Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1874-07-10
Deaths of Catholic bishops.

Rt. Rev. Bishop 0 German, of Cincinnati,
died suddenly of cholera morbus ON Sat-
urday last, and on Tuesday last Rt Rev.
Bishop Whelan, of West Virginia, died
in Baltimore, after long illness. The
Baltimore ssGazette,' writing before his
death, says:
Bishop Whelan is native OF Baltimore,
and is sixty-fOur years OF age. lie was
educated at Mount st. Mary's, and has
been a Bishop thirty three years. He was
first made Bishop of Virginia, and resld-
ed at Richmond, Va. When the Bishop
rick of Wheeling was created he was
transferred to the new field. The venera-
BILE bishop is much beloved, and many
inquiries are almost hourly made at the
hospital in regard to him. His people in
West Virginia have manifested deep So
licitude, and frequent inquiries are made
by telegraph. Under the advice of his
physician he visited the Eastern shore of
Virginia for his health, but failed to de-
rive the benefit he expected, and upon
reaching Baltimore on the 26th ultimo he
was so i'll he could not proceed to his
home, and was taken to st. Agnes Hos
pital. He retains his consciousness per-
fectly, and understands the danger of
death which now surrounds him.
The Baltimore sSun' in closing a
| lengthy account Of his career, says
ssBishop Whelan was the second oldest
member of the American hierarchy, the
oldest being Archbishop Purcell, Of Gin
cinnati, consecrated in the Baltimore Ca
| thedral, October 10, 1888. During min
| istry of forty-two years as priest and bish-
OPP, DR.. Whelan has attended eleven coun-
ellis in Baltimore-those of 1888, 1887, and
! 1910 a. q roicciOna1,xy r,rioct Of no
and those of the subsequent generation in
| his episcopal capacity.
| Bishop Whelan was one OF the most self
| sacrificing men OF his order anywhere.
| While not at all demonstrative in manner,
he was enthusiastic in work. no kind of
labor too humble for him to do with his
own hands when necessary 1t is related
that when The new cathedral at Wheeling
| was built and no workman could be found
willing to undertake the perilous task of
! erecting the cross on the Spire, the Bishop
himself assembled to little platform
| around the steeple near the top, and placed
the large cross in the hall prepared for it.
| On one occasion in his earlier days, when
a priest at Berkeley, a can lidate for Gov
ernor on an electlOneering tour meeting
Father Whelan an not knowing him,
asked who did the st we work of new
chapel near there The answer was, Il
| did, "Who did the brick work 90 An
( swer, II did. ""Who did the wood work ?''
II did," 'Who is the pastor ?" II am y
Whereat the candidate for State honors
presented the many-handed pastor $50 for
his church.
Bishop Whelan leaves number of rela-
tives in this city, among whom are Mrs.
Gegan, the wife of Mr.. Joseph Gegan, the
venerable cathedral organist, and Mr..
Thomas Whelan. The first mass ever said
in Baltimore, it is stated, was said in a
room in the house of Bishop. Whelan's
grandfather, Captain David Whelan.
| Bishop Whelan's sickness was pronounc,
ed by an eminent physician of Philadel-
| phia, whom he consulted, to be partly an
| affection Of the heart, but dysentery and
other ailments were the immediate cause
| of death.