| St. John Nepomucene Neumann
(1811-1860) HIS FASCINATING LIFE STORY The Bishop of Philadelphia lay
crumpled in the snow a few blocks from his new cathedral on Logan Square.
By the time a priest reached him with the holy oils, Bishop Neumann was
dead. That was January 5, 1860. At his own request Bishop Neumann was
buried in a basement crypt in Saint Peter's Church where he would be with
his Redemptorist confreres. PILGRIMAGES TO BISHOP'S TOMB Almost
immediately devout souls were drawn to his grave. They came from far and
near. More than a few were claiming extraordinary miracles of grace. It
was as though John Neumann, now dead, continued his works of mercy among
his people. For decades this unsolicited devotion continued. Finally after
many years and many incontrovertible miracles worked through the
intercession of this holy man, his Cause was introduced in Rome. In 1921
Pope Benedict XV saw fit to have John Neumann declared "Venerable". The
procession of the faithful continued and in 1963 Pope Paul VI declared him
"Blessed" John Neumann. The crowds of pilgrims prompted the building of
the lower church. His remains, remarkably well preserved after a century
of interment, were exhumed and placed in a glass encasement beneath the
altar in the lower church. Bus loads of pilgrims came from different
parishes throughout the year to pray to Saint John. Finally the long
expected happened in Rome on 1977. Pope Paul VI declared John Neumann a
Saint in heaven. Now pilgrims came from all over the world. From his
native Bohemia, from Germany and Holland they came to claim allegiance to
one of their own. Pope John Paul II made it a point to visit the Shrine
when he came to Philadelphia to attend the Eucharistic Congress. Yes, the
City of Brotherly Love was bursting with joy. The diocesan seminarians
from St. Charles, Overbrook, have made annual pilgrimages to his tomb. The
various Irish Societies of Philadelphia have made formal pilgrimages to
the tomb of this humble man of God who, as bishop, did so much for their
immigrant forebears in the 1850's -- this "foreigner" who went to the
trouble of studying enough Irish to be able to hear the confessions of
those who "had no English," up in the coal regions of nineteenth century
Pennsylvania. Those of Italian extraction remember Bishop Neumann as the
founder of the first national parish for Italians in the United States. At
a time when there was no priest to speak their language, no one to care
for them, Bishop Neumann, who had studied Italian as a seminarian in
Bohemia, gathered them together in his private chapel and preached to them
in their mother tongue. In 1855 he Purchased a Methodist Church in South
Philadelphia, dedicated it to St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, and gave them
one of his seminary professors, Father John Tornatore, C.M., to be their
pastor. CATHOLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM ESTABLISHED Bishop Neumann lays several
claims to fame in Philadelphia and the United States. Ever a humble and
self-effacing person, he would be the last one to mention it himself, but
the records stand. It was he who organized the first diocesan schedule of
the Forty Hours' Devotion in America. The credit is likewise his of
establishing the first system of parochial schools in various parts of the
country when Neumann came to Philadelphia -- but the first unified system
of Catholic schools under a diocesan board. This he did in may of 1852, a
fortnight before the Plenary Council at Baltimore which seconded his
proposals. FOUNDER OF SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS He may also lay claim to
being founder of a religious order for women, the Third Order of St.
Francis of Glen Riddle, whose Rule he drafted in 1855 after returning from
Rome for the solemn promulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate
Conception. The School Sisters of Notre Dame likewise regard Bishop
Neumann as their secondary founder, their "father in America." In 1847,
Father John Neumann, superior of the Redemptorist Order at the time,
welcomed the first band of these teaching sisters from Munich. He found
them a home in Baltimore and then provided them with teaching assignments
in his Order's parish schools at Baltimore, Pittsburgh, New York, Buffalo
and Philadelphia. A REDEMPTORIST Bishop Neumann, as a young priest, was
the first to make his religious profession as a Redemptorist in the New
World. This he did in 1842 in the Church of St. James in Baltimore. Before
his elevation to the See of Philadelphia at the age of 41, he had served
as rector of St. Philomena's, Pittsburgh, and St. Alphonsus, Baltimore, as
well as vice-provincial of this missionary order in America. Recent
research in the files of the State Department show that Bishop Neumann
became a naturalized citizen of the United States at Baltimore on February
10, 1848, renouncing allegiance to the Emperor of Austria in whose realm
he was born on March 28, 1811. On his 41st birthday, he was consecrated
bishop of Philadelphia by Archbishop Francis Kenrick at St. Alphonsus
Church in Baltimore, in 1852. A DIOCESAN PRIEST Before joining the
Redemptorists John N. Neumann labored as a diocesan priest in Western New
York. He was ordained in June of 1836 by Bishop John Dubois at old St.
Patrick's Cathedral on Mott Street, New York City. The following week he
was pastor of the whole Niagara Frontier, some hundred square miles of
swampy primeval forest. Many German immigrants had settled this sector of
the diocese and were in danger of losing the Faith. It was for this reason
that Father Neumann was sent there. He built churches, raised log schools
where possible and even taught the three R's himself to the German and
Irish children. "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." James J.
Galvin C.Ss.R. THE IMMIGRANT SHEPHERD It was fitting indeed that Bishop
Neumann was beatified during the Second Vatican Council. In a personal
letter to each bishop of the world, before the opening of the Council, the
Holy Father asked each bishop to aim at achieving the heights of personal
sanctity in order to assure its success. He reminded them of their first
and highest mission of carrying on a constant policy of instruction and of
pastoral visitation so that they can say: "I know my sheep, each and every
one," and that one of the great blessings that can come to a diocese is a
bishop who sanctifies, who keeps watch and who sacrifices himself. All
these qualities are pre-eminent in the life and holiness of Bishop
Neumann, the shepherd declared Blessed during this council. PRAYER FOR HIS
INTERCESSION O Saint John Neumann, your ardent desire of bringing all
souls to Christ impelled you to leave home and country; teach us to live
worthily in the spirit of our Baptism which makes us all children of the
one Heavenly Father and brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, the
first-born of the family of God. Obtain for us that complete dedication in
the service of the needy, the weak, the afflicted and the abandoned which
so characterized your life. Help us to walk perseveringly in the difficult
and, at times, painful paths of duty, strengthened by the Body and Blood
of our Redeemer and under the watchful protection of Mary our Mother. May
death still find us on the sure road to our Father's House with the light
of living Faith in our hearts. Amen.
|
St.
John Nepomucene Neumann
