Mount Carmel Cemetery is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

located in the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

suburb of

Hillside, Illinois Hillside is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 8,320. Geography Hillside is located at (41.874797, −87.900372). According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Hillside has a total ar ...

. Mount Carmel is an active cemetery, located within the jurisdiction of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago The Archdiocese of Chicago ( la, Archidiœcesis Chicagiensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in Northeastern Illinois, in the United States. It was established as a diocese in 1843 and ...

. It is located near the Eisenhower Expressway ( Interstate 290) at Wolf and

Roosevelt Road Roosevelt Road (originally named 12th Street) is a major east-west street in the city of Chicago, Illinois, and its western suburbs. It is 1200 South in the city's street numbering system, but only south of Madison Street. It runs under this ...

s. Another Catholic cemetery,

Queen of Heaven Queen of Heaven ( la, Regina Caeli) is a title given to the Virgin Mary, by Christians mainly of the Catholic Church and, to a lesser extent, in Anglicanism, Lutheranism, and Eastern Orthodoxy. The Catholic teaching on this subject is expresse ...

, is located immediately south of Mount Carmel, across Roosevelt Road. Mount Carmel Cemetery was consecrated in 1901 and is currently in size. It maintained its own office until 1965, when it combined operations with Queen of Heaven Cemetery. There are more than 226,275 remains at Mount Carmel and about 800 remains are interred there annually. Mount Carmel Cemetery is also the final resting place of numerous local organized crime figures, the most notorious of these being

Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...

. In all, the cemetery grounds contain over 400 family mausoleums. Many remains at the cemetery are people of Italian ancestry. The cemetery contains hundreds of headstones and monuments adorned with statues and elaborate engravings of religious figures such as Jesus, The Blessed Mother and many saints as well as angels. Many of the tombstones contain photographs of the inhabitants, reflecting a custom common in Italian cemeteries. The cemetery contains

Commonwealth war graves The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mi ...

of two

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

soldiers of the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...

Mausoleum of the Bishops and Archbishops of Chicago

The structure informally known as the Bishops' Mausoleum, designed by architect

William J. Brinkmann William J. Brinkmann (12 August 1871 – 24 February 1911, Chicago), sometimes spelled Brinkman, was an architect known for his work designing Chicago area churches. A son of German immigrants, he was born and raised in Chicago and received his arc ...

, is located at Mount Carmel Cemetery and is the final resting places of the Bishops and Archbishops of Chicago; its formal name is the Mausoleum and Chapel of the Archbishops of Chicago, and it is the focal point of the entire cemetery, standing on high ground. The mausoleum was commissioned by Archbishop James Quigley and was constructed between 1905 and 1912. The roughly rectangular-shaped mausoleum has a stepped pyramidal roof surmounted by a statue of the Archangel Gabriel sounding his trumpet at the moment of the final resurrection. The mausoleum is designed as a Romanesque building outside with a domed Romanesque Classical chapel inside, complete with altar, religious murals, clerestory windows providing light, and the crypts flanking the altar on either side. The

Papal The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

and U.S. flags also flank the altar. Brinkmann did not design the lavish interior, however, although he was more than capable, as evidenced by his interior for

Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica is a Catholic basilica on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois, which also houses the National Shrine of Saint Peregrine. Located at 3121 West Jackson Boulevard, within the Archdiocese of Chicago, it is, along with St. ...

. Instead, Archbishop Quigley engaged one of the foremost religious architects of the day,

Aristide Leonori Aristide Leonori (28 July 1856 – 30 July 1928) was an Italian architect and engineer. He worked mostly on religious buildings in Italy, the United States, and Africa, in a variety of styles. Biography Born in Rome, the eldest of twelve childr ...

, the noted for his 1899 design of the

Mount St. Sepulchre Franciscan Monastery The Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in AmericaG. Martin Moeller Jr"S15 Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America".''AIA Guide to the Architecture of Washington''. Part 3. JHU Press, 2012. p. 290-91. is a Franciscan complex at 14th an ...

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, as well as the interiors of early 20th century Mediterranean churches. For the mausoleum chapel interior, Leonori relied heavily on the use of marble and mosaics to give the chapel a Roman look while still referencing Celtic, Nordic and Slavic saints in the design, thus reflecting the archdiocese's many ethnic groups and national churches. The most recent interment was the body of Cardinal

Joseph Bernardin Joseph Louis Bernardin (April 2, 1928 – November 14, 1996) was an American Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Cincinnati from 1972 until 1982, and as Archbishop of Chicago from 1982 until his death in 1996 from ...

after his death in 1996 from liver and pancreatic cancer. Cardinal Bernardin had visited the chapel a few months before his death to select the site of his own crypt; choosing a spot to one side of the late Cardinal

John Cody John Patrick Cody (December 24, 1907 – April 25, 1982) was an American bishop and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. A native of St. Louis, he served as Bishop of Kansas City–Saint Joseph (1956–1961), Archbishop of New Orleans (1964� ...

. Bernardin was said to have remarked, "I've always been a little left of Cody."

Notable people buried at Mount Carmel

Below is a partial listing of interments in Mount Carmel Cemetery.

Notable interments

* Cardinal Joseph Bernardin * Cardinal John Cody * Bishop James Duggan *

Dennis Farina Donaldo Gugliermo "Dennis" Farina (February 29, 1944 – July 22, 2013) was an American actor. Often typecast as a mobster or police officer, he is known for roles such as FBI Agent Jack Crawford in '' Manhunter'', mobster Jimmy Serrano in the ...

– actor * Archbishop Patrick Feehan – first archbishop of Chicago * Julia Buccola Petta - also known as "The Italian Bride" * Jack Powell – MLB baseball player * Bishop William J. Quarter – first bishop of Chicago * Archbishop James Edward Quigley *

Ken Silvestri Kenneth Joseph Silvestri (May 3, 1916 – March 31, 1992) was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager. During his 16-year professional playing career, he was a backup catcher in the Major Leagues over eight seasons scattered b ...

– MLB baseball player and coach * Cardinal Samuel Stritch

Organized crime

Frank Capone Salvatore "Frank" Capone (, ; July 16, 1895 – April 1, 1924) was an Italian-American mobster who participated in the attempted takeover of Cicero, Illinois by the Chicago Outfit. He worked in the businesses with his brothers Al Capone and Ralph ...

Ralph Capone Ralph James Capone (; born Raffaele James Capone, ; January 12, 1894 – November 22, 1974) was an Italian-American Chicago mobster and an older brother of Al Capone and Frank Capone. He got the nickname "Bottles" not from involvement in the C ...

Vincent Drucci Vincent Drucci (born Ludovico D'Ambrosio; January 1, 1898 – April 4, 1927), also known as "The Schemer", was an American mobster during Chicago's Prohibition era who was a member of the North Side Gang, Al Capone's best known rivals. A friend ...

Sam Giancana Salvatore Mooney Giancana (; born Gilormo Giangana; ; May 24, 1908 – June 19, 1975) was an American mobster who was boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957 to 1966. Giancana was born in Chicago to Italian immigrant parents. He joined the 42 ...

Genna Brothers The Genna crime family (), was a crime family that operated in Prohibition-era Chicago. From 1921 to 1925, the family was headed by the six Genna brothers, known as the ''Terrible Gennas''.Capeci, Jerry. ''The complete idiot's guide to the Mafia' ...

- Sam, Vincenzo, Pete, "Bloody" Angelo, Antonio, and Mike "The Devil" *

Jake Lingle Alfred "Jake" Lingle (July 2, 1891 – June 9, 1930) was an American reporter for the ''Chicago Tribune''. He was shot dead gangland-style in the underpass leading to the Illinois Central Randolph Street station on the afternoon on June 9, 1930, ...

– murdered journalist and mob associate *

Antonio Lombardo Antonio "Tony the Scourge" Lombardo (; November 23, 1891 – September 7, 1928) was an Italian-born American mobster. He was ''consigliere'' to Al Capone, and later the President of the Unione Siciliana. Biography Born in the town of Galati ...

– Chicago mobster and consigliere to Al Capone * "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn (aka Vincent DeMora) *

Charles Nicoletti Charles Nicoletti (; December 3, 1916 – March 29, 1977), also known as "Chuckie the Typewriter", was an American mobster of the Chicago Outfit, who served as hitman under boss Sam Giancana before and after Giancana's rise and fall. Nicoletti w ...

Frank Nitti Frank Ralph Nitto (born Francesco Raffaele Nitto, ; January 27, 1886 – March 19, 1943), known as Frank Nitti, was an Italian-American organized crime figure based in Chicago. The first cousin and bodyguard of Al Capone, Nitti was in charge of ...

Dean O'Banion Charles Dean O'Banion (July 8, 1892 – November 10, 1924) was an American mobster who was the main rival of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone during the brutal Chicago bootlegging wars of the 1920s. The newspapers of his day made him better known a ...

Frank Rio Franklin Rio also known as "Frank Rio" and "Frank Cline"Robert J. Schoenberg, ''Mr. Capone,'' HarperCollins Publishers, 1992. (June 30, 1895 – February 23, 1935) was a member of Al Capone's Chicago-based criminal organization known as the ...

Roger Touhy Roger Touhy (September 18, 1898 – December 16, 1959) was an Irish American mob boss and prohibition-era bootlegger from Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. He is best remembered for having been framed for the 1933 faked kidnapping of gan ...

– NW suburban Chicago mobster and beer baron, rival of Al Capone and wrongly convicted through Capone's influence * Earl "Hymie" Weiss

External links

Catholic Cemeteries of Chicago

Mount Carmel page on Graveyards of Chicago

Notes

{{Reflist Cemeteries in Illinois Roman Catholic cemeteries in Illinois Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago Cemeteries in Cook County, Illinois 1901 establishments in Illinois