Bishop Neumann Chapel

This chapel commemorates St. Johann Nepomuk Neumann from the Bohemian Forest.

Memorial Day: January 5
Date of Life: Born on March 28, 1811, in Prachatice, Bohemia; died on January 5, 1860, in PhiladelphiaLife Story: The son of a Czech mother and a German father, John Nepomuk was born into humble beginnings and, after graduating from high school, entered the seminary in Budweis. There, and later at the University of Prague, he learned a total of eight languages. When a veritable flood of priests delayed his ordination for months, while priests were urgently needed in North America to serve the many immigrants, he walked to the French Atlantic coast and embarked for New York.There, he was ordained a priest barely three weeks after his arrival and assigned a 1450-square-kilometer parish near Niagara Falls, which he cared for tirelessly and on foot.

After four years of missionary pastoral care to farmers and lumberjacks, many of whom were German-speaking, he collapsed from exhaustion and recuperated in a Redemptorist monastery. In 1840, he joined this order to better cope with his pastoral duties.In 1852, at the age of 41, he was appointed the first Bishop of Philadelphia. He established schools and churches, established monastic communities in his area, and founded one himself, the "Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis of Philadelphia." His sensitivity and humility earned him high esteem. But his tireless commitment to his diocese came at a price – after only eight years as bishop, he collapsed in the street and died on January 5, 1860.Source: Diocese of Augsburg