Feast Day: January 5
Saint John Neumann was born in 1811 in Pratchaz, Bohemia—the third of three children born to Philip Neumann, a German-born stocking knitter, and Agnes Lepší.
His admission into the seminary of the Diocese of Budweis, Bohemia, propelled him into priestly studies. With the aspiration to become a missionary serving German immigrants in the U.S, he zealously pursued language studies, both in the classroom and through employment in a Czech factory that employed English-speaking workers.
Saint John finished his priestly studies in 1835, but his diocese had suspended ordinations due to an overabundance of priests. So he decided to go to the U.S. Despite lack of financial sponsorship and difficulties in obtaining the proper ecclesiastical authorization, Saint John left France on a 40-day trans-Atlantic journey to the U.S in 1836. Shortly thereafter, Saint John was ordained on June 25 in Old St. Patrick Cathedral in Manhattan.
A few days after his ordination, Bishop DuBois of the Diocese of New York—not yet an archdiocese—sent Saint John to Buffalo to minister to German-speaking Catholics in the region. He assumed responsibilities for the Williamsville mission—a 15-square-mile area with 400 Catholic families, three-fourths of whom were German immigrants. There were no finished churches or schools in the mission, so Saint John first offered Mass in a church with no roof, staying in a room in the home of a wealthy benefactor.
In September 1840, Saint John decided to seek life in a religious community, applying to the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer—popularly known as the Redemptorists. They welcomed Saint John that October in Pittsburgh, making his the first investiture of a Redemptorist in the Americas. He took vows as a novice in January 1842 and was assigned to St. Alphonsus Church in Huron County, Ohio. Serving as a missionary, he visited numerous parishes in Northern Ohio, including St. Joseph in Randolph-Suffield and St. John the Baptist in Canton.
Saint John became a U.S. citizen in Baltimore on February 10, 1848, and served for years as a missionary in Maryland, eventually being named the Redemptorists’ provincial superior for the U.S. His gifts and leadership were recognized further when the Vatican appointed him Bishop of Philadelphia in 1852.
The Philadelphia Diocese saw incredible growth during his tenure. New parishes were built at the rate of one a month, and the first diocesan Catholic school system was established, with the number of schools growing from one to 200. He also fostered the establishment of Catholic social services and of religious congregations. Saint John’s fluency in various languages also helped him minister to his diverse diocese—he was known to hear confession in six languages.
Saint John, 48, died January 5, 1860, after collapsing on a Philadelphia street while running errands. He was canonized in 1977—only the third American so honored. In our diocese, St. John Neumann Parish was created in July 2024 by merging two Portage County parishes—St. Joseph in Mogadore and St. Peter of the Fields in Rootstown.
