The former administration building at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside has been renovated into the Archdiocese of Chicago’s first indoor columbarium. The building, first constructed in 1901, can accommodate the cremated remains of 2,336 people. People can choose from different sized glass niches that can hold the remains of one, two or three people. Buyers choose from a variety of urns approved by Catholic Cemeteries. They also can add a photo of their loved one, and a Christian memento and the names of the deceased are etched on the front of the niche. The chapel is climate-controlled, so people can visit in all kinds of weather. With a nod to the many Italian Catholics buried at Mount Carmel, statues of 11 Italian saints are featured in the space, along with a statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which has a waterfall behind it and is a the main focal point when entering the chapel. Committal services can take place in front of the Mary statue, officials said. Soft instrumental music plays in the background when the chapel is open. Catholic Cemeteries began working on the building two years ago, officials said. “This was a unique repurposing of a historic building,” said Liane Bania, director of cemetery services, during an open house on Sept. 19. “I think it serves the purpose of what everyone is looking for. It’s a peaceful place to come and sit. Even if you don’t have a loved one in here, it’s nice to sit with the music and really just give yourself some spiritual space.” Officials consulted funeral directors and families about the future of cremations and what people wanted, she said. “We created this space so we could keep the history and the authenticity of Mount Carmel and then also give people different sizes [of niches],” Bania said. In particular, she said, people wanted space for three urns in one niche because many families have children at home and want them to be buried with them. “In doing so, it caused the ripple of making different sized niches,” she added. Cremations make up about 40% of burials at the archdiocese’s Catholic cemeteries, officials said. Mount Carmel Cemetery spans 214 acres and more than 238,000 people are buried there. Intricate tombstones and 400 ornate private mausoleums reflect the burial traditions of many of the Italian Catholic families who buried loved ones there.
Catholic Cemeteries holds first indigent burial in Lake County On Oct. 16, officials from the Lake County Coroner’s Office and Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Chicago buried the cremated remains of 79 indigent people at Ascension Cemetery in Libertyville.
Students from Catholic high schools serve as pallbearers at indigent burial The more than three dozen students from Brother Rice, Mother McAuley and St. Laurence high schools who served as honorary pallbearers for the burial of indigent people at Mount Olivet Cemetery Oct. 26 bore witness to the human dignity that each of the 202 souls whose remains were interred possessed, said Father Lawrence Sullivan, priest director of Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Chicago
Indigent burial includes those who died of COVID-19 For the 30th time, Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Chicago, in conjunction with the County Medical Examiner’s Office, buried the remains of indigent people, two unknown people and unborn babies during a service at Mount Olivet Cemetery on June 9. For the first time, those buried included 31 who died from COVID-19.