Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos - October 5
Bob&PennyLord
Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos Priest (1819-1867)
Memorial
5 October (Optional Memorial)
4 October (2001 Roman Martyrology)
12 October on some calendars
Father Seelos
Francesco Saverio Seelos
Franz Xaver Seelos
Profile
One of twelve children born to Mang and Frances Schwarzenbach Seelos; he was named for Saint Francis Xavier. His father was a textile merchant who became parish sacristan. Francis was Confirmed on 3 September 1828, and made his first Communion on 2 April 1830. The boy wanted to be a priest from an early age, and often claimed he would be another Francis Xavier.
He completed his basic studies in Füssen, Germany, and graduated from the Institute of Saint Stephen in Augsburg, Germany in 1839. Received a degree in philosophy and theology from the University of Munich, and entered the Saint Jerome seminary in Dillingen an der Donau, Germany on 19 September 1842.
Francis became familiar with the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, and their mission to work with the poorest, the abandoned, and immigrants. He joined on 22 November 1842. Feeling a call to minister to German immigrants to America, he left the seminary on 9 December 1842, sailed for the America on 17 March 1843, and arrived in New York on 20 April. Ordained in the Redemptorist Church of Saint James in Baltimore, Maryland on 22 December 1844.
Worked nine years at Saint Philomena parish in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, six of those years as assistant pastor to, and spiritual student of Saint John Neumann, and the other three as superior and novice master of his Redemptorist community. Faithful to the Redemptorist teachings, he led a simple life, preached a simple message, and was always available to those in need. His sermons drew crowds from neighboring towns, there were lines outside his confessional, and he never tired of working with children. He heard Confessions in English, German, and French, from black and whites and anyone else with a burden.
Transferred to parish ministries in Baltimore in 1854, Cumberland, Maryland in 1857, and Annapolis, Maryland in 1862. Proposed as bishop of Pittsburgh in 1860, but he begged to be excused “from this act of God“, and his desire was granted by Pope Pius IX.
In 1863, during the American Civil War, all men were obliged to be available for active military duty. Seelos, as Superior of the Redemptorist Seminary, met with President Abraham Lincoln, and obtained an agreement not to send seminarians to the front. Seelos soon after lost his position as Prefect of Students for being “too lenient”.
From 1863 to 1866 he lived as an itinerant mission preacher in both English and German in Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. Hearing of an influx of German immigrants to New Orleans, Louisiana, he pastored a Redemptorist church there beginning in 1866. He worked with yellow fever victims until he was taken by the illness the next year.
Born
11 January 1819 at Füssen, Bavaria, Germany
baptized on the same day
Died
4 October 1867 in New Orleans, Louisiana of yellow fever
buried in a crypt beneath the floor of Saint Mary’s Assumption Church, New Orleans
Venerated
27 January 2000 by Pope John Paul II (decree of heroic virtues)
Beatified
9 April 2000 by Pope John Paul II at Rome, Italy
responsible for the miraculous healing from inoperable liver cancer of Angela Boudreaux in 1966
Patronage
against cancer
He was born in Füssen, Bavaria, Germany on January 11, 1819, was one of 12 children born to Mang and Frances Schwarzenbach Seelos, and was baptized the same day in the parish church. Having expressed a desire for the priesthood since childhood he studied philosophy and theology in Munich. Seelos was touched by the letters published in the Catholic newspaper Sion, from the Redemptorist missionaries describing the lack of spiritual care for the thousands of German speaking immigrants. After visiting the Redemptorists in Altötting, he decided to enter the Congregation, asking to be allowed to work as a missionary in the United States. On December 22, 1844, Seelos was ordained a priest in Baltimore, Maryland., he was assigned for six years to St. Philomena’s Parish in Pittsburgh as an assistant to St. John Neumann. Regarding their relationship, Seelos said: "He has introduced me to the active life" and, "he has guided me as a spiritual director and confessor."
Several years in parish ministry in Maryland followed, along with responsibility for training Redemptorist students. His 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, so much so that people came to him even from neighboring towns. His confessional was open to all: "I hear confessions in German, English, French, of Whites and of Blacks". He practiced a simple lifestyle and a simple manner of expressing himself. The themes of his preaching, rich in Biblical content, were always understood even by the simplest people. Father Seelos is described a man with a constant smile and a generous heart, especially towards the needy and the marginalized.
For several years he preached in English and in German throughout the Midwest and in the Middle Atlantic states. Assigned to St. Mary of the Assumption Church community in New Orleans, he served his Redemptorist confreres and parishioners with great zeal. In 1867 he died of yellow fever, having contracted that disease while visiting the sick.