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St. John Neumann
b.1811 d.1860
Feastday: January 5
This American saint was born in Bohemia in 1811. He was looking
forward to being ordained in 1835 when the bishop decided there
would be no more ordinations. It is difficult for us to imagine
now, but Bohemia was overstocked with priests. John wrote to bishops
all over Europe but the story was the same everywhere no one wanted
any more bishops. John was sure he was called to be a priest but
all the doors to follow that vocation seemed to close in his face.
But John didn't give up. He had learned English by working in a
factory with English-speaking workers so he wrote to the bishops
in America. Finally, the bishop in New York agreed to ordain him.
In order to follow God's call to the priesthood John would have
to leave his home forever and travel across the ocean to a new and
rugged land.
In New York, John was one of 36 priests for 200,000 Catholics.
John's parish in western New York stretched from Lake Ontario to
Pennsylvania. His church had no steeple or floor but that didn't
matter because John spent most of his time traveling from village
to village, climbing mountains to visit the sick, staying in garrets
and taverns to teach, and celebrating the Mass at kitchen tables.
Because of the work and the isolation of his parish, John longed
for community and so joined the Redemptorists, a congregation of
priests and brothers dedicated to helping the poor and most abandoned.
John was appointed bishop of Philadelphia in 1852. As bishop, he
was the first to organize a diocesan Catholic school system. A founder
of Catholic education in this country, he increased the number of
Catholic schools in his diocese from two to 100.
John never lost his love and concern for the people -- something
that may have bothered the elite of Philadelphia. On one visit to
a rural parish, the parish priest picked him up in a manure wagon.
Seated on a plank stretched over the wagon's contents, John joked,
"Have you ever seen such an entourage for a bishop!"
The ability to learn languages that had brought him to America
led him to learn Spanish, French, Italian, and Dutch so he could
hear confessions in at least six languages. When Irish immigration
started, he learned Gaelic so well that one Irish woman remarked,
"Isn't it grand that we have an Irish bishop!"
Once on a visit to Germany, he came back to the house he was staying
in soaked by rain. When his host suggested he change his shoes,
John remarked, "The only way I could change my shoes is by putting
the left one on the right foot and the right one on the left foot.
This is the only pair I own."
John died on January 5, 1860 at the age of 48.
In His Footsteps:
John was a Redemptorist priest. To learn more about the Redemptorists
visit the Web site for Redemptorist Publications in England, www.redempt.org.
Prayer:
Saint John Neumann, you helped organize Catholic education in the
United States. Please watch over all Catholic schools and help them
be a model of Christianity in their actions as well as their words.
Amen
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