The Irish standard., 1917-09-15

As~o>AS
Blenk, Archbishop of New Or
leans, died practically penniless.
His executive announced today
that after the funeral expenses
had been paid the estate would
amount to considerably less than
$500. The Archbishop had pledged
his $4,000 insurance policy to de-
fray the expenses of campaign
for the restoration of the st. Louis
Cathedral.
While the late Archbishop Blenk of
New Orleans died exceedingly poor in
worldly goods, he died rich in those
accomplishments that go far to bet
ter the world for his having lived in
it, is the tenor of an editorial which
appeared in the New Orleans Daily
Item the fore part of last week. The
editorial:
The settlement of the estate of the
late Archbishop of New Orleans has
an interest both personal and general.
His Grace was lord of temporal
power as we'll as a prelate in great
Church. His possessions, as inven-
toried by his executor, tends strongly
against the more or less generally
diffused impression that all lords are
rich.
The fact that Archbishop Blenk
pawned his life insurance for one of
his later works, and left only about
$500 and few personal belongings af-
ter his funeral was paid for, does not
mean, on the other hand, that he was
poor.
A good deal of real money passed
through Archbishop Blenk's hands,
one way or another. Most of it be-
longed to his church, but lot of it
was dedicated in such a way as to
make it his for the using. He used it
so persistently that none of it is left
except the $500. He was spiritual
commander and secular business man.
ager of poor but extensive religious
plant whose temporal needs were eter
nally in excess of it's financial income.
So the Archbishop put his income in
the common pot and spent it for the
common purpose.
Nobody need sympathize with him
on that account, however. He got
good deal of pleasure out of it. 1t
takes all kinds of people to make a
world. One mans ideal of real happi-
ness is million-dollar steam yacht on
a temperate sea-another's a marble
lodge on a virgin mountain-side. A
third elbows into the press that jams
the lobster palaces Of great cities,
and with prodigious liberality, buys
himself swollen liver, brittle veins,
and bad digestion. A fourth hides
from men and finds the joy Of life
among the birds and beasts of the
waste places. It takes all kinds to
make a world.
Archbishop Blenk was essentially
human. He liked to be where people
are, to be doing things, to be part of
others doings. He spent his own
money, along with everybody else's he
could get hold of, trying to get things
done. He got good deal done.
His failure to get the last thing
done that he tried to do was one of
the few real jars of his life. The an
nouncement that liberal Orleanian is
now giving money enough to restore
the old Cathedral here is really an
announcement of the finest testimo-
NAL of affection and respect for Arch
bishop Blenk, whether so intended or
not, that could possibly be made. For
it means that the enterprise in which
he pawned his life insurance is going
right along in his absence, perhaps in
fuller measure than he planned him
self.
This is the proof of an overlooking
life-getting things done after you are
dead. The characters that stir cost
ly deed when they themselves have
lost their power to help or hurt, are
the rare inspirations in the desert Of
the mass.
A man who can get hundred-thou-
sand-dollar enterprise done after he
is dead is not poor while he is living,
even though his life insurance is bit
mortgaged. The man who does good
work, keeps his temper. enjoys life
while he lives it, and leaves an in.
SEPARATION behind. is really rich man,
without regard to finance.
The Archbishop Of New Orleans
liked a fine meal as much as we do
ourselves. Unlike some of the Arch
bishops, lords, and laymen that the
books tell about, however, he could
get along very cheerfully and ade-
o+11
shared both kinds with him. No sim
pie man is ever in poverty. The Arch
bishop got good deal out of life, one
way and another, and he gave good
deal back to the life around him. We
do not intend to sympathize with him
merely because he left only $500.
NOTES OF THE CAMPS.