Chicago’s first Cardinal:

George W. Mundelein a century after his elevation

One hundred years ago, Chicago Catholics were given a gift from Pope Pius XI — the city’s first cardinal. Archbishop George W. Mundelein, who arrived in Chicago nine years earlier as the church’s youngest archbishop, was told in early March 1924 to drop his plans and sail for Rome immediately.

Many speculated Mundelein and Archbishop Patrick J. Hayes of New York would become the first native-born Americans to be elevated to the high office, which would allow them to one day select a new pope with their counterparts from around the world. The Vatican confirmed this suspicion, saying this action was to thank the American people for two reasons — their loyalty to the Roman Catholic church and for alleviating the suffering of the world after World War I.

Floyd Gibbons, the Tribune’s dashing war correspondent, covered the pomp and circumstance and obtained the first public statement made by Cardinal Mundelein after his elevation.

“I have reached the topmost rung of the ladder for an ecclesiastic — the highest honor for a churchman — while still in the prime of life. I have no other ambition,” he said. “There is but one thing more for me to do, and that is to labor as efficiently as I can for God and for my fellow men and to try to save my soul.”

An estimated 1 million Chicagoans lined the streets when Mundelein returned from Rome on Mother’s Day with his cardinal’s hat. Today, a suburban village and seminary are named in his honor and his hat hangs from the ceiling of Holy Name Cathedral.

Nov. 29, 1915: Selection of Mundelein to lead Chicago Catholics ‘a complete surprise’

The 43-year-old bishop, who led the Diocese of Brooklyn since 1909, wasn’t well known here — so much so that several clergymen who were informed of the coming appointment told the Tribune that the dispatch may have been made in error. But the Vatican confirmed the decision days later.

To Mundelein, too, the announcement was a shock: “The appointment, which was a personal one from the holy father, came like a bolt from a clear sky,” he told reporters. “When I read the message I had to look again because I thought it must be a mistake.”

Mundelein, who was born to a poor German family in a Lower East Side tenement in New York, could trace his heritage to the early days of this country. His great-grandfather’s father helped build the first German Catholic church in the United States in 1834, and his maternal grandfather fell in battle as a Union soldier in the Civil War.

Feb. 9, 1916: Becomes Chicago’s third archbishop

Just one day after arriving in Chicago for the first time, Mundelein was installed as archbishop of Chicago in a ceremony before thousands at Holy Name Cathedral.

“The last thought that leaves me at night and the first that comes to me in the morning, since I received this appointment, has been the importance of it and whether it was too big,” Mundelein told the congregation. “I can do all things if you help me. I am willing to take the burden and give up my life, if necessary. You must be generous in your sympathy, generous in your devotion; stay with me always, good times and bad.”

March 24, 1924: Elevated to cardinal — the first west of the Allegheny Mountains

Weeks after receiving notice to sail for Rome at once, Mundelein arrived in Vatican City for a private meeting with Pope Pius XI, who gave a blessing for all the people — Catholic and non — of Chicago.

He and Archbishop Hayes of New York became “princes of the church” during an elaborate ceremony in Vatican City where their skull caps were exchanged for crimson-colored wide-brimmed hats denoting their promotions.

During his time as cardinal, he presided over the 28th International Eucharistic Congress in 1926, bringing almost 200,000 people to Soldier Field each day for a fourday gathering (despite rain and hail the last day). He officiated the funeral Mass for Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini in 1917 and would preside over the Vatican City ceremony that brought her one step closer to sainthood in 1938. He spoke out against Nazi propaganda in his famous “Paperhanger” speech and became the first Chicago cardinal to participate in the election of a pope, Pius XII, in 1939.

Mundelein served Chicago for 24 years before dying in his sleep at age 67 at his country villa. So many people walked by his body in a final, silent farewell in Holy Name Cathedral that they wore out the blue carpet in the nave where his body rested. He was buried beneath the altar of Immaculate Conception Church at University of St. Mary of the Lake.

Left: Crowds gather in front of Holy Name Cathedral at State and Superior streets to greet Cardinal Mundelein on May 11, 1924, who was back from Rome after being appointed Chicago’s first cardinal. According to the Tribune, Mundelein said “frankly that he had never before beheld such a crowd. ‘Chicago always has a surprise awaiting one. That’s why I love this city so and am so glad to be its first Cardinal.’” Right: Archbishop George Mundelein leaves Chicago on March 6, 1924, from the Baltimore and Ohio station headed to New York where he will sail for Rome to become a Cardinal in 1924. Mundelein, who was originally from New York, moved to Chicago in 1916 when he was formally installed as Archbishop of Chicago.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE HISTORICAL PHOTOS Cardinal Mundelein raises his right hand to bestow his blessings upon the crowd on May 11, 1924, during a parade in his honor following his return home from Rome after being appointed Cardinal. According to the Tribune,“people lined the course of the Cardinal from his train to his church solidly for fifteen miles.”

Chicago Mayor Dever welcomes Cardinal Mundelein upon his arrival home to Chicago at Garfield Boulevard and the Baltimore and Ohio train tracks on May 11, 1924. Mundelein was returning from Rome where he was appointed cardinal by Pope Pius XI.