St. John Neumann
Time Period:
1811-1860
Feast Day:
January 5
Title/Attributes:
Bishop, Confessor
Location of Relic:
Back Right Reliquary - Right Section
Type of Relic:
Bones
Jan Nepomucký Neumann was born in Prachatitz on March 28, 1811, and was educated in the Seminary in Budéjovice, which then belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and then in Prague, where he completed his theological studies.
His ordination having been postponed due to the excessive number of students preparing for the priesthood, the young Neumann went to Strasbourg, joining a mission project for America, wandered to Paris, then to Le Havre, from where he left, poor and alone, for New York. Here the Bishop at the time, Monsignor Dubois, ordained him a priest on June 25, 1836. Here, in the Niagara Falls region, in Williamsville, then in North Bush, he remained four years, all dedicated to the priestly ministry for the lumberjacks.
His desire for perfection and community life led him to join the Redemptorists of Italian origin, always dedicating his ministry to German-speaking emigrants, first in Baltimore, where he took his religious vows, then in Pittsburgh, where he was called to lead the House that the Redemptorists had opened there.
For three years Pittsburgh was his residence, with many engagements. Returning to Baltimore, he exercised the parish ministry in the church of St. Alphonsus, as the first Redemptorist parish priest in America, always first in work and sacrifice, always last in rest, always a model of regular religious observance.
Here he had to accept, in 1852, the nomination to the episcopal see of Philadelphia. The new responsibilities doubled his pastoral zeal. Overcoming difficulties of every kind, he managed to found about one hundred Catholic schools, tireless in pastoral visits, in contact with the poor and hard-working people. He founded the first Italian Parish in Philadelphia, dedicated to the Florentine Saint Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi, and began the construction of the monumental Cathedral Church.
He was in Italy in 1854 for the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, and visited his country of origin. He wrote various works, including a famous Catechism, republished many times. He died, struck down by a sudden illness that struck him on the street on January 5, 1860; he was not yet 49 years old. He is buried in the Church of St. Peter in Philadelphia.