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| 7th | Top Roman Catholic dioceses (structured view) |
| 5th | Top the Catholic dioceses of the United States |
| Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago Archidioecesis Chicagiensis |
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Holy Name Cathedral on State Street in Chicago |
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| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Territory | Counties of Cook and Lake |
| Population | 2,338,000 Catholics |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Patron | Immaculate Conception |
| Ecclesiastical province | Archdiocese of Chicago |
| Established | January 25, 1941 |
| Cathedral | Holy Name Cathedral |
| Bishop | Archbishop of Chicago |
| Website | Archdiocese of Chicago |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Benedict XVI |
| Metropolitan | Francis Cardinal George
Archbishop of Chicago |
| Diocesan Bishop | Francis Cardinal George
Archbishop of Chicago |
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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago is a particular church of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. The Archdiocese of Chicago is one of the largest dioceses in the nation by population and comprises Cook and Lake counties, covering 1,411 square miles (3,650 km2) of Illinois. The original Diocese of Chicago was created on November 28, 1842, and was elevated to the status of an archdiocese on September 10, 1880. On September 27, 1908, the Diocese of Rockford was broken off from the Archdiocese, and to create the Diocese of Joliet in Illinois on December 11, 1948, territory was taken from the Peoria, Rockford and Chicago dioceses.
The Archbishop of Chicago concurrently serves as metropolitan bishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of Chicago, whose suffragan bishops are the bishops of Belleville, Joliet, Peoria, Rockford, and Springfield.[1] It has become customary for each successive Archbishop of Chicago to be raised to the rank of Cardinal by the Pope in consistory, but the offices are not formally linked. His Eminence, Francis Eugene Cardinal George, OMI is the current Archbishop of Chicago.
According to the archdiocese's 2008 demographic profile, there are 2,338,000 Catholics living in the Cook and Lake counties of Illinois, or 39% of the population. Of these, 1,191,000 (50.9%) are white, 940,000 (40.2%) are Hispanic, 93,000 (3.8%) are African-American, 104,000 (4.4%) are Asian or other and the remaining 13,000 (0.6%) are multi-racial. There are 357 parishes in the Archdiocese and 1,712 scheduled weekend Masses, including 267 in Spanish and 91 in Polish. There are also 218 elementary schools, 40 secondary schools, 187 seminary students at the Archdiocesan seminary, the University of St. Mary of the Lake, 6 Catholic colleges and universities, 47 cemeteries, and 19 hospitals. The diocese is staffed by 811 active and retired diocesan priests, 801 religious priests, 266 religious brothers, 2,056 religious sisters, 587 permanent deacons, 110 certified pastoral associates, and 579 pastoral ministers.[2]
Holy Name Cathedral in downtown Chicago is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Chicago. The cathedral's roof and attic were damaged in a fire on February 4, 2009, but the sanctuary was spared. The Archdiocese also has three minor basilicas, the most of any diocese in the United States:[3] Basilica of Saint Hyacinth administered by the Congregation of the Resurrection, Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica administered by the Servite Order, Queen of All Saints Basilica administered by the archdiocese.[4][5]
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French Jesuit missionary Rev. Jacques Marquette, SJ first explored the area that is now Chicago in the mid-1600s. On December 4, 1674, Father Marquette arrived at the mouth of the Chicago River where he built a cabin to recuperate from his travels. His cabin became the first European settlement in the area now known as Chicago. Marquette published his survey of the new territories, and soon, more French missionaries and settlers arrived.[6]
In 1795, the Potawatomi tribe signed the Treaty of Greenville that ceded to the United States a tract of land at the mouth of the Chicago River. There in 1804, Fort Dearborn was erected and protected newly arrived Catholic pioneers. In 1822, Alexander Beaubien became the first person to be baptized in Chicago. In 1833, Jesuit missionaries wrote a letter to Most Rev. Joseph Rosati, Bishop of Saint Louis and Vicar General of Bardstown, pleading for the appointment of a resident pastor to serve over one hundred professing Roman Catholics living in Chicago. Rosati appointed a diocesan priest, Rev. John Mary Irenaeus Saint Cyr. Fr. Saint Cyr celebrated his first mass in a log cabin owned by the Beaubien family on Lake Street, near Market Street, in 1833.[7]
At the cost of four hundred dollars, Father Saint Cyr purchased a plot of land on what is now the intersection of Lake and State Streets and constructed a church building of 25 by 35 feet (7.6 by 11 m). It was dedicated in October 1833. The following year, the Bishop of Vincennes visited Chicago, where he found over 400 Catholics with only one priest to serve them all. The bishop asked permission from Bishop Rosati to send Fathers Fischer, Shaefer, Saint Palais, Dupontavice, and Joliet from Vincennes to tend to the needs of the Chicago region. In 1837, Fr. Saint Cyr was allowed to retire and was replaced by Chicago's first English-speaking priest, Rev. James Timothy O'Meara. Father O'Meara moved the church built by Fr. Saint Cyr to what is now the intersection of Wabash Avenue and Madison Street. When Fr. O'Meara left Chicago, Saint Palais tore down the church and replaced it with a new brick structure.[8]
The First Plenary Council of Baltimore concluded that the Roman Catholic population of Chicago was growing exponentially and was in dire need for an episcopal see of its own. With the consent of Pope Gregory XVI, the Diocese of Chicago was canonically erected on November 28, 1842. In 1844, William Quarter of Ireland was appointed as the first Bishop of Chicago. Upon his arrival, Quarter summoned a synod of thirty-two Chicago priests to begin the organization of the diocese.[7] One of Quarter's most important achievements was his successful petitioning the passage of an Illinois state law in 1845 that declared the Bishop of Chicago an incorporated entity, a corporation sole, with power to hold real and other property in trust for religious purposes.[9] This allowed the bishop to pursue mass construction of new churches, colleges and universities to serve the needs of Chicago's Roman Catholic faithful.[10] After four years of service as Bishop of Chicago, Bishop Quarter died on April 10, 1848.[10]
The church lost nearly a million dollars in church property in the Chicago fire of 1871, leading to administrative instability for decades to come.[11]
The southern section of the state of Illinois split from Chicago diocese, becoming the Diocese of Quincy in 1853, then Alton diocese (later Springfield) in 1857, and the Diocese of Peoria in 1877.[12]
From 1844 to 1879, the residential bishop of the Diocese of Chicago held the title Bishop of Chicago. With the elevation of the diocese to an archdiocese in 1880, the residential bishop held the title Archbishop of Chicago. Since 1915, all Archbishops of Chicago have been honored in consistory with the title of Cardinal Priest and membership in the College of Cardinals. The archbishops also have responsibilities in the dicasteries of the Roman Curia. All but two residential bishops were diocesan priests before assuming the episcopacy in Chicago. Two came from religious orders: the Society of Jesus and the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.[7]
The Our Lady of the Angels School Fire occurred at the Our Lady of Angels School on December 1, 1958 in the Humboldt Park area of western Chicago. The school, which was operated by the Archdiocese, lost 92 students and three nuns in five classrooms on the second floor.
The Archbishop's Residence at 1555 North State Parkway, a mansion listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is the official home of the Archbishop of Chicago. Built in 1885 by Patrick Augustine Feehan, first Archbishop of Chicago, the Archbishop's Residence has received various men who were later elected pope as overnight guests—Pope Pius XII, Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt also was an overnight guest at the Archbishop's Residence. Before the establishment of the Archbishop's Residence, the Bishops of Chicago were in residence at a home on LaSalle Street and North Avenue.
The Archbishop's Residence is Victorian with nineteen chimneys, designed by James H. Willett who designed the whole residence as well. The first floor consists of sitting rooms and rooms for resident priests and guests. It also houses a chapel, kitchen, and dining room. The second and third floors comprise the private residence of the Archbishop of Chicago, including his library and office. The building features two entry facades—designed for pedestrians and carriages. A coach house is also on the grounds.[7][citation needed]
The following men began their service as priests in Chicago before being appointed bishops elsewhere:
LIVING
DECEASED
The Office of the Archbishop of Chicago is located at the Pastoral Center at 155 East Superior Street in downtown Chicago near the Loyola University Chicago Water Tower Campus. It is from the Pastoral Center that the Archbishop of Chicago exercises his administrative duties as leader of the archdiocesan prelature.[7]
The prelature of the Archdiocese of Chicago, also called its curia, is the body of administration and governance under the authority of the Archbishop of Chicago. It is led by the Vicar General, currently Father John Canary, who serves in a similar capacity of a prime minister. The Vicar General is a diocesan priest who has been given the ordinary executive power normally reserved for a diocesan bishop. He acts in concert with six episcopal vicars administering smaller territories of the archdiocese called vicariates.[7]
The episcopal vicars are six auxiliary bishops in service to the Archbishop of Chicago. They are titular bishops ordained to titular sees.
Each of the six active auxiliary bishops is responsible for the governance of parishes and other institutions within the six individual vicariates.[7]
The Archbishop of Chicago has final authority over all the departments, agencies, and the educational institutions of the archdiocese, including Saint Joseph College Seminary, and the University of Saint Mary of the Lake or Mundelein Seminary. He appoints auxiliary bishops, priests and religious brothers and sisters to oversee the departments.[13]
The departments and agencies include:
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The Office of Catholic Schools operates, manages, and supports diocesan and Catholic primary and secondary schools. Catholic education in the Chicago area began on June 3, 1844 with the opening of a boys' school.Chicago parochial schools served various ethnic groups, including Irish, Germans, Poles, Czechs and Bohemians, French, Slovaks, Lithuanians, African Americans, Italians, and Mexicans. Many local nuns living in convents established and operated Catholic schools.
The school construction boom ended when John Cardinal Cody, the archbishop at the time, decided to limit construction of Catholic schools in Lake County and suburban areas in Cook County. Due to changes in demographics, the archdiocese has since closed more than half of its urban schools since 1966.[16]
Between 1984 and 2004, the Office of Catholic Schools closed 148 schools and 10 school sites.[17] An August 17, 2000 article by the Chicago Sun-Times refers to the Archdiocese of Chicago Office of Catholic Schools as the largest private school system in the United States.[18]
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   | Archdiocese of Chicago - Chicago (Archdiocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy] |
| | Departments and Agencies - Departments & Agencies |
| | Archdiocese of Chicago - CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Chicago |
| | Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago history - Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago |
| | Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online - Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online |
| | Catholic New World Newspaper - Catholic New World |
| | Demographic Profile of the Archdiocese - Demographic Profile of the Archdiocese |
| | Schools Directory - Office of Catholic Schools |
| | Basilicas in the United States - Spotlight: Basilicas of the United States |
| | Basilicas in the United States - Catholic Basilicas United States |
| | Catholic Architecture of Chicago - The Churches and Chapels of Chicago |
| | Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago - Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago |
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