St. John Neumann

St. John Neumann was born on March 28, 1811, in Prachatice, Bohemia now the Czech Republic. He studied theology in the seminary of Budweis before immigrating to the United States in 1836, driven by a missionary zeal to support European immigrants lacking spiritual guidance. Neumann was ordained a priest in June 1836 by Bishop John Dubois of New York and initially served in the vast area around Niagara Falls. In January 1842, he joined the Redemptorist order in Baltimore, becoming the first Redemptorist to make his religious profession in the New World. Neumann's dedication to serving immigrants and the poor was evident in his work as a parish priest and later as the vice-provincial superior of the Redemptorists. He became the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia in 1852, at the age of 41. During his tenure, Neumann founded the first Catholic diocesan school system in the U.S., with the number of parochial schools increasing from one to 200. He also established hospitals and orphanages, and supported the creation of national parishes for immigrant communities. After his death on January 5, 1860, Neumann's legacy continued to inspire devotion, and he was declared Venerable in 1921, Blessed in 1963, and finally canonized as a saint by Pope Paul VI in 1977. Today, he is revered as the patron saint of immigrants and Philadelphia.