Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1891-08-06

hour, though unable to speak. All the
local priests spent the day and night
with him, and during the past week he
has been visited by many priests OF the
diocese. No arrangements for the tu-
neral are yet made.
Although the Bishop has been lying
at deaths door SO long that his demise
is not u surprise or 81 shock to the
nublic. vet there have been a
large number of callers at the house
of prominent churchmen to learn about
arrangements for the funeral. Tele-
grams of inquiry come from all direc-
tions. Onlyso much is known now as that
the funeral will be in the Bishops cathe-
dral and the interment in st. Joseph's
Cemetery. The body is being en-
balmed, and will lie in state at the ca
thedral for several days. Two sisters of
the deceased-the only near rela-
tives living-have been his at
tendants through his long illness
and were beside him in his last hours as
we'll as several local priests. Vicar
General Schwebach left for his
home few blocks away at
2 O'Clock but was sent for half an hour
later and sat beside the dying man until
the last breath All pain seemed to
and, though unable to articulate word,
showed by the motion Of his head that
he knew those about him. The end
was calm and painless.
Bishop Flasch was 60 years of age
on the 10th of July. He was an able,
learned prelate, and might have become
archbishop of Milwaukee had not the
malady which caused his death made its
appearance before the time that nOml-
nations for successor to the late Arch
bishop Heiss were made and sent to the
Holy See. 1t was quite generally eX
pected that he would become the third
archbishop OF Milwaukee. But his poor
health rendered any such step inadvis-
able, and Bishop Katzer, Of Green Bay,
much younger and stronger, and equal
ly learned, was finally selected by Rome
for the epiecopacy.
The Rt. Rev. kilian Flasch, second
bishop of La Crosse, was native Retz-
stadt, in Wuerzburg, Bavaria. He was
reared on his fathers farm and attended
the neighboring schools. In 1917 his
parents came to Milwaukee. Soon
afterward he entered the College Of
Notre Dame, Indiana, and decided to
study for the priesthood. He became
student in the Salesianum or Seminary
of st. Francis, at its opening in 1856.
He took solid course of divinity
studies and was ordained priest on
December Is, 1859.
He was one of four children who de-
voted their lives to the church. His
pious parents both lived to see their
son priest and three daughters enter
the Sisterhood of Notre Dame. When
and ten she received his episcopal
blessing.
After being ordained to the priest
hood Father Flasch was stationed at
LaketoWn for about ten months. In
October, 1860, he was recalled to the
Saieslanum, where, as master Of disci-
pline and professor, he remained until
May, 1867, when ill-health compelled
him to make change. He sought rest
in mission work, taking charge of the
small parish and orphan asylum at Elm
Grove. In November, 1874, he became
spiritual director at the Seminary and
professor of moral theology, and in
1879, on the retirement of Rev. Mr..
Wapelhorst, Father Flasch became rec
tor of that institution.
When Bishop Heiss, of La Crosse,
was chosen coadiutor of Milwaukee,
under Archbishop Henni, Father
Flasch, who had achieved a wide repu-
tation for learning and experience, was
selected for the La Crosse bishopric.
He was consecrated by Bishop Heiss on
August "a, 1881, so that he had hardly
served as bishop ten years when ne
died.
Bishop Flasch labored hard to pro-
mote the interests of the church in the
Diocese of La Crosse, and his work was
crowned with success. The current
edition of Hoffmann's Catholic Direc-
tory shows that at the close of last year
there were 102 clergymen in the La
Crosse Diocese, 1852 churches, 100 mis-
sion stations. Is chapels, 2 orphan
asylums, l academy and 80 parochial
schools. The Catholic population of the
La Crosse Diocese was 10000.