The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1906-02-24
Gave Up Society Where She Was Leader
In Order to Give Her Time and Wealth
to the Aid of the Poor.
Her Lenten Sewing Class is Social Charity
Entrance to Which is Sought by
the Most Exclusive.

death Miss Leary lived in the house
No. Fifth avenue. but always look
ing forward to the day when she would
own her own house, built on her own
ground and from which no one could
turn her out.
In the meantime she devoted herself
to charity, working for the poor, giving
freely of the immense wealth intrusted
to her ty her brother. So great was
her work that Pope Leo XIII. in recog-
milton of it created her Comtesse OF
the Papal States. and the proudest
title she owns today is that Of
"Comtesse Anne -Leary," bestowed upon
her by the Pope for her charitable
work among the poor.
For many years Miss Leary's Lenten
Sewing Class has been social charity,
entrance to which is. largely sought by
the most exclusive women in New
York. Here society sews and turns
out hundreds and hundreds of gar
nents for the poor III the hospitals
and on Blackwell's and Wards islands.
After Arthur Leary's death his sister
built beautiful memorial chapel in
the grounds of Bellevue Hospital. 1t
is Gothic in design, very chaste and
artistic in its interior, and for the use
of all Catholics patients or employees
of the hospital.
Speaking of the chapel, Miss Leary
explained her idea in choosing the Sub
jects for the windows
"AS every nationality is here repre-
sented, the windows are designed to
show the patron saint Of every coun-
try. The German finds there his pat
ron, the Italian. spaniard, 1rishman,
Frenchman. Englishman, every nation
ality is greeted by the saint to whom
it has always prayed. built the chapel
as a memorial to my dear brother
Arthur. and as a comforter to every
immigrant coming to this country to
make a new home, SO that, finding
himself Il patient in that great city
hospital, he would in entering the Ar
thur Leary Memorial Chapel be greet
ed and cheered by the familiar figure
of his patron saint"
These windows were made in Italy
and are considered by artists to be the
most beautiful in design of any adorn-
ing a private chapel in this country.
So it is with all Miss Leary's charity.
What she does is not done with an eye
to her own aggrandizement but with
the idea of how she may best benefit
those for whom she is working.
Her charities are practical. The poor
are naked, she clothes them; they are
sick, she tends them; they are de-
pressed, she cheers them; they are dy-
ing, she ministers to them. Those who
are needy and who can and are willing
to work she pays to work for their
needier brethren. She stimulates them
to be self-supporting; she trains them
to this end. She raises them; she
never pauperizes them.
The sewing class works only during
Lent. The poor need clothes all through
the year. In order that her work shall:
not flag, shall adequately fill the end
for which it was started, she employs
nuns in the poorer converts to sew
constantly and supply the incessant
demands.
Realizing that many of the sick poor
are taken to Bellevue and in many
cases are in danger of dying without
the last sacraments Of the Church, she
pays certain number Of nuns to be
on the watch always, to pass in and
out among these unfortunates and to
bring the priests to them If they are
in any danger of death.
1T is a great comfort to me-" she
exclaimed "to feel that I have been
able to bring comfort and peace to
many a poor tortured soul and have
made their last moments on earth
happy to them. Only a Catholic, one
brought up in the faith. can understand
how even the most hardened sinner
at the hour Of death Graves the last
sacraments Of the Church. And how