Feehan Memorial Library, Mundelein Seminary

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Exterior of Feehan Memorial Library at Mundelein Seminary.
Photo courtesy of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake/
Mundelein Seminary.

Feehan Memorial Library, Mundelein Seminary

1000 East Maple Avenue

Mundelein, IL

Website:  Feehan Memorial Library and McEssy Theological Resource Center

The Treasure:  The Feehan Memorial Library at Mundelein Seminary is home to a remarkable special collection of rare books and Americana.

Accessibility:  The Feehan Memorial Library is open daily.  Check the website for hours.

Cardinal George Mundelein in 1932.
Source:  Wikimedia Commons

Background:  Cardinal George Mundelein (1872-1939) had a passion for collecting. A widely respected Roman Catholic leader who served as Archbishop of Chicago from 1916 until his death in 1939, Cardinal Mundelein cherished his country and his faith.  For him, this meant a commitment to preserving records of the past. Mundelein’s collection of Americana, Presidential signatures, and autograph manuscripts of saints comprises a significant portion of the treasures of the Feehan Memorial Library at Mundelein Seminary. Other treasures can be found among the library’s rare books, many collected by John E. Rothensteiner (1860-1936), a parish priest who served in Fredericktown and St. Louis, Missouri. Combine these collections and it’s no wonder that the American Library Association named the Feehan Memorial Library one of the 250 World’s Greatest Libraries in 2010.

Nearly 75 years after his death, much of the campus of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary still bears the stamp of Cardinal Mundelein.  Feeling that Chicago needed a seminary for the formation of priests, Mundelein revived St. Mary’s College, which existed here from 1844 until 1866. Renamed the University of Saint Mary on the Lake, Mundelein’s new seminary opened in 1921.

The ceiling of the Feehan Memorial Library.
Photo courtesy of the University of Saint Mary
of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary.

A great school needs a great library and Mundelein had a vision for it, as well.  He had the architects base the interior of the Feehan Memorial Library on the 16th century Barberini Palace in Italy where Mundelein had completed his seminary training. Mundelein had his coat of arms incorporated into the tables and ceiling beams, with representations of bees (a symbol of the Barberini family) and the Virgin Mary.  He named the building the Feehan Memorial Library in remembrance of Chicago’s Archbishop Patrick Augustus Feehan (1829-1902).

Of course, the library is primarily focused upon books that serve for the education of priests—thousands of books on theology, scripture studies, and church history.  But the special collections are an unexpected surprise, full of treasures you might not expect to stumble across in this environment.  Here you find a land survey by George Washington, a collection of first-edition Charles Dickens books, a signed edition of Napoleon’s memoirs, a 15th century illuminated “Book of Hours,” a 1515 edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy, the first Bible printed in Gaelic, and major sets of autographs of American presidents and Catholic saints personally collected by Cardinal Mundelein.

Interior of the Feehan Memorial Library.
Photo courtesy of the University of Saint Mary
of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary.

Other Recommended Sites:  Mundelein Seminary is located in Lake County, Illinois, which forms the tip of the northeastern corner of the state. The Lake County Discovery Museum in Wauconda, Illinois interprets the history and culture of the county.  Here you can find the Curt Teich Postcard Archives, the largest public collection of postcards (365,000!) in the country.

Overhead image of the Feehan Memorial Library.
Photo courtesy of the University of Saint Mary
of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary.

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© 2013 Lee Price