Saint John Neumann was born on March 28, 1811 in Bohemia. He was brought up in a wealthy family who wanted the best for John. They sent him to private school until he chose to leave school to live life in a seminary in 1831.
Saint John Neumann really wanted to become a priest, and was ready to in the year 1835. However, Bohemia had too many priests at the time and the bishop there told everybody that ordination of new priests would be put on hold for a while. Saint John Neumann was crushed by this, but he didn’t let his dream of becoming a priest die.
John’s only option seemed to be going to America to be a priest. So he worked a job in a factory for many months because the employees there spoke good English. He picked up the language from them, and then got in contact with American bishops. Eventually, a bishop in New York contacted John about being ordained a priest.
New York was in dire need of priests at that time, so John’s help was greatly appreciated by the bishop. John spent most of his time as bishop traveling. He had a large parish so in order to make sure everybody was content he would travel all over to give Mass.
John wanted to belong to something more in the Church so he chose to join the congregation known as the Redemptorists. Shortly after he joined the Redemptorists, John was given the position of bishop in Philadelphia. He worked hard to improve the Catholic schools in his diocese.
Saint John Neumann cared very much about his diocese and the happiness of it’s members. When immigration was at a high point, John learned many different languages so that he could converse with immigrants and make them all feel more at home. They appreciated this and loved Saint John very much for it.
Saint John passed away in 1860 on January 5th in Philadelphia. He was canonized in 1977 by Pope Paul VI. His feast day falls on January 5th each year.
