John Neumann was born on March 28, 1811, in Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. His parents were Philip and Agnes Neumann. He had four sisters and a brother. After college, John entered the seminary. When the time came for his ordination, the bishop was sick and the date was never rescheduled as Bohemia had enough priests at the time. Since he had been reading about missionary activities in the United States, John decided to go to America and request to be ordained there. He walked most of the way to France and then boarded a ship to New York.

John arrived in Manhattan on June 9, 1836, where he was gladly welcomed by Bishop John Dubois, who at that time had only 36 priests for the 200,000 Catholics living in the state of New York and part of New Jersey. Just 16 days after his arrival, John was ordained a priest and sent to Buffalo.

Father John established himself in a small log parish house. He hardly ever lit a fire and often lived on only bread and water. He joined the Redemptorist order and continued his missionary work until he was elected bishop of Philadelphia in 1852. As bishop, Neumann built 50 churches and began the constuction of a cathedral. He opened almost 100 schools, and the number of parochial school students grew from 500 to 9,000. He died suddenly on January 5, 1860.

He became the first American bishop to be beatified. He was canonized by Pope Paul VI on June 19, 1977. He is buried in St. Peter the Apostle Church in Philadelphia.

REFLECTION FOR THE DAY

…for God is love. 1 John 4:8 “…God is love”—

likely one of the most quoted phrases from the Bible—packs a profound truth. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in paragraph 733, explains: “‘God is Love’ and love is his first gift, containing all others.” God loves you. God loves me. If we miss out on knowing this, we will miss much more besides. God’s love for us is personal—the first gift he wishes us to accept from him. Christmas offers us a season to reflect on this singular gift that sparks the abundance of all God’s gifts. God’s unfathomable love gives us Jesus, the Child of Bethlehem, born to save us. Love also sends the Spirit—and the Church—through which we have the Bible and sacraments and all the graces that flow to us through them. All are given by God so we might know this simple truth: God loves us.