St. John Neumann is the patron saint of educators, immigrants, and, due to the miracles that secured his canonization, sick children. This is a fitting patronage as he was a lover of education and learning from a very young age. In fact, when he was a child, his mother called him “my little bibliomaniac” due to his preoccupation with reading. Born in 1811 Bohemia, in what is now the Czech Republic, he attended the university in Prague preparing for ordination. However, his local bishops were not ordaining new priests at the time because Bohemia was overstocked with priests. He inquired about ordination all over Europe but received the same answer everywhere. Not one to be deterred, John then applied to several United States dioceses. Receiving no immediate responses, the saint took a leap of faith and decided to just immigrate to the United States in 1836, during his 25th year, with only $40 in his pocket. This risk paid off when he was ordained in New York a month later.
Early in his priesthood he worked primarily as a missionary to German immigrants in Buffalo. His missionary work also created an opportunity for him to spend time in Maryland, Virginia, Michigan, and Ohio. When he was 29, he joined the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), a congregation of priests and brothers dedicated to helping the poor and most abandoned. He was their first member to profess vows in the United States.
In 1852, at the age of 41, Neumann became the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia. During this time, he organized the individual parochial schools in his region into a diocesan system. This change allowed Catholic schools to quickly increase the number of pupils enrolled by almost twentyfold. Over the course of his ministry, St. John expanded the number of Catholic schools in his diocese from 2 to 100! His passion for education extended to immigrants, like himself, and his love for learning languages made it possible for him to hear confessions in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, and Gaelic!
A man of the people, he could often be found outside the church walls visiting people who were sick, staying in taverns and public houses to teach, and celebrating Mass in people’s homes at their kitchen tables. He was canonized on June 19, 1977, following three miracles, two of which regarded the healing of youth from grave illnesses. St. John Neumann was the first American man to be canonized a saint.
Prayer for St. John Neumann’s intercession O St. John Neumann, your ardent desire of bringing all souls to Christ impelled you to leave home and country; teach us to live worthily in the spirit of our baptism which makes us all children of the one Heavenly Father and brothers of Jesus Christ, the firstborn of the family of God.
Obtain for us that complete dedication in the service of the needy, the weak, the afflicted, and the abandoned which so characterized your life. Help us to walk perseveringly in the difficult and at times painful paths of duty, strengthened by the Body and Blood of our Redeemer and under the watchful protection of Mary our Mother. May death still find us on the sure road to our Father’s house, with the light of living faith in our hearts. (Prayer Source: https://stjohnneumann.org/
Saint of the Week December 28, 2025
St. Basil the Great (329 – Jan. 1, 379) Feast Day January 2
St. Basil the Great (329 – January 1, 379) shares his feast day with his lifelong friend St. Gregory of Nazianzen. These
accomplished men fought against heresies that threatened the foundations of the early Church, shaping doctrines around Christ’s divinity and the nature of the Holy Trinity.
St. Basil was born at Caesarea of Cappadocia, to a family already deeply rooted in Christianity, going back to the time of widespread persecution in the 1st and 2nd centuries. Following in the footsteps of his father, Basil studied in Caesarea as well as Constantinople and Athens, training in the law and rhetoric. He became a popular teacher. However, his sister persuaded him to give up academia for monastic life. Before inviting St. Gregory to start an order with him, St. Basil traveled through Egypt, Palestine and Syria visiting monasteries, learning everything he could and formulating his own ideas about monastic rule. His rule is still followed today, and he is known as the Father of Eastern Monasticism.
St. StephenSt. StephenFeast Day December 26 Patron Saint of Deacons and Altar Servers
The Acts of the Apostles tells the story of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr. A man filled with grace and power, he worked great wonders among the people. Some Jews debated with St. Stephen but could not match his wisdom and spirit. Eventually, a charge of blasphemy was brought up against him, and the local population demanded that he be tried and sentenced. He was seized and carried before the Sanhedrin.
Despite the danger he faced, in front of the Sanhedrin and his accusers, St. Stephen gave a long speech about the history of Israel and the blessings that God had given upon His chosen people. He talked about how Israel had become disobedient despite God’s abundant mercy. This enraged his accusers, and eventually the crowd dragged him out of the city and stoned him to death.
Even in his final moments, St. Stephen displayed great forgiveness and even asked God not to hold the sins of his attackers against them. Hundreds of years after his death, he is still a role model for us to follow.
Saint of the Week November 30, 2025
Saint Andrew Feast Day: November 30 Birth: Early 1st Century Death: Mid-to late 1st CenturyPatron Saint: of Fishermen, singers, Scotland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and Patras Birth: Early 1st Century Death: Mid-to late 1st Century
Saint Andrew was a fisherman in Galilee, along with his brother, Peter, when they were called by Jesus to leave their boat and become fishers of men. John’s Gospel also places him as a follower of John the Baptist before he came to be one of Jesus’ twelve Disciples. Beyond the scant references in the Gospels, not much is known of Saint Andrew’s life.
According to Christian tradition Saint Andrew, like many of his fellow Disciples, went out into Greece and Turkey to preach the Good News. A 4th century account of the saint’s life tells of his martyrdom by crucifixion in Patras. Medieval accounts describe the cross used as X-shaped because Andrew said he was not worthy to die on the same style of cross as Jesus.
Famously, Saint Andrew is the patron Saint of Scotland, the country’s flag bearing the X-shaped cross associated with him. Legends claim that the saint either traveled to Scotland to spread the Gospel or that his relics were brought there by St. Regulus who had a vision telling him to take the bones to the end of the earth. Regulus set out and was shipwrecked on the coast of Scotland. Today relics of St. Andrew which had been held by the Vatican are now at a shrine in Patras.
St. Stephen
Feast Day December 26
Patron Saint of Deacons and Altar Servers
Patron Saint: of Fishermen, singers, Scotland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and Patras Birth: Early 1st Century Death: Mid-to late 1st Century