{"id":5525,"date":"2023-01-03T09:57:50","date_gmt":"2023-01-03T08:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5525"},"modified":"2023-01-03T09:57:51","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T08:57:51","slug":"john-nepomuk-neumann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5525","title":{"rendered":"John Nepomuk Neumann"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saint of the Three Nations<\/span>
\n<\/strong>There are few in the calendar and in the history of the saints who consider their three distinct nations. One of them is the saint of today, the Czech national patron saint, St. Jan Nepomuk Neumann, bishop.\u00a0Our Czech nation, and especially those of us in southern Bohemia, claim this saint.\u00a0As you surely know, he was born on March 28, 1811, in Prachatice. His mother was Czech, as evidenced by her maiden name: Ane\u017eka Lep\u0161\u00ed.\u00a0Young Jan studied in \u010cesk\u00e9 Bud\u011bjovice at the gymnasium and then at the theological faculty in Prague.\u00a0However, his father, hosier Filip Neumann, was German, and German was spoken at home in his family. For this reason, even the Germans – especially the neighboring nation of the Bavarians – rightly consider him as their saint.\u00a0The third nation that worships him with special piety is the Americans because Saint Jan Nepomuk Neumann worked blessedly in the States, he did much good here, and also died a holy death here as the fourth bishop of the city of Philadelphia.\u00a0He is the first bishop from the United States to be canonized.<\/span><\/p>\n

The vocation to the priesthood awoke in young John very early.\u00a0It is said that he enjoyed ministering as a schoolboy and even made a small altar at home, at which he often prayed.\u00a0Another story from his childhood is also known, which he recorded in his diary. When he once prayed before a meal, he made a large Latin cross instead of three small crosses.\u00a0The old nanny immediately noticed this and remarked with a smile: “Look, our Honz\u00edek will be a priest one day!” She guessed right, although Jan’s path to the priesthood was certainly not paved with roses.\u00a0On the contrary – many different obstacles awaited him, but whom the Lord calls, He will also give him the strength to overcome all difficulties.\u00a0So it was rather a thorny path, but young John knew very well that whoever decided to follow Christ the Lord must also carry his cross.<\/span><\/p>\n

He had to overcome the first difficulties at home because his father wanted him to become a doctor. He did not spend the first years of his theological studies in a priestly seminary, but in a sublet with the widow Nov\u00e1kov\u00e1.\u00a0The seminarians from Bud\u011bjovi\u010d then lived in the former Capuchin monastery, which was small and not enough for everyone.\u00a0Nevertheless, Bishop R\u016f\u017ei\u010dka recognized a gifted student in young Neumann and therefore sent him to further studies at the Faculty of Theology in Prague. There he also had to deal with the remnants of Josephine Freemasonry theories, which still tenaciously persisted in the opinions of some professors.\u00a0However, they did not lead the young Neumann astray, rather, on the contrary, they increased his devotion to the Holy Church.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then came another blow for which he was not prepared, and which must have caused him deep grief.\u00a0He was already looking forward to his ordination, but the bishop postponed his ordination at the last minute.\u00a0What happened? Nowadays it will sound incredible – almost like a fairy tale – when we hear that our dioceses had an excess of priests in the first half of the 19th century, and that the bishops did not have a suitable location for them. Today, on the other hand, we have already gotten used to their ever-increasing shortage, which is increasing year by year.\u00a0At that time, however, there were more young priests than the bishops needed. Young theologians were forced to look for employment elsewhere – even outside their homeland if they did not want to wait a long time for a vacant position as a chaplain!<\/span><\/p>\n

The young theologian Jan Nepomuk Neumann also followed this path.\u00a0He did not think twice, and at the beginning of February 1836, he left for the United States with the permission and blessing of his bishop. There in New York, Bishop Dubois, who had previously been looking for priests in Europe, welcomed him with sincere joy and ordained him the same year, on June 25, 1836, in his cathedral.\u00a0Patrick on the priest.\u00a0We must bear in mind that the United States was still a mission territory at that time.\u00a0They were only the states on the eastern Atlantic coast, since the great campaign to the Wild West, towards the Pacific, was just beginning. Immigrants from all over the world poured into North America, so the success of the priests’ pastoral work depended primarily on their language skills.\u00a0However, Jan was very well prepared in this respect.\u00a0He knew German and Czech, could also communicate in Polish,<\/span><\/p>\n

Priest John’s first place of work was the Williamsville mission station near Niagara Falls.\u00a0From there he made long journeys to distant villages, where he had to do everything necessary – from preaching to provisioning.\u00a0Later, he found effective support in his brother V\u00e1clav, who came to see him and helped him as a cook, church minister, and, catechist. The reputation of priest Jan Neumann grew greatly, as already in 1851 the archbishop of Baltimore chose him as his confessor and recommended him to the office of bishop in Philadelphia.\u00a0At that time, however, Neumann was already a member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer – popularly known as the Redemptorists, which he joined together with his brother V\u00e1clav in 1840. On February 1, 1852, Pope Bl.\u00a0Pius IX\u00a0appointed Jan Nepomuk Neumann as the bishop of the city of Philadelphia, and the episcopal consecration followed in two months.\u00a0Bishop Jan knew that he would not have an easy job.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bishop Jan was truly blessed in his diocese.\u00a0He built 80 new churches and founded over a hundred parish church schools.\u00a0He is therefore rightly considered the father of American Catholic education.\u00a0He also founded a small seminary for the growth of priestly vocations and reformed a large priestly seminary. He founded the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis.\u00a0He is the author of two very successful and popular catechisms and Bible histories for children and youth.\u00a0Thanks to his tireless care, the construction of the Philadelphia Cathedral was completed.\u00a0He spent most of his time on episcopal and missionary visits to his diocese. During a visit to Rome in 1854, as part of the definition of the article of faith on the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, Philadelphia Bishop Jan Nepomuk Neumann told the Holy Father Pius IX that his diocese needed many more priests and that it still had only 35 schools with about 10,000 pupils. The Pope promised him help.\u00a0In the following year, 1855, Bishop Neumann saw his native Bohemia for the last time and celebrated the pontifical mass of St.\u00a0at the grave of his patron John of Nepomuk in the Cathedral of St. Welcome to Prague Castle.\u00a0His native Prachatice also welcomed his native.<\/span><\/p>\n

After all, since 1857, Bishop Jan had his work somewhat easier, because he got a bishop – coadjutor Jakub Bed\u0159ich Wood.\u00a0He came from a banking family, so Neumann was happy to leave the financial issues of the diocese to him.\u00a0He dedicated himself to spiritual service for his entrusted flocks and was a really good shepherd for them. He tirelessly cared for his sheep literally until the last moment of his life.\u00a0And so his last day came.\u00a0On January 5, 1860, while returning home, he fainted and fell on the pavement of the street.\u00a0They brought him to his mansion already dead.\u00a0Four days later, his successor, Bishop Wood, pronounced over his coffin the truly prophetic words: “This bishop was a saint.” And he was not wrong.\u00a0In the second session of the Second Vatican Council, on October 13, 1963, the Holy Father Paul VI.\u00a0beatified, and on June 19, 1977, the same Pope declared him a saint.\u00a0Saint Jan Nepomuk Neumann drew strength from the cross of Christ and often repeated to himself: Passion of Christ, strengthen me!\u00a0This is a great message for all of us – let us also try to draw strength from the cross of Christ.\u00a0Let us too, following the example of Saint Bishop John, meditate on the suffering of Christ the Lord, let us seek help from the Mother of the Redeemer, the Virgin Mary, and so one day we too will reach eternal life in perfect joy.\u00a0Saint John of Nepomuk Neumann, pray for us!<\/span><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saint of the Three Nations There are few in the calendar and in the history of the saints who consider their three distinct nations. One of them is the saint of today, the Czech national patron saint, St. Jan Nepomuk … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nezaradene"],"yoast_head":"\nJohn Nepomuk Neumann - predication.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5525\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"John Nepomuk Neumann - predication.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Saint of the Three Nations There are few in the calendar and in the history of the saints who consider their three distinct nations. One of them is the saint of today, the Czech national patron saint, St. Jan Nepomuk … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5525\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"predication.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-03T08:57:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-03T08:57:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Prochac\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Prochac\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/predication.net\\\/?p=5525#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/predication.net\\\/?p=5525\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Peter Prochac\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/predication.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f62557857ae410ff13810b0081c7093e\"},\"headline\":\"John Nepomuk Neumann\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-03T08:57:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-03T08:57:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/predication.net\\\/?p=5525\"},\"wordCount\":1396,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Nezaraden\u00e9\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/predication.net\\\/?p=5525#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/predication.net\\\/?p=5525\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/predication.net\\\/?p=5525\",\"name\":\"John Nepomuk Neumann - predication.net\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/predication.net\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-03T08:57:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-03T08:57:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/predication.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f62557857ae410ff13810b0081c7093e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/predication.net\\\/?p=5525#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/predication.net\\\/?p=5525\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/predication.net\\\/?p=5525#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/predication.net\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"John Nepomuk Neumann\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/predication.net\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/predication.net\\\/\",\"name\":\"predication.net\",\"description\":\"Petr Prochac's web blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/predication.net\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/predication.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f62557857ae410ff13810b0081c7093e\",\"name\":\"Peter Prochac\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/71c4613d6cbe235658e1e54b06c76a3feea1b74d3ba9c2c47f907d199762838b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/71c4613d6cbe235658e1e54b06c76a3feea1b74d3ba9c2c47f907d199762838b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/71c4613d6cbe235658e1e54b06c76a3feea1b74d3ba9c2c47f907d199762838b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Peter Prochac\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"John Nepomuk Neumann - predication.net","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5525","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"John Nepomuk Neumann - predication.net","og_description":"Saint of the Three Nations There are few in the calendar and in the history of the saints who consider their three distinct nations. One of them is the saint of today, the Czech national patron saint, St. Jan Nepomuk … Continue reading →","og_url":"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5525","og_site_name":"predication.net","article_published_time":"2023-01-03T08:57:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-03T08:57:51+00:00","author":"Peter Prochac","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter Prochac","Estimated reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5525#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5525"},"author":{"name":"Peter Prochac","@id":"http:\/\/predication.net\/#\/schema\/person\/f62557857ae410ff13810b0081c7093e"},"headline":"John Nepomuk Neumann","datePublished":"2023-01-03T08:57:50+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-03T08:57:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5525"},"wordCount":1396,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Nezaraden\u00e9"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5525#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5525","url":"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5525","name":"John Nepomuk Neumann - predication.net","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/predication.net\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-01-03T08:57:50+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-03T08:57:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/predication.net\/#\/schema\/person\/f62557857ae410ff13810b0081c7093e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5525#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5525"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5525#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/predication.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"John Nepomuk Neumann"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/predication.net\/#website","url":"http:\/\/predication.net\/","name":"predication.net","description":"Petr Prochac's web blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/predication.net\/#\/schema\/person\/f62557857ae410ff13810b0081c7093e","name":"Peter Prochac","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/71c4613d6cbe235658e1e54b06c76a3feea1b74d3ba9c2c47f907d199762838b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/71c4613d6cbe235658e1e54b06c76a3feea1b74d3ba9c2c47f907d199762838b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/71c4613d6cbe235658e1e54b06c76a3feea1b74d3ba9c2c47f907d199762838b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Peter Prochac"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/predication.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/predication.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/predication.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/predication.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/predication.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5525"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/predication.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5526,"href":"http:\/\/predication.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5525\/revisions\/5526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/predication.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/predication.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/predication.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}