page_title: John McMullen (bishop)
section_title: Ministry in Chicago
hierarchical_section_title: John McMullen (bishop) / Biography / Ministry in Chicago
caption_attribution_description: English: en:Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago taken by Gerald C. Farinas on Monday, March 26, 2007
context_page_description: John McMullen was a 19th-century bishop of the Catholic Church in the United States. He was the first bishop of the Diocese of Davenport in the state of Iowa from 1881 to 1883.
context_section_description: McMullen was ordained to the priesthood in Rome on June 20, 1858, for the Diocese of Chicago. Archbishop Antonio Ligi-Bussi, O.F.M. Conv., was the ordaining prelate.  He served the diocese, and later archdiocese, for 25 years.  He was initially assigned as an assistant at St. Mary's Cathedral.  During this time he helped to establish the House of the Good Shepherd, which cared for women who had been prostitutes, as well as orphanages for both boys and girls.  He would go door to door to beg for money to support the institutions.  He was well known at the Cook County jail and Bridewell, a house of corrections. In addition to visiting the inmates, he would bring newspapers, periodicals and books. He was known for his friendly demeanor and concern.
  From 1861 to 1866 McMullen served as president of the University of St. Mary of the Lake, during which time new facilities were built for the school. In 1865 he established the short-lived Catholic Monthly magazine while at the school. Unfortunately, the school suffered from a lack of finances and all but the seminary department was closed in 1866.  He then founded St. Louis and St. Paul's parishes in Chicago. McMullen accompanied Bishop James Duggan as one of his theologians to the Second Council of Baltimore. In 1868 he was sent to the Holy See to represent the interests of the priests of Chicago after Bishop Duggan's mental illness became evident. He was named the pastor of St. Rose of Lima parish in Wilmington, Illinois, and started a new parish in Braidwood.
  He was named pastor of the Church of the Holy Name in Chicago and had just spent $19,000 on renovations when the Great Chicago Fire struck the city on October 8, 1871. Every structure McMullen had built in the city was destroyed. Once Father McMullen looked after his parishioners, he and other priests of the diocese traveled across the country and into Canada to raise funds to rebuild Chicago's churches, and to help the multitudes who were left homeless. He then built the present Holy Name Cathedral, which was consecrated on November 21, 1875. In 1877 he was named vicar general by Bishop Thomas Foley. After Bishop Foley's death he was named administrator of the diocese, and was renamed vicar general after the arrival of Archbishop Patrick Feehan.
caption: Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago was built by Father John McMullen after the Chicago Fire of 1871.
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