St. John Neumann | January 5
St. John Neumann Feast Day: January 5 Patron Saint: educators and immigrants
St. John Neumann is the patron saint of educators, immigrants, and, due to the miracles that secured his canonization, sick children. This is a fitting patronage as he was a lover of education and learning from a very young age. In fact, when he was a child, his mother called him “my little bibliomaniac” due to his preoccupation with reading. Born in 1811 Bohemia, in what is now the Czech Republic, he attended the university in Prague preparing for ordination. However, his local bishops were not ordaining new priests at the time because Bohemia was overstocked with priests. He inquired about ordination all over Europe but received the same answer everywhere. Not one to be deterred, John then applied to several United States dioceses. Receiving no immediate responses, the saint took a leap of faith and decided to just immigrate to the United States in 1836, during his 25th year, with only $40 in his pocket. This risk paid off when he was ordained in New York a month later.
Early in his priesthood he worked primarily as a missionary to German immigrants in Buffalo. His missionary work also created an opportunity for him to spend time in Maryland, Virginia, Michigan, and Ohio. When he was 29, he joined the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), a congregation of priests and brothers dedicated to helping the poor and most abandoned. He was their first member to profess vows in the United States.
In 1852, at the age of 41, Neumann became the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia. During this time, he organized the individual parochial schools in his region into a diocesan system. This change allowed Catholic schools to quickly increase the number of pupils enrolled by almost twentyfold. Over the course of his ministry, St. John expanded the number of Catholic schools in his diocese from 2 to 100! His passion for education extended to immigrants, like himself, and his love for learning languages made it possible for him to hear confessions in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, and Gaelic!
A man of the people, he could often be found outside the church walls visiting people who were sick, staying in taverns and public houses to teach, and celebrating Mass in people’s homes at their kitchen tables. He was canonized on June 19, 1977, following three miracles, two of which regarded the healing of youth from grave illnesses. St. John Neumann was the first American man to be canonized a saint.