From: hildegard8@excite.com   
      
   January 5th - St. John Nepomucene Neumann.   
      
   Born in Prachititz, Bohemia (now Czech Republic), March 28, 1811; died in   
   Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, on January 5, 1860; beatified 1963;   
   canonized   
   in 1977 by Pope Paul IV, the first American male saint. John was the third   
   of   
   six children of a German father, Philip, and Czech mother, Agnes. His   
   parents   
   owned a small stocking factory. John was named after a 14th-century Bohemian   
   martyr, John Nepomucene.   
      
   As a young boy he showed great intellect as well as a religious vocation. He   
   was   
   educated in Budweis (original home of that now famous American beer/swill)   
   and   
   began at the diocesan seminary there in 1831. John was especially interested   
   in   
   botany and astronomy, in addition to theology and Scripture. Two years later   
   he   
   continued his study of theology at the Charles Ferdinand University in   
   Prague.   
   Because of the overabundance of clergy, the Austrian government delayed his   
   ordination, so he decided to go to America as a missionary. He arrived in   
   Manhattan (New York) in June 1836, and was warmly welcomed by Bishop John   
   DuBois   
   of New York, even though he was unannounced. On June 28, 1836, John was   
   ordained   
   by Bishop James, who sent him to engage in pastoral work among   
   German-speaking   
   Catholics, who were clearing forests in the district of Niagara (upstate New   
   York).   
      
   Four years of constant and isolated labor left him with a knowledge of his   
   own   
   need for support and an appreciation of the value of community activity in   
   missionary work. Therefore, he entered the novitiate of the   
   newly-established   
   branch of the Redemptorists at Saint Philomena's in Pittsburgh,   
   Pennsylvania, in   
   1840. When he made his vows in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1841, he became the   
   first   
   Redemptorist to take his vows in the United States. He continued his   
   missionary   
   activities as a mission preacher in Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and   
   Virginia.   
   He became rector of Saint Philomena's in 1844. In 1847, John was named vice   
   regent and superior of the American Redemptorists, while he was a parish   
   priest   
   in Baltimore. Most of his parish work involved the establishment of   
   parochial   
   schools. Because of his outstanding pastoral work, John was appointed the   
   fourth   
   bishop of Philadelphia in 1852 by Pope Pius IX-a diocese that had not   
   accepted   
   him when he first came to America.   
      
   During his episcopate he followed the full spirit of the Redemptorist   
   founder,   
   Saint Alphonsus Liguori, by making especially his own the care of the   
   materially   
   and spiritually impoverished. Much of his time was spent in visiting the   
   remote   
   and hitherto neglected areas of his diocese. Diminutive in stature and   
   lacking   
   in 'charisma,' John Neumann devoted time to encouraging others, especially   
   nuns   
   and other laypeople, to lives of hidden sanctity.   
      
   He reorganized the diocese, inaugurating a widespread program of new parish   
   building (100 additional churches) and expanding the parochial school system   
   with 80 new schools. The population of his schools increased 20-fold after   
   he   
   attracted a number of teaching orders to staff them. He founded the School   
   Sisters of Notre Dame, who observe the rule of the 'active' Franciscan Third   
   Order, for religious teaching and to staff his orphanage. He also introduced   
   the   
   devotion of Forty Hours and began work on a cathedral.   
      
   He made his ad limina visits to Rome and was there in 1854 at the formal   
   declaration of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed   
   Virgin   
   Mary (American bishops in council at Baltimore had already chosen Mary under   
   this title as patroness of the United States).   
      
   He wrote much during this time-including articles for newspapers-and   
   produced   
   two catechisms that were very popular in the United States in the 19th   
   century.   
   The catechisms were endorsed by the American bishops at their first Plenary   
   Council in 1852. He continued to compose his most important works in German,   
   although he was fluent in seven other languages.   
      
   At the time of his sudden death in 1860 on Vine Street in Philadelphia, he   
   was   
   worn out by his labors. Already he was renowned for his holiness, charity,   
   pastoral work, and preaching. Popular devotion preceded the official   
   investigation and approval of his cultus. After over 100 years, with the   
   continued support of both his diocese and the Redemptorists, he was   
   canonized   
   (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Walsh, White).   
      
      
   Readings:   
   Since every man of whatever race is endowed with the dignity of a person, he   
   has   
   an inalienable right to an education corresponding to his proper destiny and   
   suited to his native talents, his cultural background, and his ancestral   
   heritage. At the same time, this education should pave the way to brotherly   
   association with other peoples, so that genuine unity and peace on earth may   
   be   
   promoted. For a true education aims at the formation of the human person   
   with   
   respect to the good of those societies of which, as a man, he is a member,   
   and   
   in whose responsibilities, as an adult, he will share.   
   -Saint John Neumann   
      
   A man must always be ready, for death comes when and where God wills it.   
   -Saint John Neumann   
      
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   A prayer to Jesus in succor of the Holy Souls in purgatory:   
      
   Most Loving Jesu, I humbly beseech Thee, that Thou Thyself wouldst offer to   
   Thine eternal Father in behalf of the Holy Souls in purgatory, the Most   
   Precious Blood which poured forth from the sacred wounds of Thine adorable   
   Body, together with Thine agony and death. And do thou likewise, O   
   sorrowful Virgin Mary, present unto Him, together with the dolorous Passion   
   of thy dear Son, thine own sighs and tears, and all the sorrows thou didst   
   suffer in His suffering, in order that, through the merits of the same,   
   refreshment may be granted to the souls now suffering in the fiery torments   
   of purgatory, so that, being delivered from that glory in heaven, there to   
   sing the mercies of God for ever and ever. Amen.   
      
   Absolve, O Lord, the souls of all the faithful departed from every bond of   
   sin, that with Thy gracious assistance they may deserve to escape the   
   judgement of vengeance and enjoy the blessedness of everlasting light.   
      
   V. Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord,   
   R. And let perpetual light shine upon them.   
   V. From the gates of hell,   
   R. Deliver their souls, O Lord.   
   V. May they rest in peace.   
   R. Amen.   
   V. O Lord, hear my prayer,   
   R. And let my cry come unto Thee.   
      
   Let us pray:   
      
   O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful; grant unto the souls   
   of Thy servants and handmaids the remission of all their sins: that   
   through our devout supplications they may obtain the pardon they have   
   already desired. Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)