+ St. John Neumann is a classic example of God having his way in the
story of a man, in the story of a diocese, in the story of a country. John was
born in 1811 (that is 204 years ago) in the Czech Republic to a German father
and a Czech mother. He was a small, quiet boy with four sisters and a brother.
He was an excellent student and felt drawn to religious life. He was a
seminarian in Bohemia, but due to an overabundance of priests there, and having
his ordination postponed, he decided to go to America to ask for ordination and
to work with immigrants like him. He walked most of the way to France, and then
took ship for America.
There was certainly no
overabundance of priests in America and Bishop John Dubois of New York was very
happy to see him as there were but 36 priests for the 200,000 Catholics in New
York and New Jersey (that is all of
New York State and all of New Jersey
combined). His first assignment was in Buffalo, NY, and he chose the rough
rural life. His town had a log church and he built himself a log cabin to live
in. He learned 12 languages to communicate with his flock who were from many
countries. He visited his parishioners walking from farm to farm. He was loved
by his people!
But he was still drawn to
religious life – so he joined the Redemptorists at Pittsburgh, PA, taking his
vows in Maryland in 1841, the first Redemptorist to do so in the United States.
He worked as a home missioner with the community in Maryland, Ohio,
Pennsylvania and Virginia. He held posts of authority in the Redemptorist
Order. Then in 1852 he became Bishop of Philadelphia. Bishop John built fifty
churches and began building a cathedral. He opened almost one hundred schools,
and the number of parochial school students in his diocese grew from, 500 to
9,000.
He worked with St. Elizabeth
Seton of Emmitsburg, MD (whose feast was celebrated yesterday) in establishing
the first Catholic School System in the United States.
Bishop John also worked with
Franciscan Sisters in Philadelphia and sent them to New York and Ohio to work
with immigrants. The foundation at Utica and Syracuse, New York had St.
Maryanne Cope as one of its first Superiors.
She later went to Hawaii and worked with St. Damien of Molokai of the
leper colony.
In addition, Bishop Neumann wrote
newspaper articles, two catechisms and many works in German. He died at age 49
prompted most likely by overwork. He is the first American man and first
American bishop to be canonized. This took place on June 17, 1977, two years
after Elizabeth Seton, his friend and coworker, the first native born American woman was canonized in September of
1975.
Yes, God put St. John Neumann
exactly where he wanted him – in America – in Philadelphia – as a Redemptorist
Bishop – because he wanted him there at the very beginning of the Catholic
faith in our country! It is impossible to imagine what the Church in America
would have been like if John Neumann stayed in Bohemia and did not follow his
star!
We
each have a star to follow: we each have a place to be for others – we each have a place to be loved by God, and to
love others because we have been loved by him, as St. John tells us in the
first reading today! For us it is here, now! And may we respond even half-as
generously as St. John Nepomucene Neumann.
Let
all the earth cry out to God with joy!
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