Saints in the Making

By Father M. Price Oswalt

February 18, 2007

Saint John Neumann
Bishop Proved to Be Tireless Leader

In the last account of the life of Saint John Neumann, we  discovered the zeal that led a Czech citizen all the way to New York to become a priest at the end of the 19th century.  Having just been consecrated as the fourth bishop of Philadelphia, the young zealous bishop took up his job with great vigor.

It was said of him that he was the “immigrant shepherd” in that he learned six different languages so he could minister to the people of his diocese. He learned English as he came to America, and then added Spanish, French, Italian and Dutch. These were added to his abilities in German and of course, Latin.  When the great Irish immigration started in this country, it was said that Neumann learned Gaelic as well.  This caused one Irish-Catholic woman to respond, “Isn’t it grand that we have an Irish bishop?”

He zealously worked to bring about the role of Catholic education in America, by working  diligently to establish parochial schools.  Within a year of his becoming Bishop of Philadelphia, the student population in parochial schools increased from 500 to more than 5,000.  After two years, it had reached more than 9,000.  

The young diminutive bishop — he was barely 5 foot 3 inches tall — was able to attend one of the watershed moments of the late 19th century, in that he was present when Blessed Pope Pius IX declared the infallible doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. He said, upon entering Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome for the opening of the Council, “I thank the Lord God that among the many graces he has bestowed upon me, He allowed me to see this day in Rome.”

Bishop Neumann played strategic roles in the establishment of new congregations for women religious in America.  He is the “founder” of the Congrega-tion of the Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis, who cared for the poor in Philadelphia, for many years.  

The young bishop never wanted to be a bishop, as was discovered in part one of this profile. He sought to resign his office several times, because he felt un-worthy. He finally got an assistant bishop, a coadjutor who held the right of succession, Bishop Wood.  But even with an assistant bishop to cover his enormous diocese, the shepherd never diminished his responsibilities. The Christmas season of 1859 was typical. He heard confessions until 11 in the evening in a church near where the Cathedral was under construction, then went back to the Remptorist parish of Saint Peter’s for the midnight Mass for the German congregation there.  Later, he returned to his private chapel and by 10 the next morning, he was off to celebrate at a local parish church. It was reported that he once walked scores of miles just to confirm a dying youth, and then walked back to Philadelphia.

Bishop Neumann was responsible for bringing the famous “40 hours devotion,” in which congregations spend over 40 hours in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, to America.  He wanted this devotion to be present in every parish of his diocese.  He worked long hours on achieving the goal so that the devotion would be going on throughout the year, without overlaps.  At one point, he worked so long into the night, that he fell asleep at his desk.  In his sleepiness, he knocked over a candle and caught the room on fire.  Everything was destroyed except for the plans for the 40 hours devotion. This assured him that God was in favor of making this a part of his diocese.  Today, virtually every parish in Philadelphia’s Archdiocese, still celebrates the 40 hours devotions on the same schedule that Bishop Neumann had established.

The bishop’s health continued to decline and after hurrying home on icy sidewalks in south Philly, he collapsed on the steps of a house.  His life was over, just a few weeks before his 49th birthday.  He had been bishop of Philadelphia for less than six years.  When he died, special permission was given for his body to be interred under the crypt of the church he loved, St. Peter’s in north Philadelphia, the parish run by his beloved Redemptorist Congregation.  After his canonization, St. Peter’s became the national shrine and a new chapel was built under the present church, to be a place of repose for the saintly remains of the only American male to be canonized.

Less than 25 years after his death, in 1885, the new Archbishop of Philadelphia, Patrick J. Ryan, began the diocesan investigation into the life of John Neumann.  His body was exhumed and found in the nearly pristine condition of incorruption.  Relics were obtained at that time.  In 1921, the Vatican official declared that John Nepomucene Neumann had lived the Christian life with heroic virtue and thus he was now a Venerable.  During the days of the Second Vatican Council, he was elevated again in the Beatification ceremony presided over by now Blessed Pope John XXIII.  It would be the privilege of Pope Paul VI to declare that John Neumann was a saint in God’s Kingdom on June 19, 1977.  St. John Neumann’s feast day is January 5, the anniversary of his entrance into heaven.  St. John Neumann, pray for us.