Saint John Neumann was born in 1811, in Bohemia, what we now know as Czech Republic, a small country in Central Europe. He knew that to be successful in life it was important for him to learn more than his native Czech language. In fact he learned six other languages!
When still a youth, John knew that he was called to become a priest. He started his studies for the priesthood, but when he had completed his theological studies, he could not find a bishop to ordain him as a priest. There were too many priests in Europe and there were not enough parishes where they could be placed.
John did not lose heart. He wrote to Bishop John Dubois of New York, asking him if he would accept him in his diocese. The bishop did accept him and John left his homeland determined to get to the New World as America was known at the time. He walked from Bohemia to France, from where he could get on a ship to New York where he arrived ‘with one dollar in his pocket and one suit of clothes.’
The bishop ordained him and John started to fulfil his missionary vocation, travelling on horseback to various mission parishes, sleeping very little and thriving on just bread and water on most days. He was welcomed, but he was also made fun of! John had a rather clumsy appearance and he was so short that his feet did not reach the stirrups when he was on horseback.
After a while working on his own, John felt the vocation to belong to a community of priests. He joined the Redemptorist, a Congregation of Priests who lived as a community with the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. In time he was elected Provincial Superior of the Redemptorists in the United States and later, he was appointed Bishop of Philadelphia, thus becoming in charge of a wide diocese consisting of large numbers of immigrants as he had been years before.
As Bishop, he continued to establish new parishes and schools around his diocese. He remains known for the creation of the first Parochial School Unified System in the United States.
However he met with great antagonism as he had to deal with anti-Catholic riots that led to churches and convents being burned. But John Neumann persevered in his mission and he continued to lead a simple life, giving away possessions, keeping for himself the bare minimum.
He died of a heart attack as he was walking along a street in Philadelphia while he was attending to the needs of his diocese. He was forty-eight years old.
Pope Pius Xll praised him for “his holy life, childlike gentleness, hard labour and tremendous foresight.”
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