An American Saint for the World—Bishop John Nepomucene Neumann, C.Ss.R.

William P. Fall

Saint John Nepomucene Neumann is the only canonized man who was an American citizen. He was a Redemptorist priest and Bishop of Philadelphia from 1852 until his death in 1860. He was born in Bohemia in 1811, and after his education was completed he came to New York and was ordained there in 1836. He served that diocese (which then included the entire state of New York) as a missionary pastor in the western part of the state until he joined the Redemptorists in Pittsburg in 1842.

From there he went to Baltimore, where he served as their Provincial Superior and as pastor of several parishes under Bishop Kenrick until he was ordered by Pope Pius IX to take over the diocese of Philadelphia where he served until his death.

The immense and heroic labors of this great saint are outlined in this brief biographical sketch to which is appended the text of two of his sermons that the author discovered in the Redemptorist archives while researching the saint’s life for this book.