How a man spends his money - Bienvenu Part 2

Its been a while since I have come back to Bienvenu, so lets take another look at this man and the way he lives his life.

We can learn alot about a man in the manner in which he spends what he is given. Instead of talking about how he spent I will merely provide a copy of his annual budget.

"NOTE ON THE REGULATION OF MY HOUSEHOLD EXPENSES.

For the little seminary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,500 livres
Society of the mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 "
For the Lazarists of Montdidier . . . . . . . . . . 100 "
Seminary for foreign missions in Paris . . . . . . 200 "
Congregation of the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . 150 "
Religious establishments of the Holy Land . . . . . 100 "
Charitable maternity societies . . . . . . . . . . 300 "
Extra, for that of Arles . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 "
Work for the amelioration of prisons . . . . . . . 400 "
Work for the relief and delivery of prisoners . . . 500 "
To liberate fathers of families incarcerated for debt 1,000 "
Addition to the salary of the poor teachers of the
diocese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,000 "
Public granary of the Hautes-Alpes . . . . . . . . 100 "
Congregation of the ladies of D----, of Manosque, and of
Sisteron, for the gratuitous instruction of poor
girls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,500 "
For the poor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,000 "
My personal expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000 "
------
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 " "

Later when asked how come he walked everywhere and did not take his carriage he immediatly wrote to the head diocese asking for finances to cover carriage and travelling expenses. Upon receiving this sum he amended his budget, adding the following,

"EXPENSES OF CARRIAGE AND CIRCUIT.

For furnishing meat soup to the patients in the hospital. 1,500 livres
For the maternity charitable society of Aix . . . . . . . 250 "
For the maternity charitable society of Draguignan . . . 250 "
For foundlings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 "
For orphans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 "
-----
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,000 " "

And so we see a Bishop, a high ranking religious official who lives in a dilapidated small hospital instead of a palace with only 1,500 livres.

To put that into perspective one livre (in France at the time) would amount to about 10 USD today.

3 Adults living off of $10,500 a year is admirable, especially when he could be living off of $180,000.