Mt. Carmel Catholic Cemetery, Hillside, IL

Mount Carmel was consecrated in 1901, spans 214 acres and has over 238,000 interments (as of 12/31/22). Up until 1965, the Cemetery maintained its own office, then combined operations with Queen of Heaven Cemetery across the street. The office for Mt. Carmel is located at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside (link out to Queen’s page).

Many of the remains at the Cemetery are people of Italian ancestry. There are over 400 individual family mausoleums, reflecting the burial tradition of many of the Italian Catholic families served by the Cemetery. Hundreds of headstones and monuments are adorned with statues and elaborate engravings of religious figures such as Jesus, crosses, the Blessed Mother, angels, and saints. Several monuments contain photographs of the buried deceased, another custom commonly found in Italian cemeteries.

THE BISHOP’S MAUSOLEUM
The Mausoleum and Chapel of the Archbishops of Chicago, informally known as the Bishop’s Mausoleum, is the final resting place of the Bishops and Archbishops of Chicago. The structure serves as the focal point of the entire Cemetery, situated on high ground.

The Mausoleum was commissioned by Archbishop James Quigley in 1905 and was completed in 1912. The architect was William J. Brinkmann, who was known for designing Chicago area churches, was one of the architects involved in designing Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica. He also designed exhibits for the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, homes for political and industrial notables, and some of the earliest large steel frame buildings in the United States.

The structure is constructed in Bedford limestone and follows the Romanesque Classical design. Atop the roof is a bronze statue of the Archangel Gabriel, sounding the trumpet at the moment of the final Resurrection. Above the Mausoleum’s entrance is engraved the single word, “Resurrecturis”- to those who will rise again.

The interior of the Mausoleum was designed by one of the foremost religious architects of the time, Aristide Leonori, who was known for designing several churches and religious structures in Rome, Cairo, and the United States. Leonori relied heavily on the use of marble and mosaic to give the chapel its Romanesque look. The saints portrayed in the mosaics reference the Celtic, Nordic, Slavic, and Latin, reflecting the Archdiocese’s many ethnic groups and national churches.

The Mausoleum is the final resting place of Bishop William J. Quarter, Archbishop Patrick Feehan, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, Cardinal John Cody, Bishop James Duggan.