed Chicago. February 9, 2016. Archived from the original on February 27, 2016.
  61. Back to citation Reis, Bernadette Mary (December 27, 2021). "Cardinal Blase Cupich publishes policy implementing Traditionis custodes". Vatican News. Archived from the original on December 6, 2024. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
  62. Back to citation "Events". Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Prince. August 3, 2022. Archived from the original on December 5, 2024. Retrieved November 23, 2024.
  63. Back to citation "Public Masses suspended at Chicago's Christ the King shrine". Catholic News Agency. Archived from the original on November 4, 2024. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
  64. Back to citation "Decrees and Letters - Church Relegations". Archdiocese of Chicago. Archived from the original on June 12, 2025. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  65. Back to citation Ahern, Mary Ann (February 8, 2022). "Major Overhaul Will Leave Chicago Archdiocese With 123 Fewer Parishes By July". NBC 5 Chicago. Archived from the original on April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  66. Back to citation "Cardinal Robert Prevost, born in Chicago, is first US pope". Chicago Sun-Times. May 8, 2025. Archived from the original on May 16, 2025. Retrieved May 8, 2025; "Robert Prevost was 'the pride and joy of every priest and nun' at St. Mary's on Chicago's South Side". Chicago Tribune. May 8, 2025. Archived from the original on May 8, 2025. Retrieved May 8, 2025; "The New Pope Grew Up in th Chicago Area". New York Times. May 8, 2025. Archived from the original on May 8, 2025. Retrieved May 8, 2025.
  67. Back to citation "Angels Too Soon: The Tragedy of the 1958 Our Lady of the Angels School Fire". WTTW. October 24, 2023. Archived from the original on April 3, 2024. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  68. Back to citation "Archbishop Residence Chicago | Chicago Gold Coast Walking Tour | eVisitorGuide". www.evisitorguide.com. Archived from the original on December 17, 2024. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  69. Back to citation "The Archbishop's Residence -- Chicago Tribune". galleries.apps.chicagotribune.com. May 9, 2013. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
  70. Back to citation "Rinunce e nomine, 20.09.2014" (Press release) (in Italian). Press Office of the Holy See. September 20, 2014. Archived from the original on February 16, 2020. Retrieved December 20, 2024.
  71. Back to citation Crosby, Rachel (August 27, 2015). "Chicago Catholic Schools names new superintendent". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. Archived from the original on November 24, 2023. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  72. Back to citation occurrence 72.0 Back to citation occurrence 72.1 "Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago to Close 5 Schools". NBC Chicago. January 13, 2020. Archived from the original on June 14, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  73. Back to citation Simons, Paul. "Closed School History: 1984–2004" (PDF). Archdiocese of Chicago. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 25, 2022. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  74. Back to citation Skerrett, Ellen (2005). "Catholic School System". Chicago Historical Society/Newberry Library. Archived from the original on March 15, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  75. Back to citation "Six decades later, officials say Regina Dominican's all-girls education increasingly relevant". Chicago Tribune. March 26, 2019. Archived from the original on May 23, 2022. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  76. Back to citation "Facts and Figures - Archdiocese of Chicago". www.archchicago.org. Retrieved November 23, 2024.
  77. Back to citation "Respect Life Office". Archdiocese of Chicago. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  78. Back to citation "Chastity Education Initiative | Respect Life and Chastity Education - Parish Vitality and Mission". pvm.archchicago.org. Archived from the original on October 9, 2024. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
  79. Back to citation ""March for Life Chicago" to Mark Respect Life Month Activities" (Press release). Archdiocese of Chicago. January 16, 2014. Archived from the original on June 25, 2014. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
  80. Back to citation DeFiglio, Pam (October 12, 2008). "Crowd kicks off '40 Days for Life' prayer vigil". Catholic New World. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  81. Back to citation Archdiocese of Chicago, official website

Further reading

  • Coughlin, Roger J. Charitable Care in the Archdiocese of Chicago (Chicago: The Catholic Charities, 2009)
  • Dahm, Charles W. Power and Authority in the Catholic Church: Cardinal Cody in Chicago (University of Notre Dame Press, 1981)
  • Garrathan, Gilbert J. The Catholic Church in Chicago, 1673–1871 (Loyola University Press, 1921)
  • Greeley, Andrew M. Chicago Catholics and the struggles within their Church (Transaction Publishers, 2011)
  • Hoy, Suellen. Good Hearts: Catholic Sisters in Chicago's Past (University of Illinois Press, 2006)
  • Kantowicz, Edward R. Corporation Sole: Cardinal Mundelein and Chicago Catholicism (University of Notre Dame Press, 1983)
  • Kantowicz, Edward R. The Archdiocese of Chicago: A Journey of Faith (Ireland: Booklink, 2006)
  • Koenig, Harry C., ed. Caritas Christi Urget Nos: A History of the Offices, Agencies, and Institutions of the Archdiocese of Chicago (2 vols. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, 1981)
  • Koenig, Rev. Msgr. Harry C., S.T.D., ed. A History of the Parishes of the Archdiocese of Chicago. (2 vols. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, 1980)
  • McMahon, Eileen M. What Parish Are You From?: A Chicago Irish Community and Race Relations (University Press of Kentucky, 1995) Neary, Timothy B. "Black-Belt Catholic Space: African-American Parishes in Interwar Chicago." US Catholic Historian (2000): 76–91. in JSTOR
  • Parot, Joseph John. Polish Catholics in Chicago: 1850–1920: a Religious History (Northern Illinois University Press, 1981.)
  • Reiff, Janice L. et al., eds. The Encyclopedia of Chicago (University of Chicago Press, 2004) online
  • Sanders, James W. The education of an urban minority: Catholics in Chicago, 1833–1965 (Oxford University Press, 1977)
  • Shanabruch, Charles. Chicago's Catholics: The evolution of an American identity (Univ of Notre Dame Press, 1981)
  • Skerrett, Ellen. "The Catholic Dimension." in Lawrence J. McCaffrey et al. eds. The Irish in Chicago (University of Illinois Press, 1987)
  • Skerrett, Ellen. Chicago's Neighborhoods and the Eclipse of Sacred Space (University of Notre Dame Press, 1994)
  • Skerrett, Ellen. et al. eds., Catholicism, Chicago Style (Loyola University Press, 1993)
  • Skok, Deborah A. More Than Neighbors: Catholic Settlements and Day Nurseries in Chicago, 1893–1930 (Northern Illinois University Press, 2007)

41°53′46″N 87°37′40″W / 41.8960°N 87.6277°W

Retrieved from "https://catholicism.wiki/index.php?title=Archdiocese_of_Chicago&oldid=180848"