From the Charleston Daily Mail: W.Va. priest lived as pauper but left princely estate

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A priest who spent his retirement years in Cedar Grove led a pauper’s life but had secret assets totaling more than $1.5 million, officials from the Sheriff’s Tax Department said.

Chief Tax Deputy Allen Bleigh and members of the tax department are currently handling the estate of Father Anthony Wojtus, a priest who ended up in the Kanawha Valley in 1997.

Wojtus died in June 2007 at the age of 77, leaving behind no known family or will. The county was appointed as estate administrator in July 2007.

He was a Polish immigrant and survivor of Auschwitz, one of the Nazi concentration camps during World War II, according to a 2005 newspaper story.

Bleigh and employees of the tax department have put in hundreds of hours since his death, trying to uncover all the assets of the estate and see if there was anyone who could take it over.

The estate included one home and one residence used as a chapel, known as St. Anthony’s Retreat. Both properties are located on Alexander Street in Cedar Grove. However, judging by the condition of the properties, Bleigh said no one expected to find what they did.

“At the time, no one knew that there was an estate of the magnitude there is,” Bleigh said. “The house he lived in was appalling…”

I have friends with relatives in Poland who survived the Nazi German concentration camps. Like this priest, they horde things, live frugally, do all they can to protect what little they have — the psychological consequences of all they endured.

From what I read in the comments to this story this was a fine priest who served his people with great grace and charity.

This article notes that he continued to offer the Tridentine Rite Holy Mass in his private chapel and in 1993 was suspended by his diocese for ministering to those who wished to attend that Rite of the Holy Mass. It appears that workers in the diocese refer to him as “eccentric” and a “loner.” He was likely a priest more attuned to the thinking of the Bishop of Rome than his own bishop.

Offer a prayer for him this evening:

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord and may the perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen.

Wieczne odpoczynek racz mu dać Panie, a światłość wiekuista niechaj mu świeci.
Niech odpoczywa w pokoju, Amen.

Réquiem ætérnam dona eis, Dómine, et lux perpétua líºceat eis.
Requiéscant in pace. Amen.