World News
Seminary museum contains cardinals' memorabilia from three conclaves
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CHICAGO (CNS) -- When Pius XII became pope on March 2, 1939, Chicago's Cardinal George Mundelein was among the cardinal-electors in the Sistine Chapel. Though the cardinals are sworn to secrecy about details of the voting, Cardinal Mundelein stuffed his pockets with cards, trinkets and other souvenirs from the papal election before returning to Chicago. They are now preserved in a small museum in the library of the seminary and town that bear his name, the University of St. Mary of the Lake-Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein. "Cardinal Mundelein had a propensity for collecting memorabilia," Father Thomas Baima, university provost, told The Catholic New World, newspaper of the Chicago Archdiocese. "He brought back several interesting pieces that afford us a glimpse of the 1939 conclave." The museum also has a similar collection of souvenirs that Cardinal John Cody brought back from the 1978 conclave in which Pope John Paul I was elected. After the pope's death 34 days later, Cardinal Cody returned to Rome for the conclave that elected Pope John Paul II.
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