Cardinal George Mundelein hired architect Joseph W. McCarthy to design a distinctly American seminary with various European touches throughout the buildings and grounds. The most visible Roman feature is the five aqueduct-style bridges that create a circuit around St. Mary’s Lake that was built to resemble a picturesque 18th-century English Garden plan. The bridges were meant to be both functional and architecturally beautiful to surprise and delight as they tied the campus together.
For the last several years, the St. Augustine Bridge, the main bridge leading into the campus, has continued to deteriorate to the point where it could no longer safely handle traffic from trucks or buses. In 2021, the bridge was deemed structurally unsound, and the main entrance to Mundelein Seminary was forced to close completely.
Through a partnership with the State of Illinois, we have been able to raise a large portion of the funds needed to renovate the bridge, but we need your help to support the rest of the project.
You can do so by honoring your family with a commemorative plaque on one of the timeless design elements of the reconstructed bridge. Your generosity will be remembered by generations of seminarians and campus visitors who walk along the St. Augustine Bridge and lift up your family in prayer.
Donate today to the Bridge of the Future
An opportunity to memorialize your family at the Seminary
If you are interested in making a commemorative gift, please contact Jessica George at jgeorge@usml.edu for more information. Or, make your gift now and include your personal inscription on the plaque – for example, “Pray for the family of John and Mary Smith.”
