Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos

BLESSED FRANCIS XAVIER SEELOS

BORN: January 11, 1819

DIED: October 4, 1867

BEATIFIED: April 9, 2000 by Pope John Paul II

FEAST DAY: October 5

Francis Xavier Seelos, one of 12 children born to Mang and Frances Schwarzenbach Seelos, was born on January 11, 1819 in Fussen (Bavaria) Germany. He was baptized the same day in the church of Saint Mang. Saint Mang was a missionary saint in southern Germany of whom little is known. It is said he was a contemporary of either Saint Gall (d.627) or Saint Boniface (d. 754). He is venerated as the founder of St. Mang’s Abbey in Fussen.

Saint Francis Xavier Seelos completed his primary education in 1831 and expressed a desire to become a priest. Encouraged by his pastor, he attended middle school at the Institute of Saint Stephen in Augsburg and received his diploma in 1839. He then went on to the University in Munich, Bavaria where he completed his studies in Philosophy. He then, began his studies in Theology and was admitted to the seminary on September 19, 1842

During this time, through his acquaintance with the missionaries of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, the Redemptorists, he came to know both the charism of the Institute, founded to evangelize the most abandoned, and its apostolic works, especially the work among the immigrants in the United States of America.

Moved by a profound apostolic zeal and deeply touched by the letters published in the Catholic newspaper Sion, which were sent by the Redemptorists missionaries describing the lack of spiritual care for the thousands of German speaking immigrants, Francis decided to enter the Congregation. He asked to be allowed to work as a missionary to the United States. He received the necessary approval from the congregation and sailed for the United States on March 17, 1843 arriving in New York on April 20, 1843. He completed his theological studies and novitiate and was ordained a Priest in the Redemptorist Church of St. James in Baltimore in December 22, 1844.

After being ordained, he worked for nine years in the parish of St. Philomena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, first as an assistant pastor to St. John Neumann, who was the Superior of the Religious Community, later as Superior himself and for three years as pastor. During this time he was also the Redemptorist Novice Master. With St. John Neumann, he also dedicated himself to preaching missions. Regarding their relationship, Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos said”He had introduced me to the active life” and “he has guided me as a spiritual director and confessor.”

St. JohnNeumann (1811-1860) was first a diocesan priest in New York. He later became the Bishop of Philadelphia. He was tireless in serving the people, establishing Catholic Schools and founding an order of Religious Sisters. It is clear why these two saints worked so well together.

Saint Francis Xavier Seelos availability and innate kindness in understanding and responding to the needs of the faithful quickly made him well known as an expert confessor and spiritual director. He was so popular that people came to him even from neighboring towns. This was no small sacrifice because travel was not as easy as it is today.

A constant endeavor in his pastoral activity was instructing the little children in the faith. He not only favored this ministry, he held it as fundamental for the growth of the Christian community in the Parish.

In 1854, he was transferred from Pittsburgh to Baltimore, then to Ss. Peter and Paul Church in CumberlandMD in 1857 and to Annapolis in 1862. He practiced a simple lifestyle and was faithful to the Redemptorist way of life. During all these moves he was always involved in Parish ministry and served in the formation of new Redemptorists as Perfect of Students. Even in this job, he was true to his character, remaining always the kind and happy pastor. He was prudently attentive to the needs of his students and conscious of their doctrinal formation. Above all, he tried to instill in these future missionaries the enthusiasm, spirit of sacrifice and apostolic zeal for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the people.

In 1860 he was proposed as a candidate for the office of Bishop of Pittsburgh. He was excused from this responsibility by Pope Pius IX. From 1863 to 1866 he dedicated himself to the life of an itinerant missionary preaching in English and German in Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

After a brief period of parish ministry in Detroit, Michigan, he was assigned to the Redemptorist community in New Orleans, LA in 1866. Here also, as pastor of the Church of St. Mary of the Assumption, he was known as a pastor who was joyously available to his faithful and singularly concerned for the poorest and the most abandoned.

His ministry in New Orleans was destined to be brief. In September of that year, exhausted from visiting and caring for victims of yellow fever he contracted the disease. Yellow Fever is a viral disease carried by mosquitoes and causes chills, headaches, muscle weakness, and kidney and liver failure causing yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes which is where it gets its name. It is not always fatal, but Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos was especially vulnerable because of his exhausted condition, where he lived and because of his constant contact with the sick. After several weeks of suffering he died on October 4, 1867 at the age of 48 years. Father Seelos’ “only human weakness was his overflowing sympathy and charity for poor, erring humanity,”

Pope John Paul II, when he beautified Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos in St. Peter’s Square in April 9, 2000 said:

“To the abandoned and the lost he preached the message of Jesus Christ, ‘the source of eternal salvation’ and in the hours spent in the confessional he convinced many to return to God. Today, Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos invites the members of the Church to deepen their union with Christ in the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist.” (Beatification homily)

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