IN TODAY’S LIVES OF THE SAINTS AND MARYTRS A BOHEMIAN BISHOP

Winchester, VA – John Neumann was born in 1811 in Bohemia, the son of a stocking knitter. He was educated by the Piarist Fathers and entered the seminary in 1831. In 1833, he transferred to the Charles University in Prague and studied theology, astronomy and botany. He knew six languages by the time he was 24. After completing his studies, John applied for ordination to the priesthood, but there was an oversupply of priestsnlocally and there were not enough positions for existing priests. John decided to go to America to see if he could be ordained there, and he was, within weeks of his arrival. Father Neumann began as a parish priest, but his parish was so large it left him feeling isolated, and he sought out community life with the Redemptorists. Eventually he was made the Provincial Superior for the United States.  In 1852 he was appointed Bishop of Philadelphia, and he served during a time of much anti-Catholic rioting in his diocese. Even so, parish churches were being completed at the rate of nearly one per month, and this in a diocese which was not known for its wealth. Bishop Neumann was present in Rome in 1854 at St. Peter’s Basilica when Pope Pius IX solemnly defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Six years later, on January 5,1860, he collapsed and died while running errands on the streets of Philadelphia, at the age of 48. St. John Neumann, pray for us!

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