Jakob Hubert Blenk

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Jakob Hubert Blenk, Archbishop of New Orleans

Jakob Hubert Blenk SM , also James Hubert Blenk , (born August 6, 1856 in Edenkoben ; † April 20, 1917 in New Orleans ) was Bishop of Puerto Rico from 1899 to 1906 and Archbishop of New Orleans from 1906 to 1917 .

Life

Life path before appointment as bishop

He was born in the Palatinate wine-growing town of Edenkoben , a summer residence of the Bavarian kings , as the son of Protestant parents. The family soon moved to nearby Neustadt and emigrated to New Orleans, USA, when the boy was 10 years old. After just a few weeks, the parents died there and little Jakob Hubert was taken in by a Catholic family as a foster son. He converted to the Catholic faith at the age of 12 and entered the community of the Marist Fathers in 1878 . On August 16, 1886, he was in Dublin , Ireland , the ordination . He then taught as a professor at Jefferson College, New Orleans, and eventually became director of the college. Then he was appointed pastor of the "Holy Name of Mary" parish in Algiers near New Orleans.

Bishop and Archbishop

Archbishop Blenk
Emblem of the high school named after Archbishop Blenk, in Gretna, Louisiana, with Blenk's coat of arms

On June 12, 1899, Blenk was appointed Bishop of Puerto Rico . On July 2 of that year he received in New Orleans by the local Archbishop Placide Louis Chapelle , the episcopal ordination . Co- consecrators were Auxiliary Bishop Gustave Augustin Rouxel from New Orleans and the Apostolic Vicar of the Indian Territories , Bishop Theophile Meerschaert .

From 1899 to 1906, the Palatinate officiated as Bishop of Puerto Rico, before he was named Archbishop of New Orleans on April 20, 1906 and installed on July 1 of the same year. Jakob Hubert Blenk was a zealous and energetic shepherd . He was involved - as a former teacher - especially in the school and education system. He paid special attention to pastoral care for the colored, at that time still very disadvantaged population. He even had his own religious houses in his diocese, which only dealt with the care of this population group. In August 1906, Archbishop Blenk personally dressed several colored sisters of the "Negro Order" (that was an expression at the time) of the Holy Family, who at that time was caring for his compatriot from the Palatinate, Prelate Philipp Keller, from Roxheim .

Archbishop Jakob Hubert Blenk died of a heart attack in New Orleans on April 20, 1917. Archbishop Blenk's funeral procession is said to have been 3 miles long and consisted of more than 30,000 mourners. He is buried in St. Ludwig's Cathedral in New Orleans.

In Gretna the “Archbishop Blenk High School” was named in memory of the Palatinate Bishop (since 2007 it has operated together with another institute under the name “Westbank Catholic High School”).

Jakob Hubert Blenk ordained the bishops John William Shaw (1863–1934), Joseph Patrick Lynch (1872–1954), John Edward Gunn SM (1863–1924) and John Marie Laval (1854–1937) as the main consecrator. John William Shaw succeeded him as Archbishop of New Orleans.

literature

  • John Kendall, "History of New Orleans," Chapter 44, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago and New York, 1922
  • Jakob Bisson , "Seven Speyer bishops and their time", Pilger Verlag Speyer, 1956
  • Sister Mary Bernardine Hill, “The influence of James Hubert Blenk on Catholic education in the archdiocese of New Orleans, 1885-1917”, Dissertation, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, 1964.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerardo Alberto Hernández-Aponte, La Iglesia Católica en Puerto Rico ante la invasión de Estados Unidos de América. Lucha, sobrevivencia y estabilización: (1898-1921) . Segunda edición, San Juan, Puerto Rico: Academia Puertorriqueña de la Historia y Decanato de Estudios Graduados e Investigación (DEGI) de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras, 2013, pp. 190, 195-209.
  2. ↑ cf. Jakob Bisson , Seven Speyer bishops and their time , Pilger Verlag Speyer, 1956
  3. ^ Short biography , New Orleans Cathedral homepage, accessed February 22, 2014
predecessor Office successor
Placide Louis Chapelle Archbishop of New Orleans
1906–1917 		John William Shaw
Francisco Javier Valdés y Noriega OSA Bishop of Puerto Rico
1899–1906 		William Ambrose Jones OSA
personal data
SURNAME Blenk, Jakob Hubert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Blenk, James Hubert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Archbishop of New Orleans and Bishop of Puerto Rico
DATE OF BIRTH August 6, 1856
PLACE OF BIRTH Edenkoben , Germany
DATE OF DEATH April 20, 1917
Place of death New Orleans , USA