5 January, the Redemptorist Family celebrates the memorial of St. John Neumann, CSsR.
John Neumann lived his life as a priest, Redemptorist and Archbishop as a true light, a sign of Hope to immigrants, the most abandoned of his time in the USA.
Today, we thank the Lord for the life of St John Neumann and ask his intercession for each of us, Redemptorist Missionaries, for our Redemptorist Community here at St Alphonsus and for you, dear people of God, religious and lay faithful, that in this holy and jubilee year we may all set out as pilgrims of hope, shining in the light of the Redeemer’s love and radiating his love as signs of hope for the many people who are in dire need of the message and experience of Hope.
Read the entire homily of Father Ivel Mendanha CSsR, General Consultor, on the Feast of Saint John Neumann (text below) ⬇️
Listen also to the Reflection by Fr Ivel Mendanha CSsR, General Consultor of the Congregation of Redemptorists, at the conclusion of this year’s Triduum in honour of St John Neumann:
Biography of St John Neumann
John Neumann was born in Prachatice in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) on March 28, 1811. He studied theology in the seminary of Budweis. Zealous for the missionary life and to lead souls to Christ, he decided to leave his homeland to dedicate himself to the European immigrants in America, who were deprived of spiritual support.
Neumann was ordained a priest by the bishop of New York in June 1836 and gave himself to the pastoral care of people in the vast area around Niagara Falls.
Wanting to live in a religious community that corresponded more to his missionary vocation, in January 1842 he entered the Redemptorists. A tireless missionary, Neumann busied himself in particular with the German immigrants, first in Baltimore, then in Pittsburgh.
Having filled the role of vice-provincial superior of the Redemptorists from 1846-49, he became the parish priest of St. Alphonsus Church in Baltimore. In 1852, at the age of 41, he was named bishop of Philadelphia.
Neumann had a strong effect on the religious life of the United States by founding Catholic schools and promoting devotion to the Eucharist. He founded a new religious institute—the Third Order of Saint Francis of Glen Riddle. The School Sisters of Notre Dame likewise regard Neumann as their secondary founder, their “Father in America.” In just seven years, he built 89 churches, as well as several hospitals and orphanages. As a bishop, Neumann was untiring in visiting his vast diocese.
On January 5, 1860, at the age of 48, he died suddenly of a heart attack on a Philadelphia street. Neumann was beatified during the Second Vatican Council on October 13, 1963, and was canonized on June 19, 1977.
(source: stjohnneumann.org)
Prayer
O God, you wished your bishop, Saint John Neumann,
to shine forth for his pastoral ministry among the most abandoned.
Grant, that imitating his untiring zeal for holiness
in the discharge of daily works,
we may be able to serve your church fruitfully.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Homily for the Feast Day of St John Neumann
05/01/2025
In Communicanda 1 entitled “You are the Light of the world” of the General Government issued on the 2nd February 2024, the Superior General and Council reflected on the parable of the Virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. In our Redemptorist life, certain lamps are absolutely necessary if we are to be attentive to the hour of the Redeemer. The hour of the Redeemer is what we all hope for one day. Pope Franics in his Bull announcing the Holy Year states: hope, which transcends life’s fleeting pleasures and the achievement of our immediate goals, makes us rise above our trials and difficulties, and inspires us to keep pressing forward, never losing sight of the grandeur of the heavenly goal to which we have been called.
The Communicanda, “You are the Light of the world” speaks of the 5 lamps that each Redemptorist must have lit constantly so as to encounter with joy the hour of the Redeemer. These lamps are what fuel our hope in the Redeemer and thus enable us to be Missionaries of Hope in his footsteps.
I reflect with you briefly on each of these lamps and see how they were shinning brightly in the life of St. John Neumann whose feast day we celebrate today. They were burning brightly in him so that when his time came, when the hour for him to meet the Redeemer came at the age of 49 on the 5th January 1860, he was ready with his lamps burning brightly as a light to the world.
The 5 lamps are: The Light of our witness of life, The Light of our missionary availability, The Light of our simplicity of life and fidelity to our evangelical counsels, The Light of our humanity, and finally The Light of our capacity to serve the most abandoned.
We see that each of these lamps were burning brightly in the Life of John Neumann.
First, The Light of his witness of life. A witness is one who offers proof, attests to something. John Neumann was a testimonium to, a witness to the life, death, and resurrection of the Redeemer and his testimony communicated the light of the Redeemer’s mission which became his very own. John not only preached but he lived what he preached. The Greek word for witness is martiriya, one who gives his life for a cause, in other words one who consumes his life in the name of and for the Redeemer. This was John Neumann’s life mission to give himself totally for the mission of the Lord which he did even at the moment of his death as he collapsed on his way to the post office to mail a chalice and patten to a parish that was newly founded. John Neumann was a witness to the love of God, a pilgrim of Hope filled with deep faith in the power of the Redeemer and his mission.
Second, The Light of his missionary availability. The Light of one’s missionary availability is the antidote to complacency, a luxurious life style, being ready to leave one’s comfort zone and be constantly ready to leave everything and go to the peripheries. We see this constantly in the life of John Neumann who left his homeland to go to the USA as a missionary priest, who left the comforts of the city of New York to go the remote north east of the State of New York and travel constantly at the service of immigrants, who left the life of a Diocesan priest to embrace the life of a Religious on mission, who as Bishop chose to leave the palatial home of the Archbishop and live as a Bishop on the road seeking out the lost and serving them till the end of his life.
Third, The Light of his Simplicity of Life, the Evangelical Counsels. The profession of his vows, the Evangelical Counsels as a Redemptorist made John Neumann a sign. His life was a prophetic statement for the community as well as for the world. He lived his vowed life well beyond his time as a Redemptorist and did so as Bishop living total simplicity of life devoid of all ostentatiousness. The living of his consecrated life was such that it was never a burden to him but a choice made freely, bearing witness to the Redeemer in the world. He was a prophetic Bishop in all the did, said, living simply and close to the people especially the poor and abandoned. His life of consecration as a priest, a Redemptorist missionary and as a Bishop was lived in a joyful and total self-giving to the Lord and His mission.
Fourth, The Light of his humanity. This light is one that is special to consecrated persons who are called to live in community joyfully. It was the loneliness of the life of a diocesan priest working in the extreme conditions that drove John Neumann to choose to live as a consecrated person in religious life. In joining the Redemptorist community he lived in community joyfully always a source of inspiration to his confreres as well as a kind and caring confrere who as superior and as provincial always sought the care and well being of his confreres guiding them both spiritually but also humanly.
Fifth, The Light of his service to the Abandoned. It was this final light of service to the most abandoned that marked him and set him apart from the very beginning as a priest working for the German speaking immigrants, then as a Redemptorist preaching in a variety of languages for the various immigrant people at a time when the immigrants into the USA were poor, lost, and definitely abandoned by the state, society and even the Church at the time. It was for the poor immigrants that he saw himself following in the footsteps of the Redeemer proclaiming the good news of salvation as a missionary of Hope. As Bishop he sought out the poor, opened parishes for them, opened schools and hospitals, founded a women’s religious congregation for their care, was always at their service.
The Holy Father, Pope Francis speaks about being a sign of Hope for immigrants today in his Papal Bull for the Holy year. He says, “Signs of hope should also be present for migrants who leave their homelands behind in search of a better life for themselves and for their families. Their expectations must not be frustrated by prejudice and rejection. A spirit of welcome, which embraces everyone with respect for his or her dignity, should be accompanied by a sense of responsibility, lest anyone be denied the right to a dignified existence. Exiles, displaced persons and refugees, whom international tensions force to emigrate in order to avoid war, violence and discrimination, ought to be guaranteed security and access to employment and education, the means they need to find their place in a new social context.
May the Christian community always be prepared to defend the rights of those who are most vulnerable, opening wide its doors to welcome them, lest anyone ever be robbed of the hope of a better future. May the Lord’s words in the great parable of the Last Judgement always find an echo in our hearts: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” for “just as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me” (Mt 25:35.40).
John Neumann lived his life as priest, Redemptorist and Archbishop as a true light, a sign of Hope to immigrants, the most abandoned of his time in the USA.
Today we thank the Lord for the life of St John Neumann and ask his intercession for each of us, Redemptorist Missionaries, for our Redemptorist Community here at St Alphonsus and for you, dear people of God, religious and lay faithful, that in this holy and jubilee year we may all set out as pilgrims of hope, shining in the light of the Redeemer’s love and radiating his love as signs of hope for the many people who are in dire need of the message and experience of Hope.
Amen
