Monday After Epiphany – Saint John Neumann, Bishop, Memorial – A

My dear brothers and sisters, the Lord be with you in this Monday after Epiphany. The Church, especially in the United States, celebrates the beautiful memorial of Saint John Neumann, who was born on March 28, 1811, in Bohemia, modern-day Czech Republic. He was raised in a devout Catholic family and showed an early intellectual and spiritual maturity and seriousness. He studied philosophy and theology, and he excelled academically, but he was unable to be ordained at first because Bohemia already had more priests than dioceses could support. This rejection became providential. In 1836, at the age of 25, Neumann decided to emigrate alone to the United States to serve as a missionary. He was eventually ordained a priest in New York by Bishop John Dubois.

Shortly after arriving, he was assigned vast rural territories, often traveling on foot to reach scattered Catholic families. In 1840, he joined the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, the Redemptorists, founded by Saint Alphonsus Liguori, and he became the first member to profess vows in the United States. He served as a pastor, as a superior, and eventually as a provincial superior of the Redemptorists in America. He lived with extreme simplicity, prayer, and discipline.

Eventually, he was appointed Bishop of Philadelphia in 1852 at the age of 41. He initially resisted the appointment, feeling unworthy and physically weak, but as a bishop he oversaw explosive Catholic growth due to immigration. He founded and organized the diocesan parochial school system, expanding it from about two schools to over one hundred schools. He defended Catholic education against strong anti-Catholic sentiment and personally visited parishes, schools, and hospitals, often without escort. We can see his deep humility and tireless work schedule. He was also described as having a gentle demeanor, yet a strict personal asceticism. He lived simply, even as a bishop, avoided the honors and comforts of this world, frequently heard confessions, and preached missions.

He died on January 5, 1860, collapsing from exhaustion while walking to a meeting. He was only 48 years old.

We should not confuse Saint John Neumann with Saint John Henry Newman. Many people get this confused because of the surnames Newman and Neumann, although they are spelled differently. Both were nineteenth-century figures who were deeply influential and canonized saints, but they lived very different paths. John Neumann was a missionary bishop and pastoral builder, a cradle Catholic, whereas Cardinal John Henry Newman was a convert, an intellectual, and a theologian who later became a cardinal.