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Born
March 28, 1811 in Prachatitz, Czechoslovakia (Bohemia)
Died
January 5, 1860, Philadelphia
Canonized June 19, 1977
Feast
Day January 5
Founded the Third
Order of St. Francis of Glen Riddle, a religious order for women.
Organized the first diocesan
schedule of the Forty Hours' Devotion in the United States. Established
the first unified system of Catholic schools under a diocesan board.
First American Bishop to be canonized
“Give to me holiness and to all the
living and the dead, pardon, that some day we may all be together with
You, our dearest God!”
St. John Nepomucene Neumann
“If you believe yourself called by God, we shall put no
obstacle in your way, but you must not take leave of us.” This was the
advise that John Neumann’s father gave him as he discerned his vocation.
Origins
John was
born on March 28, 1811 in Prachatitz, Bohemia (now Czechoslovakia) in
the Austro-Hungarian Empire . He was named after Bohemia’s patron saint
and martyr, Saint John Nepomucene. He was the third of six children of
Philip and Agnes Neumann, both of whom were faithful Catholics. His
father ran a small knitting business. The family spoke German and said
daily morning and evening prayers together with the Rosary. His mother
attended daily Mass and gave alms of food and clothing to her poorer
neighbors. John later imitated her compassion when he saw a poor boy
going from door to door with a bag on his back. His heart was touched
and he exclaimed, “Oh, if I only had a bag, I would go about begging
with the poor boy, and then he would get more!”
When he
was three years old, John fell through an open cellar door but landed
unharmed fifteen feet below, apparently protected by his Guardian Angel.
In his childhood he made a toy altar out of lead, decorated it with
candles and flowers and said make-believe Masses for his small friends.
He was a quiet and serious boy and enjoyed reading. “My mother,” he
said, “used to chide me, and call me book mad, a bibliomaniac.” He was
friendly with his parish priest who instructed him in the Catholic faith
and introduced him to the natural sciences, particularly botany which
remained a life-long hobby.
John
served as an altar boy at daily Mass but, in his humility, he thought
that the priesthood was beyond his reach. Later in his life he wrote, “I
cannot say I felt a decided inclination to the priesthood in my
childhood. It is true that I had an altar made of lead and that I served
Mass almost every day, but the idea of being a priest was so exalted
that it did not seem within my reach.”
Vocation
When he
was 12, he attended high school and college in the nearby town of
Budwies and boarded with local families. God didn’t call John to the
priesthood with a very loud voice. This is how John described the
strange and subtle process of how he discerned his vocation.
When the
time came, at the end of the philosophy course, for me to decide either
for theology, or law or medicine, I felt more of an attraction for the
last. This was all the more so because, out of eighty or ninety
applicants for theology, only twenty were to be accepted. For this,
along with the best scholastic transcript, recommendations were also
required, and I wanted to have nothing to do with them.
In this
uncertainty about the choice of a profession, I came home in the autumn
vacation of 1831 and found that my father was not against letting me
study medicine in Prague, even though the expenses involved were great.
My mother was not too happy with this. Even though I pointed out to her
that I did not know anyone who would back my request for admission into
the institute for the study of theology, nevertheless she thought that I
should give it a try. I then wrote a letter of application and sent it
to Budweis by a special messenger. . . . Shortly after that I received
the letter of acceptance into the Budweis Theological Seminary.
From
that moment on I never gave another thought to medicine and I also gave
up completely the study of physics and astronomy on which I preferred to
spend time, and this without any great difficulty.
So, on
All Saints Day in 1831, John enrolled at the Diocesan Seminary of
Budweis when he was 20. His academic record was excellent. While he was
there, his missionary zeal was inflamed by reports from the United
States from another Austrian, Father Frederic Baraga, who served among
the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in Michigan and Wisconsin. John later
wrote, “The letters of Father Baraga and other German missionaries
charmed me. One day as [a friend] and I were walking . . . the thought
came to us to set out for America as soon after ordination as we should
have obtained some practical knowledge of our priestly duties. . . .
From that day my resolution was so firm, my desire so lively, that I
could think of nothing else.”
Seminary Preparation
Thereafter, John changed his lifestyle to prepare himself for the
American missions. He increased his prayers and fasts, became less
social and studied more, particularly languages including Italian,
Czech, French and English. He even spent entire nights outside in the
cold air. He decided to learn English and applied and was accepted for
the Archiepiscopal Seminary at Prague University where he thought that
English was taught. However, when he arrived, he was disappointed to
learn that it was not taught there, so John learned it on his own.
Moreover, he was disappointed to learn that many of the professors were
dissenters from the teachings of the Church who expressed anti-papal
views. At that time, the teaching of Prague University was influenced by
“Josephinism,” named after Austrian Emperor Joseph II. Josephinism was a
movement that was modernist, worldly and anti-papal. Soon John began
keeping a spiritual journal that gives us a glimpse of his spiritual
journey.
He
wrote, “ . . . at [that] place I met a great disappointment. . . . Nor
was I satisfied with the professors of dogmatic, moral, and pastoral
theology. The first was more against the Pope than for him. . . . The
second was too philosophical to be understood by his hearers. The third
was a thorough Josephinist. I had to do violence to myself even to
listen to them, for the absurdity of their treatment of those subjects I
fully understood; much less could I accept their opinions as heterodox.
It is a matter of regret that in such institutions so much is done to
maintain simply the appearance of learning, instead of diffusing good
and useful Catholic knowledge.”
It must
have been difficult to be an orthodox Catholic among liberal professors
but John taught himself and armed himself with 38 volumes of his own
extracts from the writings of saints and doctors of the Church and
defended the true teachings of the Church and of papal infallibility
even before the dogma was proclaimed.
John’s
greatest disappointment was that he had no spiritual direction,
something he expected to find at a supposedly Catholic seminary. In
1834, he began to write in his journal a daily outpouring of his soul to
God. "The president's sermon,” he wrote, “ has wounded my heart.
I like him now even less than ever. O Jesus, Thou knowest my sad
condition. Here I am without a guide, without an adviser. Lord, teach me
how to pray that I may obtain what is so necessary for me, a guide in
the spiritual life. I have none to console me in my falls, to counsel me
in my doubt as to whether I should enter an Order or Congregation where
I might live in perfect obedience; none to direct me in my efforts to
amend my life, none to point out how I may become more pleasing to Thee.
O my Jesus, in my desolation I cry to Thee! Hear my prayer, send me a
good confessor!”
Apparently no one was sent and John plodded on in spiritual darkness
without a guide. It must have been very difficult to preserve his
vocation when his teachers and fellow seminarians, affected by the
prevalent modernist attitudes, belittled him.
He
struggled against many temptations in his effort to be perfect as Jesus
taught. He wrote, “Give me the graces which will aid me to obtain the
perfection which You desire.” His prayer was answered and Jesus granted
him the grace to overcome his final temptation before coming to America.
Just before his graduation from the seminary, John was urged by
governmental and seminary officials to accept a prestigious position as
secretary to a governmental agency because of his knowledge of
languages. Much to their chagrin, he declined the offer with the
explanation that he intended to devote his life as a missionary to
America. If he had accepted the offer, America probably would have lost
a saint.
After his
graduation, John suffered from further disappointments. He learned that
his closest friend suddenly changed his mind and decided not to
accompany him to America. Then, through some confusion, he learned that
the money that he expected to receive for his journey was not available.
Then he learned that because there was an over-abundance of priests in
his diocese, the Bishop had postponed all ordinations in Budweis
indefinitely. Moreover, the Bishop would not release John to another
diocese. Now John had to decide whether to go to America or not, in
spite of his lack of ordination and release and, if so, should he tell
his parents?
This was
a very painful decision to make. He wrote, “While pondering last evening
on my resolution, separation from home appeared to me so bitter that I
burst into tears. My Jesus, if it be Thy will, increase my sufferings,
but hear my prayers! Let my resolve be put into execution. With no other
guide than Thyself, O Lord, I stand on the outskirts of an immense
region full of dangers and difficulties. The final step once taken,
there will be no looking back. No fond parents, no devoted brother and
sisters, no kind of friends will greet my landing on those far-off
shores. I shall meet none but strangers. There, indeed, I shall find
unbelievers who scoff at Thee, my Jesus, but many souls also hunger to
know Thy Word, O most merciful Savior!”
He
decided to apply to become a priest of the Diocese of Philadelphia and
that he would sacrifice the consolation of saying his first Mass with
them and giving them his priestly blessing. When he finally told them of
his plans, his parents and sisters were very sad and tried to dissuade
him from leaving them. But since he hadn’t received an answer from
Philadelphia Bishop Kendrick and his own Bishop would neither ordain him
nor release him from his diocese. John could do nothing but wait.
Finally,
a local priest who knew of the need of German-speaking priests in the
United States, advised him to go there and hope to be ordained there.
So, with great courage, but without ordination or release from his
Bishop, John abandoned himself to Divine Providence and left for America
on February 8, 1836. He only told a sister that he was leaving and left
a letter for his parents. This must have pained John and his family very
much, even though John had literally followed his father’s instructions.
He had said, “If you believe yourself called by God, we shall put no
obstacle in your way, but you must not take leave of us.” So he didn’t
and he left for America with about $40 in his pockets without knowing if
or when he would become a priest or where he would undertake his
missionary service.
The Journey to America
For the
next two months, John traveled west to France, often of foot, waiting to
receive a commitment from the United States. The trip across Europe
brought more disappointments. He was mis-informed and told that the
Bishop of Philadelphia no longer needed German priests. But John
courageously walked on, probably asking himself, “Will I ever get to
America? Will I ever be ordained? Who will ordain me? Where will I
serve? Will my mother ever forgive me for not saying goodbye?” Finally,
with just enough money to buy passage, John boarded the ship Europa
at Le Havre, France. For ten days he had to live uncomfortably on the
ship in the harbor while the captain tried to fill it with passengers.
On April
20, 1836, the ship set sail for New York. It had no comforts for its
passengers. John had to supply his own food for the voyage and a pot to
cook it in. He purchased a straw mattress on which to sleep on deck and
suffered from seasickness for the first three days. The voyage struggled
through a four-day storm, waited out a calm and evaded dangerous
icebergs. One day, while John was standing alone on the deck
during a storm, he heard an interior voice telling him to move. As he
did so, part of a sailing yardarm came crashing down on the very spot
where he had stood. Apparently, his Guardian Angel had protected him
once again.
The
voyage lasted 40 days and when the ship arrived outside New York harbor,
John and the other 200 passengers were quarantined for another week.
Finally, they were permitted ashore at Staten Island, where he boarded a
small steamboat and ferried to Lower Manhattan. He was alone in a new
and strange world, unfamiliar with the language, in tattered clothes,
with one dollar, unexpected and nervously apprehensive about his
uncertain future at the age of 25.
He wrote
in a letter, “It was the Feast of Corpus Christi, about 11:00 o'clock,
when I landed in America. You can imagine how I felt. My first care was
to find a Catholic church. But, not having brought along any address, I
had no hope of finding a priest by asking in an entirely strange land.
In spite of a constant downpour, I walked the mile-long streets of the
city until evening. I found a number of churches, chapels, etc. but no
Catholic church wanted to show itself. I had to put all my philological
knowledge together to comprehend the inscriptions on these buildings,
many decorated with ideal beauty. . . .Often there was nothing on the
church roof; often a weathercock; sometimes a cross, indeed, but over
the cross a weathercock. The devil, I thought, may present himself ever
so beautifully, but still he must let his cloven foot be seen a little!"
The next
day, John found his way to the residence of Bishop Dubois. He was now 72
years old and the same Bishop who helped Saints Mother Rose Duchesne and
Mother Seton establish their apostolates. He overlooked John’s lack of a
release from the Bishop of Budweis and said, “I can and must ordain you
quickly, for I need you.” Bishop Dubois’ diocese covered the entire
state of New York and part of New Jersey and he had only 36 priests to
serve 200,000 Catholics. He had a great need for German priests because
of the language barrier that faced the great influx of German immigrants
who settled there. John was so thankful that he promised the Blessed
Virgin Mary that he would say a daily Rosary in thanksgiving for the
rest of his life.
Finally,
John felt his years of spiritual darkness vanishing. He wrote, “Thanks,
a thousand thanks to Thee, my Jesus, for having prepared a place for me
in Thy sanctuary. . . . Doubt and uncertainty have vanished like mist
before the rays of the sun.”
Ordination
Two
weeks later, on the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, John received the
diaconate. The following day, June 25, 1836, at the age of 25, Bishop
Dubois ordained him to the priesthood. Father John wrote the following
prayer in his diary the next day:
O Jesus, You poured out the fullness of your grace over me yesterday.
You made me a priest and gave the power to offer You up to God. Ah! God!
This is too much for my soul! Angels of God, all you saints of heaven,
come down and adore my Jesus, because what my heart says is only the
imperfect echo of what Holy Church tells me to say. . . . I will pray to
You (O Lord) that You may give to me holiness and to all the living and
the dead, pardon, that some day we may all be together with You, our
dearest God!
Father John celebrated his First Mass that day. He was unable to give
his parents his priestly blessing, but he happily gave First Holy
Communions to 30 German children whom he had been instructing during the
previous two weeks.
Three
days later, Father John traveled the reverse of the water route that St.
Isaac Jogues had made from Auriesville to New York City during his
escape from the Mohawk Indians almost 200 years before. He was on his
way to Buffalo, New York, by way of the Hudson River north to Albany and
from there west to Lake Erie and Buffalo on the Erie Canal, the longest
man-made waterway in the world. He traveled by Hudson River steamer,
railroad, stagecoach and canal boat and headed for the remote area of
the state where an inrush of immigrants had followed the opening of the
Erie Canal.
The vast
“parish” of Buffalo was spread over 900 square miles from Lake Ontario
south to Pennsylvania. There was only one priest to serve all off the
Catholics scattered throughout this broad frontier area. On the way to
Buffalo, Father John stopped at Rochester where he began his priestly
ministry. He wrote this prayer in his diary:
My Lord and my God! Have mercy on me and those sheep who, for the time
being, have been entrusted to me. Give to my tongue words of life.
Purify their hearts and make them heed all sound advice and every
admonition. Your grace must do everything because I can do nothing but
sin – O Jesus, my Redeemer, I am taking Your place. Let me be a redeemer
for this parish!
After his first Baptism, Father John wrote, “If the child baptized today
dies in the grace of this sacrament, then my journey to America has been
repaid a million times, even though I do nothing for the rest of my
life.”
The Buffalo Frontier
Buffalo
was a boom city in 1836 and its pastor, Father Pax, gave Father John the
choice of serving there or in the outlying settlements. Father John
chose to minister in the outlying settlements while his pastor, the only
other priest, ministered in the city. Much of the land was only recently
cleared of woodland and put into cultivation for the first time.
Families were poor and widely scattered and towns were no more than a
handful of houses.
Father
John’s territory covered 900 square miles with four small churches where
400 families worshiped, of whom 300 were German. Father’s fluency in
German and French were a great help to the people and he even learned
Gaelic. The roads to the people’s cabins and their churches were poor or
non-existent and his trips to them by foot or horse took anywhere from
two to twelve hours.
Some of
his parishioners had not received the sacraments for years. Many had
lost their faith or joined Protestant churches. Father John keenly
desired their salvation. He wrote, “O my Jesus, I, a poor, ignorant
young man, have become a shepherd in Thy sheepfold. . . . Grant that not
one of those confided to me be lost. . . . Teach me to live, and, if
needs be, to die for my people that they all may be saved, that they all
may love Thy dear Mother! . . . Mary, thou who art ever victorious over
heresies, pray for all who are walking in the paths of accursed error! .
. . My Jesus, what shall, I, a poor creature, do to lead many souls --
yea, all souls -- to Thee?”
After
living with families for two years, Father John moved into a log cabin
built for him by the people of North Bush, a settlement near present-day
Kenmore, New York. It was a simple structure with two rooms, four chairs
and two trunks. He led a severely penitential life. He slept only a
couple of hours a night without a fire in the cold, ate simple meals and
once went for four weeks on bread alone. He wrote, “"Only a poor priest,
one who can endure hardship, can labor here. His duties call him far and
near. . . . he leads a wandering life. There is no pleasure, except the
care of souls. . . . the Catholic population is continually increasing.
. . . many are in extreme poverty. They live in miserable shanties, some
with not even a window.”
He taught
the children the catechism, prayed the Divine Office, celebrated Mass,
administered the sacraments, and mediated disputes among parishioners.
His fervent prayers for conversions were productive of a rich harvest of
souls. His Journal tells of whole families under instruction, either for
Baptism or reception into the Church. He said, “The recitation of the
Rosary for my stray sheep is always productive of abundant fruit. I will
redouble my zeal in this sweet and efficacious devotion.” His fruits
were noticed by Bishop Dubois who visited his parish and complemented
him on his accomplishments after only one year in ministry.
His
ministry faced anti-Catholic opposition from Protestant “heretics,” as
he termed them. They discriminated against Catholics and allured them
with promises of financial security if they renounced their faith.
Unfortunately, many left the Church. Father Neumann's heart was pierced
with sorrow. He wrote, "Today has been a very painful one for me. I
heard of the apostasy of one of my parishioners. My heart is pierced
with sorrow . . . . O my Jesus, [for his soul] I will pray, fast, and
with the help of Thy grace, sacrifice life itself."
Another
problem in his ministry was scandal from bad priests. He wrote about
them, “Much scandal has been given in these parts by the arrival of
unworthy priests who come here merely to lead a reckless life amid the
confusion of heresies. . . . That the evils existing among our people
are very great is, indeed, only too true. . . . Still, we must allow
that apostasy from the Faith, considering the evil influence exercised
everywhere by heretics, is not so frequent as one might suppose; nay,
the number of those who return to the bosom of the only saving Church
balances the loss sustained by such defections. The gain would surely be
greater if earnest priests were more numerous.”
In 1839,
Father John’s brother, Wenzel, came to America to join him as a lay
helper. His help was greatly appreciated but it also allowed Father John
to increase his labors. He tirelessly traveled his parish in his zeal
for the salvation of the souls of his parishioners, walking and riding
over muddy and rutty roads, through swamps and uncut forests, by day and
by night, in the summer heat and winter cold. On he went from village to
village, cabin to cabin, and church to church. On his back he carried an
altar stone, vessels, vestments and books.
One day,
while he made his rounds through the forest, he collapsed in exhaustion
at the foot of a tree. He was found by a band of Indians who carried him
on a blanket to the nearest homestead. Eventually, his heavy labors
exhausted him. He wrote, “I am a strong Bohemian mountain boy. It will
not hurt me.” But he was only five feet, two and one-half inches tall,
he was not really very strong and his labors did hurt him. Even he final
realized this and said, “Father Pax, I must give up; my health is gone."
Father
John had labored on the Buffalo frontier for four years, but in 1840 he
suffered a complete breakdown in health. It took him three months to
recover during which he agonized over his vocation. As in the seminary,
he still yearned for spiritual advice and companionship. In spite of all
his accomplishments, all his prayers and penances, he was convinced that
he was but a wretched sinner, isolated and alone without any guidance.
He even suffered from temptations of running away. He wrote, “To escape
the terrible responsibility resting upon me, I sometimes thought of
abandoning my flock, of fleeing to some distant solitude where I might
lead a hidden, penitential life. . . .”
The Redemptorist Vocation
Father
John was impressed by the missionary work among the German immigrants of
several priests of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, popularly
called the Redemptorists. He came to feel that he might be more
effective in nourishing the spiritual life of the people if he were a
member of a religious community rather than a lone missionary-pastor.
Providentially, Father Joseph Prost, the Superior of the Congregation of
the Most Holy Redeemer, wrote Father John a letter at that time. He
closed it with the scriptural admonition, Vae soli! (“Woe to him
who is alone!”). Father John thought that the only way he could save his
soul was to entrust it under perfect obedience to the guidance, care,
and protection of a religious order. So he entered the Redemptorists on
October 13, 1840, and left Buffalo for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His
brother Wenzel followed him and became a lay brother in the order.
Father
John wrote to his parents and explained his reasons for joining the
Redemptorists. He said, “I think that this is the best thing I can do
for the security of my salvation. The constant supervision of religious
superiors and the good example of fellow religious spur one to lead a
life more pleasing to God than one can lead in the world.” This proved
to be only wishful thinking.
On January 16, 1842, at the age of 31, Father John was professed as a
member of the Redemptorists in Baltimore. He wrote his parents that the
“mutual bodily and spiritual help, edification and good example, which
one has around him, till his death in such a spiritual society, make my
life and my office a great deal easier for me.”
On
November 30. Father John became the first novice of the newly
established American branch of the Redemptorists. He had hoped for a
novitiate of peace and quiet consisting of study, spiritual solitude,
and spiritual direction. Once again, he was disappointed. The
Redemptorists were needed for mission work. Father John’s novice master
was sent away to Baltimore and Father John was left alone once again to
be his own spiritual director.
A
Redemptorist chronicler reported, "The first novice of our American
Province did not enjoy the advantages found in the regular instruction
and careful discipline of a well-regulated novitiate. He was entrusted
with duties which usually fell to the charge of a professed religious
only; nevertheless he distinguished himself by a faithful observance of
rules, unaffected love for the Congregation, and the practice of eminent
virtues."
Years
later Father Neumann commented on his so-called “novitiate” in a letter.
"There was no novitiate in America at that time, and no novice master,
but an overwhelming amount of work to be dispatched. I daily made two
meditations and two examens of conscience with the community, spiritual
reading in private, and a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. I also recited
the Rosary, and that was all."
That was
all of his spiritual life, but his active life consisted of the busyness
that he had tried to avoid - preaching missions, assisting parish
priests, settling disputes, changing residences. When he complained
about this to his busy absent novice master, Father Tschenhens, he was
firmly told, "You had better return to your former missions, you will
never persevere with us."
Once
again, Father John must have felt that he was a failure when all of his
hopeful reasons for joining the Redemptorists were frustrated. But, God
gave him a prophetic vision for his future. During his novitiate, Father
John told Father Tschenhens about a strange dream that he had. He was in
Baltimore and a Bishop was trying to force him to become a Bishop
against his will. As the Bishop dragged him to a church for his
consecration, he awoke. Father Tschenchens rebuked Father John for
entertaining such ambitions.
The Baltimore Mission
On
January 16, 1842, after a long and arduous “novitiate”, Father John
became the first Redemptorist to make his vows in America at the age of
30. He was first assigned to St. James Parish in Baltimore. His parish
work included administering the sacraments, hours in the confessional,
visiting the sick, preaching simple but solid sermons, instructing
children in the catechism and baptizing converts. Sometimes there were
as many as 30 non-Catholics taking instructions in the faith.
He also
traveled to distant mission posts ministering to the vast numbers of
immigrants, who long had been deprived of them in the New World. He
commented on the enormity of this task, "The few [priests] we have are
sadly out of proportion to the ever-increasing wants of the faithful.
There are Catholics who have not been to confession for many years, and
there are young people of nineteen or twenty who have nothing of
Catholicity about them, saving their baptism and all this from the want
of priests. The longer this need continues, the more difficult it will
be to reanimate faith and the fear of God."
Two other
difficulties to reanimate the faith were the secret societies and the
Protestant influence. Father John described the first difficulty:
"Secret societies have been formed lately among infidels and
non-Catholics; for instance, the Freemasons, the Oddfellows, and the
Order of Red Men. All assert that the only object of their association
is fraternal benevolence and mutual support. But this is merely a
specious cloak. The very oath tendered by them, viz., secrecy as to what
goes on in their meetings, is a sufficient reason to suspect their
intention, and to warn Catholics against communication with them. . . .
Under pain of exclusion from the sacraments, the Provincial Council has
forbidden Catholics to join such societies. Notwithstanding the
prohibition, many have been enticed into them, and the sad consequences
are that they have fallen away from the Faith." Father Neumann urged
Catholics "from joining secret societies, from too intimate intercourse
with heretics, from the reading of Protestant and immoral books, etc."
He encouraged them to join new Catholic societies such as the
Confraternity of the Rosary and the Confraternity of the Sacred Hearts
of Jesus and Mary.
The other difficulty was the Protestant influence. A common practice of
poor Catholic parents was to entrust their children to the homes of
wealthy Protestants who could provide for their material welfare, since
the Catholic parents could not. Father Neumann wrote, “This is a crying
evil. American Protestants . . . use every means to check the spread of
Catholicism. They receive Catholic children into their homes with the
secret intention of destroying their faith. And as they make fair
promises, the foolish parents think themselves fortunate in having so
well provided for their little ones. They will one day weep over their
folly, but then it will be too late!" His proposed remedy was to
entrust the care of these children to Catholic institutions and
religious orders.
Father
John spent about two years in Baltimore working in the main parish and
riding the circuit throughout the countryside and ministering to the
German families, organizing them if possible into parishes. Then, in
March of 1844, he was assigned his first pastorship of St. Philomena’s
in Pittsburgh.
The Pittsburg Mission
St.
Philomena’s was a nearly completed new church and Father Neumann’s first
job was to finish the church and pay for it. It was a poor parish but
his parishioner’s contributed five cents a week towards the building
fund to finish the construction of their church in 1846. Bishop O’Connor
remarked years later that Father Neumann “built a church without any
money.”
In
addition to his pastoral and missionary work, Father John stayed up late
at night praying and writing catechisms and notes for a Bible history.
Eventually, he got sick again and was ordered to leave Pittsburg for
Baltimore to rest. The rest was a short one. At the end of two weeks, on
February 9, 1847, Father John was named Vice-Regent of the American
Redemptorists. . He was 35 years old, younger than many of the priests
under him. He was responsible for the administration of ten Redemptorist
houses and over 70 missions.
Redemptorist Superior
This
appointment stunned and terrified the humble Father John, who judged
himself incompetent for it. The Order was heavily laden with debts when
he assumed command. He lacked substantial sources of revenue, but
somehow managed to ease the financial difficulties, erect additional
Redemptorist foundations, new churches and new schools. His achievements
as vice- regent justified his Provincial's description of him as "the
wisest, the greatest, and the best among all the Redemptorists in
America."
However,
his authority as Superior was severely limited, his instructions were
often disobeyed and his European superiors were disunited because of the
European revolutions of 1848 resulting in questionable orders issued
from them. Father Neumann commented on his tenuous position, “Let it go.
Do not be sorry for me. I have never done anything to become a superior
and I will not do anything to remain one. On the contrary, I will thank
God if I am relieved of this responsibility.”
In spite
of all this, during his 23-month term, Father Neumann furthered the
stability of the Order in the United States. He became a citizen of the
United Sates and in 1847 he welcomed the School Sisters of Notre Dame to
the United States and helped them to get established. He offered them
the Redemptorist’s property in Baltimore and they agreed to teach in St.
Alphonsus School. He also interceded for the Oblate Sisters of
Providence, a congregation of Black nuns, who were about to be dissolved
by the Bishop for lack of numbers. He provided them with Redemptorist
spiritual directors and confessors, the order revived and the Bishop
changed his mind.
After
his term as Redemptorist Superior, Father Neumann returned to his
pastoral work from 1849 through 1851 in parish work, teaching the faith
and as a confessor to nuns. One of them later said, “Father Neumann
contributed much to the perfection of our Sisters. His instructions and
exhortations were animated by his own enthusiasm for the honor of God,
the sublime end of the religious state. They inflamed our hearts with an
ardent desire for religious perfection, for a total oblation to God.”
Father
Neumann also became the confessor to Baltimore Archbishop Francis
Patrick Kenrick, former Bishop of Philadelphia which now had a vacancy.
The Vatican asked Bishop Kenrick to recommend his successor. He
recommended Father Neumann.
Bishop of Philadelphia
“I would
rather die tomorrow than be consecrated Bishop,” said Father Neumann to
a friend on the night before his consecration set for March 28, 1852 at
St. Alphonsus Church in Baltimore. Archbishop Kenrick recommended Father
Neumann because he was a simple, humble, obedient and holy priest who
spoke German in an area where there were thousands of German immigrants
who did not speak English. Archbishop Kenrick had asked other Bishops
their opinion on appointing Father Neumann as its Bishop. When Father
Neumann learned about this, he pleaded with him in tears to withdraw his
name from consideration but he refused.
Father
John was so alarmed over the prospect of being made a Bishop that he
wrote to the Procurator General of the Congregation in Rome, urging him
to use all power within his means to prevent the appointment. He begged
friends to pray against his consecration and asked religious houses to
pray novenas to avert what he termed as "a great danger from one of the
dioceses in America” and "a calamity for the Church."
However,
the prayers were not heard and Pope Pius IX appointed Father Neumann as
Bishop “under obedience and without appeal.”
Bishop
Kenrick went to visit Father Neumann to tell him the news of his
appointment. However, Father was not home, so the Bishop went into his
bedroom and laid out his own Bishop’s ring and pectoral cross on the
table and left. When Father Neumann returned and learned that Bishop
Kendrick had done this, he understood that he was now to become a Bishop
himself. Two years later, Pope Pius IX received Bishop Neumann in an
audience and said, “Isn’t obedience better than sacrifice?”
Father
Neumann was asked to write under obedience a short autobiography for the
Redemptorist's. He ended it with these lines "Tomorrow, March 28th, my
birthday, which this year falls on Passion Sunday, I shall, if nothing
prevents it, be consecrated bishop in St. Alphonsus' Church, by Most.
Rev. Archbishop Kenrick. But do Thou, O Lord, have mercy on us! Jesus
and Mary, pity me! Passion of Christ, strengthen me!"
With
this last sentence as his Episcopal motto, Father John was consecrated
as a Bishop on Passion Sunday. It was his 41st birthday.
After his
consecration in his new vestments Father Neumann said, “The Church
treats her Bishops like a mother treats a child. When she wants to place
a burden on him, she gives him new clothes.”
Since
the creation of the Diocese of Philadelphia in 1808, its Bishops had all
been Irish. Many Catholics were upset over the appointment of Bishop
Neumann because he was German, unsophisticated, diminutive in appearance
(5’3”), spoke in an accent and was unimpressive in speech. In short, he
was not a worldly man. Years later, his vicar-general, Father Edward J.
Sourin, said, "He knew well when he came to this proud city there were
many not only among those who differ from us in religion but hundreds of
our own Faith who wished as an occupant for the episcopate of this
diocese a man more according to the judgment of the world."
The
diocese of Philadelphia was then one of the largest and most important
in the United States. It included the eastern half of Pennsylvania, all
of Delaware and the western part of New Jersey. It consisted of 113
parishes, with only 100 priests to serve a population of 170,000
Catholics. And it offered many a trying challenge to its new shepherd.
The greatest need was for more churches and schools for the increasing
numbers of Irish and German immigrants but the diocese was burdened by
debt.
Soon
after his arrival in Philadelphia, Bishop Neumann got to work. He had
taken a vow never deliberately to waste a moment of time. But his work
was a fruit of an intense interior life of prayer and sacrifice. He rose
before 5 am and prayed until Mass at six immediately followed by another
and then hearing confessions and a light breakfast before the work of
the day.
His room
was simple and he often slept on the bare floor. He had only one suit of
clothes. He wore a cilicium (belt of iron wire) under his clothes
as a mortification of his flesh. His residence was furnished very
plainly. He maintained no secretarial staff. Instead, he personally
answered all the voluminous correspondence that arrived on his desk.
Visitors at all times of the day called and were graciously received by
the Bishop himself.
Bishop
Neumann was generous to the poor, personally giving them alms. He became
one of them and went without clothes, linen and shoes. One Sunday a
priest scolded him for his shabby appearance and pleaded that he change
into a better coat. "What shall I do?" asked the Bishop, "I do not have
another."
Once on
a 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 the Bishop
joked, "Have you ever seen such an entourage for a bishop!"
During a
visit to Germany, he came back to the house he was staying in soaked by
rain. When his host suggested that he change his shoes, the Bishop
replied, "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."
On
another occasion, a priest found him in his room obviously very ill but
lying on a bare plank. He told him that he should be in bed. The Bishop
replied, "Why, I am just as comfortable here." “But,” the priest
responded, "You are not as comfortable there, and you have no right
under these circumstances to do as you please. You are a Bishop; you
belong to your diocese." Bishop Neumann obediently left his board and
went to bed.
Soon
after his arrival in Philadelphia, Bishop Neumann called at all the
religious communities, orphanages, hospitals and other Catholic
institutions in the city to evaluate their spiritual and temporal
conditions. He began his pastoral visitation to every parish where he
would remain for several days, examining the overall state of the parish
and making a careful inspection of the church, altar and sacred vessels.
While he was there he would conduct a mission, preaching to the
parishioners, hearing confessions and giving special instruction to the
children.
Many
immigrants had no priest who could hear their Confession in their native
language. Bishop Neumann was a Godsend to them because he spoke so many
languages. He had taught himself Gaelic, the language of many of the
Irish immigrants. One of them made her Confession to him later said,
"It's an Irish bishop we have at last!"
He
personally examined candidates for Confirmation and would postpone it
for those who were not prepared. He would prepare them himself.
Bishop
Neumann privately worshipped at St. Peter the Apostle, a German Catholic
church that was staffed by the Redemptorists. His weekly custom was to
walk about a mile and a half from his residence to make his Confession
at St. Peter's. He spent his monthly and annual retreats, as prescribed
by the Redemptorist Rule, at the nearby old rectory. When he came, he
avoided all display of rank or special privilege and mingled with the
people. No one would take him for a Bishop.
A
memorial plaque in the church now reads, St. Peter's is more than
Bishop Neumann's resting place. He walked its aisles; he often knelt
here, lost in prayer. His crozier rang on the sanctuary stones. His
little feet moved up and down these aisles as he bore the Blessed
Sacrament in Forty Hours Processions. The walls recall his voice;
preaching at High Mass, catechising little ones before Confirmation,
complimenting the nuns who taught them -the School Sisters of Notre
Dame. St. Peter's was very close to his heart.
Next door
to Bishop Neumann's official residence, construction was underway on
Philadelphia's imposing new Cathedral. Work had been started six years
before he came to the city. The brownstone building would later become
the largest and most costly cathedral in the nation, but in 1852
construction was not one-third completed. They need a lot of money to
complete the project. Many people urged Bishop Neumann to hurry up and
finish the project. But he thought that parish churches and schools
should be constructed first. And so the Cathedral was never completed
until four years after his death.
In 1852,
Bishop Neumann attended the First Plenary Council of Bishops to be held
in the United States. The Bishops approved the catechisms composed by
him for distribution in the nation's dioceses. These became the standard
catechisms in the United States for the next 35 years until the
Baltimore Catechism replaced them. After the Council, one of the Bishops
remarked about him, "I had an opportunity during the Council in
Baltimore to admire Bishop Neumann's wonderful memory and extraordinary
theological attainments. He had a solution for every question posed.
What edified me most of all was his unruffled composure, which betokened
deep humility and perfect self-control. I always regarded him as a
saint."
The Catholic School System
Bishop
Neumann believed that only Catholic schools could save the Catholic
youth. He was critical of public education and wrote years earlier, "The
public school system in the United States is very liberal in theory; but
in reality it is most intolerant towards Catholics. It cannot be doubted
that the young mind is influenced by the irreligious dispositions of the
teacher. Even the textbooks selected for use are injurious to Catholic
children. They are merely heretical extracts from a falsified Bible, and
histories which contain the most malicious perversion of truth, the
grossest lies against the doctrines and practices of the Catholic
Church. . . . These circumstances combine for the spiritual ruin of
Catholic children."
Bishop
Neumann’s first project was the establishment of a Catholic school
system in 1852. He set up a central diocesan board of education
consisting of himself, the pastor and two laymen from each parish. The
board recommended a general curriculum, raised funds to help the
parishes build the schools and the pastors hired and paid the teachers.
Bishop Neumann started building schools and churches as they were
needed, in spite of the diocesan debt, trusting that God would provide
for them. Within three years of his arrival, the number of children in
Catholic schools increased from about 500 to 5000 and he completed
construction of 42 churches. He was the Father of the Catholic Parochial
School System.
Bishop
Neumann’s first love was for the poor, the simple and children. He
always had something in his pockets to reward the students who gave
correct answers to his catechism questions. He never lost his love for
botany and he would often explain to the children the wonders of nature
such as flowers and lead them up from there to appreciate the love of
their creator.
One day
two young girls came to deliver to the Bishop a message from their
teacher. He found them waiting in an anteroom admiring a marble statue
of the Infant Jesus lying in a cradle. He jokingly said that he’d give
it to the one who could carry the heavy statue home. One of them took
him seriously, left and returned a little while later with a wagon to
haul it away. The Bishop was true to his word and let her keep it. The
enterprising little girl later became the Mother General of the Holy
Cross Sisters and the statue was venerated in their motherhouse.
The Forty Hours’ Devotion
Bishop
Neumann made many visitations to his parishes reviewing their finances,
hearing confessions, preaching, administering Confirmation and visiting
the sick.
He
fostered devotion to the Blessed Sacrament by encouraging the Forty
Hours’ Devotion. This is a devotion of prayer before the exposed Blessed
Sacrament over a period of 40 hours that represents the traditional time
that Jesus was in the tomb from his death on the Cross until His
Resurrection. He was the first Bishop to set up this devotion on an
organized diocesan schedule so that Jesus was never left alone and
someone was always there to adore Him.
However,
several priests advised Bishop Neumann against instituting the devotion
on the grounds that the Blessed Sacrament might be profaned. They
thought that the anti-Catholic Nativists might burn down the churches.
This troubled him, but his scruples were relieved by a revelation that
he received from Jesus. One night Bishop Neumann fell asleep at his desk
while meditating on this issue of profanation. When he woke up, he saw
that his burning candle had burnt down and charred some of his papers.
He knelt in prayer to give thanks that a serious fire was averted and he
received a locution from Jesus. “As the flames are burning here without
consuming or injuring the writing, so shall I pour out my grace in the
Blessed Sacrament without prejudice to my honor. Fear no profanation,
therefore, and hesitate no longer to carry out your design for my
glory.” Soon thereafter Bishop Neumann established the devotion that
soon spread throughout the United States.
The Lay Trustee System
A
recurring problem in early American Catholic churches was the issue of
who should run the churches - lay trustees, as in the Protestant
churches, or the pastors and Bishops. Under the Lay Trustee System, the
churches were administered somewhat like Protestant churches. Title to
the church property was vested in a board of lay trustees and not in the
diocese as it is today. This system fostered tension in the church
administration between the board and the priest.
Bishop
Neumann faced this tension head-on. Holy Trinity church in South
Philadelphia was under an interdict ordered by former Archbishop Kenrick
that forbade the administration of the sacraments there because the
trustees claimed title to the property and wouldn’t convey it to him.
In 1852, Bishop Neumann informed the trustees that he would lift the
interdict if they conveyed title to him as Bishop. Instead, they sued
him and won title in a lower court. Bishop Neumann appealed and the case
was finally heard two years later.
The judge told the rebellious trustees, “You had an Irishman for Bishop,
an American and now you have a German. You are satisfied with none,
obedient to none. If you want to be Catholics you must obey the Pope and
the Bishops in all ecclesiastical affairs. You cannot expect that the
court will protect your disobedience.” Bishop Neumann won the case and
regained title to the church. This was an important decision for the
Catholic Church in America and helped to end the system of church
administration by lay trustees.
The Immaculate Conception
Bishop
Neumann was devoted to the Immaculate Conception, the Patroness of the
United States. He went to Rome to witness the proclamation of the dogma
in 1854. Before he left, he wrote a Pastoral Letter in which he
announced the proclamation and urged devotion to Our Lady under the
title of the Immaculate Conception. He wrote, "Henceforth and forever,
all generations of true believers shall invoke Mary, Mother of God, as
the ever immaculate virgin, conceived without stain of original sin.”
After
the proclamation of the dogma on December 8, Bishop Neumann wrote, "I
thank the Lord God, that among the many graces he has bestowed upon me,
He allowed me to see this day in Rome."
The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis
Bishop Neumann founded a new Congregation of women, the
Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis. While he was in Rome in 1854,
Pope Pius IX suggested training a new group of religious to work with
the poor. He suggested that it be placed under the patronage of St.
Francis.
Providentially, at that very time, Bishop Neumann learned that three
Philadelphia women had established a hospice for working girls and were
seeking permission to form a Franciscan community. Before leaving Rome,
Bishop Neumann obtained the authority to found the Sisters of the Third
Order of St. Francis and to receive the Philadelphia women as its first
members. After he returned home from Rome, he invested them with the
habit of novices and later heard their final vows on May 26, 1856.
The
Sisters began devoting much of their time and energy to the care of the
sick. After their numbers increased, they established St. Mary Hospital
and, at the request of Bishop Neumann, they became teachers as well.
Bishop
Neumann also helped to establish the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of
Mary and encouraged the School Sisters of Notre Dame to come from
Germany to the Unites States. Many of these pioneer religious women
staffed the new Catholic Schools of his diocese.
Virtues
Bishop
Neumann was well aware of the deficiencies of his own administration of
the diocese of Philadelphia. His gifts did not include financial wisdom,
business administration, social affability and cultured manners. These
were the qualities that would have been appreciated by the rich
Philadelphia socialites or their sophisticated clerical friends.
Bishop
Neumann’s gifts were the virtues of obedience, humility and simplicity.
He nature was shy and retiring rather than an outgoing and social. These
were the gifts that were appreciated by the poor masses of his diocese.
But, they had no voice and all heard the loud complaints of the rich.
A symbol
of the conflict between his nature and the expectations of the rich was
the Cathedral project. This project was a visible symbol to the whole
city of what the rich said were the Bishop's faults. He was criticized
for being often outside the city visiting his flock in the outlying
districts while the uncompleted Cathedral project languished for lack of
leadership and funds and became an eyesore to the city. Bishop Neumann
didn’t defend himself against their criticism. Instead, he seemed to
humbly agree with them, sent a letter to Cardinal Franzoni in Rome and
suggested that he be transferred to a smaller diocese. He wrote,
Because of circumstances here, a man of sharp insight, brave and
accustomed to direct temporal affairs is required. I, however, am timid,
always hesitant, and possess a horror of business and pecuniary
transactions. . . . The City of Philadelphia, which has more than five
hundred thousand inhabitants and (if you will pardon the statement) a
very worldly character, needs someone else instead of myself who am too
plain and not sufficiently talented; besides I love solitude. Since
there is a proposal to erect many new dioceses, I thought it my duty to
inform Your Eminence that I am most willing to be transferred to another
See where a less gifted man would be required. For more than fifteen
years I was occupied on the North American missions; I have loved
corporal labors and journey in the mountains and through the forests.
Visiting Catholic families separated from one another by long distances
and preaching to the, etc. has been my greatest pleasure. . . .
Pope Benedict XV later declared this letter as an example of heroic
virtue. He said, “This offer of Bishop Neumann to leave Philadelphia was
positive proof of his magnanimity of soul.”
The Coadjutor
Archbishop Kenrick also
wrote to Rome and made a more prudent suggestion to satisfy Bishop
Neumann’s critics. He wrote,
It seems to me that he should by all means be retained in the See of
Philadelphia since he is a shining light because of his piety and his
labors. I, indeed, confess that he is wanting a little in managing
affairs, but I believe that he can appoint a vicar general, consultors
and helpers, whose assistance will enable him to clear the debts and to
smooth out matters. He is beloved by the clergy and people, although
certain ones would like to see more urbane and polished manners.
On December 9, 1856, Rome adopted Archbishop Kenrick’s suggestion and
decided that Bishop Neumann would remain as Bishop of Philadelphia with
another Bishop as coadjutor, an assistant who would help him in diocesan
administration.
The Chalice
Coadjutor Bishop James Wood was an answer to Bishop Neumann’s critics.
He was tall and distinguished in appearance, educated in Rome,
sophisticated, a good pubic speaker and experienced in financial
matters. His business administration of the diocese freed Bishop Neumann
for his pastoral work of visitations to religious houses and the remote
areas of his diocese, administering the sacrament of Confirmation and
establishing new parishes and schools. One day he spent the entire day
riding 25 miles through mountainous terrain to confirm a single child.
Bishop
Neumann said in a speech at Illinois Bishop Juncker’s consecration
reception on April 26, 1857,
You have scarcely any idea how difficult and painful the office of
Bishop is, especially here in America. Catholics come from all parts of
the world, all nationalities mingle with one another and the Bishop is
supposed to please all – an impossible task. Where are we to again
strength: Where will Bishop Juncker receive the strength he needs: From
the Blood of Christ, from . . . the Chalice.
This
strength soon ran out for Bishop Neumann and he drank from the Chalice
in full. On January 5, 1860,he remarked to a visiting priest, “I have a
strange feeling today. I feel as I never felt before. I have to go out
on a little business and the fresh air will do me good.” Then he added
strangely, “A man must always be ready, for death comes when and where
God will it.”
He went
out on foot to visit a lawyer about property deeds. Then he went on a
mission of mercy to the express office to inquire about a lost chalice
that one of his rural pastors had sent to Bishop Wood to consecrate. On
his way, Bishop Neumann suddenly collapsed on the sidewalk. Two men
carried him into a nearby house, laid him on the floor in front of a
fire and summoned a priest to administer the sacrament of Extreme
Unction (Anointing of the Sick). But it was too late. On a stranger’s
floor, without benefit of the sacraments of the Church, the Bishop of
Philadelphia died, three months short of his 49th birthday.
Deep
shock and disbelief swept the entire community when the news spread
followed by an unprecedented display of the people's respect and
affection for their Bishop. Thousands came to bid him farewell at the
Cathedral Chapel where the body first was placed. Two days later, the
streets were thronged as the funeral procession moved through the city.
Four black horses pulled the glass-sided hearse past weeping mourners.
That night St. John's was filled with men and women of many faiths and
from all walks of life coming to see the Bishop for the last time.
Another
solemn funeral cortege moved through packed streets from St. John's to
St. Peter's. Far into another night, German parishioners filed by the
casket of the little Bishop whom they had known so well and loved so
deeply. On the next morning, there was a second funeral Mass and a
sermon preached in German by a Redemptorist. Then the body was carried
to a vault beneath the floor of the sanctuary of the lower church.
Father
Edward Sourin preached at the funeral, “He has labored through every
part of the diocese, and has, undoubtedly, done more for its better
organization and for the spread of piety throughout the various
congregations than might have been otherwise done in even ten or twenty
years by another individual . . . .He spared himself in nothing. . . .”
Archbishop Kendrick gave permission for the Bishop’s body to be buried
at St. Peter’s Church instead of the graveyard of St. John’s
Pro-Cathedral. He said, “Gladly I’ll consent to Bishop Neumann’s finding
a resting place in death where he could not find one in life.”
In
November 1962, Bishop Neumann’s body was exhumed and found to be
incorrupt, very much intact and flexible. A wax mask was made and his
body remains today under the Mass Altar in the Lower Church of St. Peter
the Apostle in Philadelphia.
Fruits
Bishop Neumann founded a
religious order and welcomed seven others in his eight years as Bishop –
one for each year. He built churches and schools, established the
Catholic Parochial School System, encouraged popular piety through the
Forty Hours’ Devotion, confraternities and societies in honor of Our
Lady and the saints and parish missions. He built 40 new schools and 80
new churches – almost one church for every month of his service.
Bishop Neumann never
worked miracles during his lifetime. His works were ordinary and simple.
On December 11, 1921, Pope Benedict XV declared Bishop Neumann
Venerable. He said, “ . . works even the most simple, performed with
constant perfection in the midst of inevitable difficulties, spell
heroism in any servant of God. Just because of the simplicity of his
works we find in them a strong argument for saying to the faithful of
whatever age, sex or condition: You are bound to imitate the Venerable
Neumann.”
St. John Neumann is often called “the common man's saint” not so much
for his extraordinary accomplishments but for his extraordinary simple
faith. Through all of the discouragements and disappointments of his
weary career, through the long spiritual droughts that parched his soul,
through his never-ending uncertainty of whether he was giving his best
to God's work, his remarkable faith never wavered. His simple faith
alone inspired his ordinary works to be done in an extraordinary way.
"Among
the shepherds of the flock in Philadelphia," wrote the late Pope Pius
XII, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the
diocese, "the figure of Venerable John Neumann is pre-eminent. It was
mainly through his prodigious efforts that a Catholic school system came
into being and that parochial schools began to rise across the land.
His holy life, his childlike gentleness, his hard labor and his
tremendous foresight is still fresh and green among you. The tree
planted and watered by Bishop Neumann now gives you its fruit."
Intercessor of Miracles
Soon after Bishop Neumann’s
burial at St. Peter’s, people who visited his tomb were cured of
diseases, the lame walked, the deaf heard and the blind saw. The first
miracle that was proved was a healing from acute peritonitis.
Eleven-year-old Eva Benassi lived in Sassuolo, Italy. In May of 1923
while she was at boarding school, she became ill with acute diffused
peritonitis and death was imminent. One of the school’s nuns had a
devotion to Bishop Neumann. While Eva was on her deathbed, she placed a
picture of him on Eva’s stomach and prayed with her community and Eva
for a healing. During the night, Eva awoke and said that her pain was
gone. By morning she was entirely cured.
In July of 1949, 19-year-old
James Kent Lenahan was severely injured in an automobile accident near
Philadelphia. He was admitted to the hospital with a crushed skull, an
eye torn from its socket, three broken ribs and collarbone. He was near
death when his parents brought a piece of Bishop Neumann’s cassock and
placed it upon him. He immediately improved and was fully healed within
a month.
The Holy See approved
both of these cures as miracles and Pope Paul VI beatified Bishop
Neumann on October 13, 1963.
In October of 1962, young Michael Flanigan of Philadelphia
was diagnosed with cancer and given six months to live. His parents
began taking him to Bishop Neumann’s Shrine at St. Peter’s Church. He
showed immediate improvement and was totally healed within five months.
Pope Paul VI canonized Bishop Neumann on June 19, 1977. His feast day is
January 5, the anniversary of his death.
Intercessor for
United States Bishops
Bishop Neumann’s
intercession is appropriate for the Bishops of the United States because
he was a witness to hope through his pastoral ministry centered on the
three basics of a Bishop’s role in sanctifying, teaching and governing
the Church. Pope John Paul II emphasized this in an address to United
States Bishops on April 2, 2004. He said,
The exercise of this prophetic witness in contemporary American society
has, as many of you have pointed out, been made increasingly difficult
by the aftermath of the recent scandal and the outspoken hostility to
the Gospel in certain sectors of public opinion, yet it cannot be evaded
or delegated to others. Precisely because American society is confronted
by a disturbing loss of the sense of the transcendent and the
affirmation of a culture of the material and the ephemeral, it
desperately needs such a witness of hope. It is in hope that we have
been saved (cf. Romans 8:24); the Gospel of hope enables us to discern
the consoling presence of God's Kingdom in the midst of this world and
offers confidence, serenity and direction in place of that hopelessness
which inevitably spawns fear, hostility and violence in the hearts of
individuals and in society as a whole.
The National Shrine of Saint John Neumann
Saint Peter
the Apostle Church
1019 North
Fifth Street
Philadelphia, PA, 19123
Phone 215-627-3080
www.stjohnneumann.org
email Neumann@philanet.com
OTHER ARTICLES BY DAN LYNCH
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