The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1918-09-28
A KING HAS FALLEN IN ISR AEI>

eff am asked who is the greatest man? l answer
the BEST and if am required to say who is the best?
l reply he that has deserved most of his fellow
creatures
Such is the definition of great and good made
by famous English writer Sir William Jones.
Judged by this standard the late Archbishop of St.
Paul, Most Rev. John Ireland is we'll entitled to the
honor Of being regarded as both great and a good
man. His goodness not only of the head, but
also of the heart and the keynote of his long and
fruitful his unceasing desire to be of
service to his fellowmen The service which he was
impeled to render to mankind, however, did not
consist in catering to the whims of temporary pop
ular caprice fads, for these he often loued and
condemned. He was neither deceived nor diverted
from his purpose by the ephemeral passions of the
moment, but concentrated his energies upon
those movements and reforms which met the ap.
prevail of his judgment tending to the substantial
and permanent uplift of humanity. This phase of
the character of the great prelate as we'll as the
kindness of his manner of teaching is we'll
married. in appreciation of his life work by Vicar
General Very Rev. James c. Byne follows:
ono clearer than he the deficiencies of
any human institution, whether school system,
association or government. But he preferred to ap
preciate the good in them rather than parade their
shortcomings The Divine Master, it is said, without
denouncing the popular ideal of the restoration of
Israels kingdom, made it the starting point of His
~ AAoAi
with which it OVERLAND If this saying be true,
in the treatment of popular ideals He had not for
nineteen centuries more faithful disciple than the
Archbishop of st. Paul"
Coming to America with his parents when but
fourteen years of age in 1852 he found the western
land in the pioneer stages of it's development Provi-
Dental events seemed to shape the great and glorious
work that he destined to do in it's marvellous
growth and progress
With Thomas O'Gorman, Bishop of Sioux
Falls, he sent to France to be educated for the
priesthood by Bishop Cretn, the first Bishop of ST.
Paul. But the outbreak of the Civil War IN 1861
cast the Of his life work along other lines
than those intended for him by Bishop Cretn. Dur
ing the week that he ordained to the priest
hood in December 1861, he appointed chap
lain of the Fifth Minnesota Regiment and he shared
with the soldiers in all the hardships and privations
of the battlefield This period of service doubtless
intensified in him that spirit of patriotism which
marked characteristic of his whole later career
Next to his devotion to the great Church to which
his life consecrated the service of his country
and his fellow the most engrossng OBJ
ject in his life Next to loyalty to God," he said
"is loyalty to country The should not live who
does not love and cherish his country" And the sin
cerity of these declarations amply proved by
his rousing discourses and writings at the time of
the entry of America into the world war. His bold
and unequivocal announcements were given nation
wide and worldwide publication and contributed in
insignificant degree to the crystallization and
ldifcation of American sentiment and policies with
respect to the great issues involved. Thus in the
closing years of his life the old warrior spirit was
revived in him and it's contagion rapidly spread
among the millions who regarded him of the
greatest of the American intellectual leaders.
Archbishop Ireland may be called the spiritual en-
pre builder of the Northwest. With others he fore
and appreciated it's vast potentalities while
was still raw and undeveloped wild. With voice
and pen he urged and encouraged settlers to make