Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/371

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STUDENT LIFE
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and contains three musically harmonious bells, was dedicated by Bishop Bonacum on June 30, 1909. Its size, magnificence and interior elegance easily rank it among the most notable buildings west of Omaha. It cost $47,000. The whole amount was collected in the surrounding country.

Being an ardent advocate of religious education, Monsignor Klein planned a parochial school for Holy Trinity. He had provided a site beside the church for this institution and after tireless efforts and many hardships he had the satisfaction of witnessing the school dedicated by Bishop Tihen on August 23, 1916. This architectural gem, the most cherished monument of Monsignor Klein’s long priestly career, cost $52,000, and accomodated 180 pupils.

Founding four parishes, organizing a dozen branches of different benefit organizations, building three new rectories, one model school and five church structures certainly constitute a record of unusual attainments in the annals of missionary work.

Undoubtedly these brilliant achievements of Monsignor Klein form lasting monuments of his devotion to a great casue, for he labored hard not to win the approbation of man but to gain glory for his Supreme Master.

In the diocesean Synod, held in Lincoln on Feb. 17, 1898, he was selected by the Bishop as member of the Board of Diocesan Consultors and Synodal Examiner of Junior Clergy. In 1909, on the twentieth anniversary of his ordination, Bishop Bonacum named him Vicar General. In 1911, upon the death of Bishop Bonacum, Father A. J. Klein was appointed administrator of the Lincoln Diocese by the Dubuque metropolitan. For five months he directed the affairs of the church to the universal satisfaction of the clergy and the people. When Bishop J. Henry Tihen assumed charge, he expressly approved the work of Father Klein and as a further distinction retained him as Vicar General.

When Bishop Tihen left to assume charge of the See of Denver in 1917, the Apostolic Delegate at Washington again named Msgr. Klein administrator sede vacante till Bishop C. J. O’Reilly was invested with the office. The new Bishop again named him Vicar General, placed him on the Bishop’s Council, the Diocesan Building Committee, and named him Parish Priest Consultor.

Other honors have been bestowed on Father Klein. On August 26, 1913, Pope Pius X. made him domestic prelate to His Holiness with the title “Monsignor”. This signal distinction was conferred at the instance of Bishop Tihen and its investiture was solemnized on Nov. 19, 1913.

On June 16, 1914, Monsignor Klein celebrated the Silver Jubilee of his sacerdotal life. The Ordinary, clergy and thousands of people from far and near participated in the religious and civic ceremonies which marked the completion of twenty-five years of faithful work in the service of the Lord.

While Monsignor Klein’s chief activities have been among those springing from his own race—who form a large and influential element in Nebraska’s composite population—yet he is thoroughly American in habits, thought, aims and purposes. Though a busy clergyman, he nevertheless finds time for the Muses. Through poetic and prose contributions he is favorably known in the literary circles of this country and Czechoslovakia. He published a collection of Bohemian poems, “From the Domain of the Prairie”, (Z Oblastí Prerijních), he has translated Washington Irving’s “Alhambra”, Charles Lamb’s “Five Tales from Shakespeare”, and Dr. Carl May’s “In the Pacific Ocean” (from the German) into Bohemian. He was a contributor to “Ottův Náučný Slovník” (Otto’s Encyclopedia), which is a Bohemian educational work of twenty-eight volumes.

But he has not limited his activities to his mother tongue. He has con tributed several English treatises on agricultural subjects, having gained distinction as an authority particularly among the beekeeping fraternity.