III. PITTSBURGH AND BALTIMORE

As a seminarian in Prague, John Neumann had been aware of the Redemptorist Fathers who were known as Ligorini from their founder, Alphonsus Liguori. They were considered powerful preachers and severe ascetics. Brought to America in 1832 by Bishop Edward Fenwick of Cincinnati presumably to work for the Indians, they were immediately used to care for neglected German immigrants in Michigan and Ohio. Stories of their early adventures published by the Leopoldine Society in Vienna brought them to the attention of Neumann in his seminary days.

St. Philomena's Church in Pittsburgh

The Redemptorist founder, Aiphonsus Liguori, was a Neapolitan nobleman who in 1732 started the congregation to care for the piu abandonati - the most abandoned - shepherds and peasants outside the cities of southern Italy. He had become a bishop and was known as an outstanding moral theologian. His works on how to live a holy life - The Way of Salvation, Preparation for Death, Visits to the Blessed Sacrament - were well-known to Neumann. So was the fact that Alphonsus was being considered for canonization.

Founded in Naples, the Redemptorists had spread to Austria and northern Europe through the efforts of Clement Mary Hofbauer, a Bohemian, whose preaching during the Congress of Vienna in 1815 won him the reputation of the Confessor to the Congress.

It was from Austria that the first Redemptorists had come to America in 1832. Neumann encountered the most able of these men when he met Father Joseph Prost in Rochester on the way to his first assignment. All during his years on the Niagara frontier, the idea of seeking greater spiritual stimulation and safety bothered Neumann. He spoke to both Father Pax and Father Prost about his internal difficulties. Eventually both men agreed that he should seek a solution by joining the Redemptorists.

By now, Prost was the superior of the mission in America and he volunteered to clear Neumann's departure with Monsignor John Hughes, the new Bishop of New York. Father Pax concurred. He said he would cover Neumann's scattered parish for the time being. Thus the twenty-nine-year-old priest was able to set out for the Redemptorist house in Pittsburgh with a clear conscience.

Neumann's arrival at St. Philomena's Church in Pittsburgh was considered a godsend by Father Francis Tschenhens, the local pastor. He had been deputed to act as Neumann's novice master, to introduce him to the rule and customs of the Redemptorist congregation, as well as to the spirituality cultivated by its founder.

Neumann expected to have time for reflection and spiritual meditation. In Europe, he knew, a novitiate usually lasted a full year or more, and was conducted almost in solitude. But this was America in 1840 and such a luxury was out of the question.

He arrived in St. Philomena's on a Sunday morning, October 12, 1840, and was immediately asked to sing the High Mass and preach. Despite his fatigue he did so. Several days later he was clothed in the Redemptorist soutane or habit, a simple black cassock crossed in the front without buttons, with a white linen collar, a cloth belt and a long rosary. Neumann was to follow the daily routine of the Redemptorist rule. He rose at dawn, made an hour's meditation, said Mass, recited the divine office of the breviary at the proper intervals, made visits to the church to pray before the Blessed Sacrament, and followed a course of spiritual readings.

Neumann found this routine admirable. But it proved impossible. He was quickly absorbed in parish duties. The two Redemptorists in St. Philomena's - Father Czackert and Father Tschenhens - were out of the house on mission and parochial work most of the time. Even they felt themselves misplaced. In Europe the Redemptorists concentrated on conducting parish missions. They went from town to town for one, two, or three weeks of spiritual renewal through preaching and hearing confessions. In America, they were more like spiritual firemen rushing from one trouble-spot to another. Neumann was soon inducted into this role. Besides helping in the church at home, he made the rounds of Butler, Pine Creek, McKeesport, and Wexford, saying Mass and giving instructions. He recorded fifty baptisms in his first six months.

To make matters worse, Neumann was called a Baltimore in May, 1841. He was there but three days when he was asked to go to New York and help the pastor at old St. Nicholas Church on Second Street. This ie felt was like a homecoming since he had said his first Mass there. But within two weeks ie was on his way to Rochester. Here he had the good fortune to spend two months under the guidance of Father Tschenhens originally assigned as his novice master. Then he was sent to Buffalo to help his old friend Father Pax. And when trouble broke out in a parish in Norwalk, Ohio, first Tschenhens then Neumann were dispatched there to solve the problem.

These moves, and the total involvement in pastoral work with all the disputes and difficulties he had witnessed, bothered Neumann immensely. He could see no difference between his life as a diocesan priest and his experience as a Redemptorist. Actually, the latter was worse since he was continually on the move from one part of the country to another. Moreover, he had discovered flaws in the Redemptorist way of life. Some of these men were constantly quarreling with one another. His friend Father Prost was suddenly relieved of his position as Superior in America and replaced by a newcomer from Europe who knew nothing of the American scene. Now this Father Alexander was ordering both Prost and Neumann around as if they were circuit riders.

Sensing Neumann's concerns, Father Prost wrote him a frank account of the happenings that led to his replacement by Father Alexander. He explained his own reaction to what he considered the will of God. Father Tschenens meanwhile wrote to the new Superior in Baltimore and suggested that Neumann be called there, and allowed to finish his novitiate in comparative peace.

Alexander saw the wisdom of this, and Neumann set out from Ohio by coach for Pittsburgh and Baltimore. On a stopover in Cincinnati he met Father Martin Henni and Bishop Purcell. They told him of rumors that the Redemptorists in America were breaking up, and vainly tried to hold him for the Diocese of Cincinnati.

Neumann's brother Wenceslaus joined him in 1839 to be a mission schoolteacher and later a Redemptorist lay brother.

After pauses at Pittsburgh, Frederick, and Cumberland, Maryland, he boarded the new Baltimore and Ohio Railroad for Baltimore, arriving there on December 8th. On January 16, 1842, he finished the novitiate and was the first recruit officially inducted into the Redemptorist congregation in America. He was immediately stationed in St. James Church on Aisquith Street and put to work for a large group of German settlers.

Neumann went to work at once. He wrote to Bohemia describing the vast field of mission work open all over the new world, and the scarcity of priests. During his first year, he recorded ninety-four baptisms in the parish itself, and made the rounds on horseback of the out stations in East Hartford, Shrewsbury, Cumberland and Frederick, Maryland; York, Pennsylvania, and Richmond, Virginia. He did much to strengthen the courage of the immigrants who had to face a rising tide of hatred and opposition from nativist Americans organized in secret societies.

In May, 1842, Neumann attended the laying of the cornerstone of the imposing church of St. Alphonsus on Saratoga Street, undertaken by the Redemptorists. The occasion was graced by a famous visitor, Canon Joseph Salzbacher, who presided beside Archbishop Eccleston of Baltimore. On his return to Europe, Canon Salzbacher allayed the fears of trustees of the Leopoldine Society who had furnished funds for the church and were concerned over the size of the enterprise. The visitor also wrote a glowing account of the emerging Church in the United States.

In Pittsburgh, an equally imposing church was undertaken. And when three Redemptorist superiors in a row were found incapable of pushing the new church to completion, Neumann was selected as the new pastor. He was only thirty-three, and a Redemptorist for three years. Given an obedience to take on the task, however, he transferred his belongings to the new site.

To finish the church and pay off the debts, Neumann started a parish building society. He requested five cents a week from each family. He also accepted money in safekeeping at a modest interest from people afraid of trusting their earnings to the banks. This gave rise to considerable anxiety one day when a large depositor suddenly demanded his money. Although the treasury was empty, Neumann asked, "Do you want it in gold or silver?"

"Oh, said the parishioner, "If that is the case you can keep it, since it is safer with you."

In 1844, Pittsburgh had its great fire that destroyed over a thousand buildings. Despite that fact, Neumann's scheme for raising money succeeded. He was admired by the youthful bishop, Michael O'Connor, who had been sent from Philadelphia to start the diocese.

O'Connor was an Irishman of great talent who had studied in Rome and prided himself on his eloquence and wit. Taking a liking to the diminutive Redemptorist, he suggested that he accept a position in the diocese as the Vicar General or the bishop's right-hand man. Neumann demurred; and the superior in Baltimore would not hear of it. Instead, he brought the Church of St. Philomena to completion in November, 1844, and it was dedicated by Bishop O'Connor.

As a parish, St. Philomena's was soon a beehive of activity. It had a regular schedule of Masses, confessions, baptism and preaching, sung high Masses and vespers. There were three schools for the children where catechism instructions had to be given, and a stream of adult converts looking for an introduction to the Catholic religion. Neumann inaugurated a calendar of sermon topics - in those days, a sermon was considered useless unless it took an hour or more - to guarantee full coverage of the truths of the faith each year.

Baptism, sick calls and instructions were handled by Neumann and his companions with zeal. Nor were the surrounding areas neglected. On horseback, by coach or rail, from St. Philomena's the priest travelled to McKeesport, Riceville, Birgmingham, Sharpsburg, Bayardstown, Greenburg, Alleghany, Sligo, Cross Mill, Crawford City, and Pine Creek, searching out farther afield for abandoned Catholics. Eventually, their efforts resulted in the foundation of fifteen parishes in Neumann's lifetime, and some seven dioceses since then.

Of his assistants, Father Francis Seelos, Joseph Mueller, and John Hotz, the first has been declared a man of heroic virtue. His cause has been introduced in Rome for beatification. Nor were the other two lacking in virtue. Neumann's time was spent in giving conferences and retreats, caring for the spiritual and physical needs of his people, and looking after the well-being of his confreres.

On cold mornings, he would be the first to rise. He usually lit a fire and brought in wood and coal before the others were awake. He insisted on covering sick calls that came in during the night. When Father Frederick de Held, the Redemptorist provincial superior from Belgium made an official visitation in 1845, he was well pleased with all he saw in Pittsburgh.

A rising tide of anti-Catholicism swept the United States in the 1840s. It raged in Pittsburgh as well as Boston and Philadelphia. The attacks were directed against priests, nuns, and foreigners. Despite this menace, Neumann's efforts at St. Philomena's were well rewarded. He had the staunch loyalty of his people. Several times he was accosted by bigots, but he shook them off. His school was set on fire; but a passerby noticed the blaze in time and extinguished it. The one problem he could not overcome was the heavy burden of work. Finally, he fell ill, and when he could not shake his indisposition, Father Czackert, the superior in Baltimore, decided to relieve him of his charge.

Neumann returned to Baltimore to rest. But his days of comparative leisure were over. Early in January he received a letter from Father Frederick de Held in Belgium informing him he was to be the new superior of all the Redemptorists in America. The news stunned him. His predecessor, Father Czackert, had held the job for only a year and a half. And Neumann was both young - he was thirty-six -and a comparative newcomer. Nevertheless, orders were orders. On March 15, 1847, he moved up to the head of the table in the rectory behind St. Alphonsus Church and took charge of both the parish and the Redemptorist Congregation in America.