Who is St John Nepomucene Neumann?

Answer 1

St. John Nepomucene Neumann, Most Reverend, was the 4th Bishop of Philadephia, Pennsylvania and the first canonized US bishop. St. John was born in Bohemia (present day Czech Republic and Slovakia). He studied at the University of Prague and was a distinguished scholar, completing his education in 1835. While preparing for ordination to the priesthood, St. John was inspired to journey to the US by the letters of Fr. Frederic Baraga (later Bishop of Marquette) to the Leopold Missionary Society. St. John arrived in the US in 1836. He was ordained at New York City, NY on 25 June 1836 and spent the next four years in active missionary work among German immigrants around Niagara falls. In 1840, Fr. Neumann joined the Redemptorist order, becoming the first of their number to be professed in the US (1842). Ten years later, Archbishop Francis Kenrick of Baltimore, Maryland consecrated and elevated Fr. Neumann to the See of Philadelphia in his role as Primate of Roman Catholic Church in the US (28 March 1852). Bishop Neumann worked strenuously to improve education; at the time of his consecration there were but two parochial schools in his diocese, but by the time of his death eight years later, the parochial schools numbered about 100, making him an important figure in the organization and development of the American Catholic school system. Bishop Neumann erected 50 churches and advanced work on the cathedral. He was the first US bishop to introduce the 40 Hours Devotion in 1853. Bishop Neumann had a major role in the 1st Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1852. Pope Pius IX invited Bishop Neumann to Rome in 1854 to participate in the formal definition of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Bishop Neumann was beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1963. St. John was canonized in 1977. St. John's feast day is 5 January.