Plans for Memorial Day Mass
at Bishop’s Chapel AnnouncedThe Annual Memorial Day Mass at the Bishop’s Chapel in Mt. Calvary Cemetery will be held at 10 am on May 26th in Wheeling.
All are invited to attend a special Memorial Day Mass honoring all military personnel who died while serving our country in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Also, during this Mass, a special recognition will be made to honor Bishop John Joseph Kain (the second bishop of our diocese for the years 1875-1893) acknowledging the 150th Anniversary of his Consecration as Bishop is May 23, 2025.
It was Bishop Kain, a Martinsburg native, who had the cemetery chapel built for the faithful at the cemetery.
Interestingly, upon the death of Bishop Richard V. Whelan in 1874, he was laid to rest at the center of Mount Calvary Cemetery in Wheeling.
Soon after, plans were adopted to erect a mortuary chapel over his grave, today known as the Bishops’ Chapel. The chapel serves as a memorial to Bishop Whelan and has become the burial place for many of his successor bishops of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.
The cornerstone of the Elizabethan stone chapel was laid by Bishop John J. Kain on August 27, 1876. Work was completed in three years, and the chapel was dedicated before a large crowd on November 2, 1879. Bishop Whelan’s remains were transferred to one of several vaults recessed into the chapel floor.
More interesting history, Bishop Kain had intended to serve out his days in Wheeling, relocating his family to live in the city and transferring the remains of his father and sister to Mount Calvary Cemetery, so they might be buried together as a family. Instead, in May 1893 Kain was appointed coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, succeeding Archbishop Peter Kenrick in June 1895. Kain administered the archdiocese for the following eight years until his death on October 13, 1903. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis.
Today, the Bishops’ Chapel at Mount Calvary Cemetery serves as the final resting place for six diocesan bishops. The chapel is an intimate and sacred setting to celebrate Funeral Rites and for quiet prayer and contemplation. Mass is offered in the chapel on the first Friday of each month.
