The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1912-07-19
SHEPHERD o THE SEA
HUNGARIAN MAN OF" WEALTH
! = HAS EARNED TITLE.
Has Long Devoted Life, Fortune, Tai
ents and Strength In Ministerino
to Emigrants From His Own
and Other Lands.

Count Way de Vaya. lord abbot Of st.
Martins in Hungary. has earned the
title OF "The Shepherd Of the Seas, ''
because he spends his life and wealth,
his talents and his strength, in min
lster1ng to poor emigrants seeking fair.
er chances for life in distant lands.
A man Of lowlier birth, and one bred
amid scenes Of squalor and suffering
might so spend his life without Gre
at1ng wonder that he should seek to
help those who are his equals and in
Inmates.
Count de Vaya is one of the richest
and one Of the most influential men in
Hungary. This wealth he is using to
help the poor emigrants from his coun-
try and from other countries, and he
has forsaken the ease and comforts
that his riches would bring to sail
with them on many troubled seas and
teach them how to conduct themselves
In the new life they are to face.
: AT home." he said, "the poor are
forever watched over by the parish
priest, who is their spiritual father
He tells them how they shall conduct
their lives and listen and obey. Then
also there are the neighbors with
whom the peasant hopes to stand we'll
and to be respected. This environ
ment helps him to lead a Christian
life. to be honest, Industrious and
strong to resist temptation. Then he
hears Of brighter opportunities in a
new land, and he sells all Of his little
possessions and sails away. Every
thing that has helped him in the past,
the teachings OF the priest, the good
word Of old neiEhbors, the traditions
OF his home, are swept away from him
and he finds himself on the sea with
nothing to do and an absolutely va
cant mind, ready to be filed with any
thing anyone cares to pour into it.
"This is very trying period. All
his life he has been a worker. He has
toiled all day and at night there were
the family and friends to fill his mind
But here. upon the deep. his mind
grows vagrant. It has nothing to an
Choir It. Like the mind Of q little
child, 1t is very receptive. If evil is
poured into it, that evil may last as
long as he lives and be the controlling
influence Of his life. But If it is good,
why. then he will be good man as
long as he lives. Now, the work that
l am trying to do with all of the gifts
that God has given me is to meet with
these poor people and to fill them with
the thoughts~of our creator, with the
duty We all owe to one another, and
with the peace that comes from good
and the torment that comes from evil.
Il opened the first Hungarian church
in the slums of Chicago. This was in
1905. l have visited all Of the differ
ent labor centers in the United States,
and have crossed the ocean 10
times. And always am seeking to
place In the hands Of the helpless the
sword Of righteousness, with which to
fight temptation. On one ship, the W.
tonia, from Fiume, l preached to 1900
emigrants- l speak nine languages.
and preached to them. so all could
understand, in Hungarian, in German
and In the Slav. A more devout peo-
pie I never saw. am glad to say that
l have seen something of the results
Of the seeds that have sown. And II
the work is continued, in generation
or two it will go far toward lettering
conditions all over the world"