VI. ROME, VIENNA, PRACHATITZ
Despite his zealous devotion to his diocese, Neumann had been toying with the idea of a trip to Europe for some time. Over and above his need for a good rest and a complete change of atmosphere, there were pressing reasons for such a journey. What brought the matter to a head was an invitation from Pope Pius IX -conveyed through Archbishop Kenrick - that he come to Rome for December 8, 1854. On that day the Pope planned to declare by solemn, infallible definition that the Blessed Virgin Mary was Immaculate in her Conception.
At the vigorous urging of Archbishop Kenrick, Neumann decided to make the voyage. Besides being present at this momentous religious event, he could present the official report of his diocese to the Holy See. He would tour the Eternal City, visit its basilicas, monuments, and the relics of the primitive church and early martyrs. He would also meet bishops and great churchmen from all over the world.
It would also afford him the opportunity of seeking out priests and financial assistance for his diocese. Finally, he would retrace his steps from Le Havre to Prachatitz to visit his aged father, his two remaining sisters and his nephew, John Berger.
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| Reverend John Berger, C.SS.R., Neumann's nephew and biographer. |
In a pastoral letter to his people shortly before departing, Neumann informed the diocese of the reason for his journey to Rome. He explained the meaning of the dogmatic definition the Pope was to make; and he urged their prayers for both the Pope and for their own bishop's successful voyage.
He set out for New York, boarded the S.S. Union on October 21st, and sailed for Europe. Unlike his passage to the New World, eighteen years earlier, he now had a cabin to himself and both the means and full knowledge of what he was up to. After a peaceful crossing in which he enjoyed actual leisure for the first time in almost two decades, he docked at Le Havre. Arriving in Paris the next day, he wrote to his father announcing his forthcoming visit home. He travelled by rail from Paris to Marseilles and took a Neapolitan steamer, the Capri, to Civitá Vecchia, the port of Rome.
On board the steamer he was approached by an American woman, Mrs. Sarah Peters, who explained her religious difficulties as an Episcopalian, and asked his advice. She also inquired who were the imposing-looking ecclesiastics on board. Neumann was able to point out the Cardinal of Lisbon, and a number of prominent people including the Princess Borghese and her nephew, the Duke of Rochefoucault.
Neumann spent two exciting months in the Eternal City. He stayed at the Redemptorist house of Santa Maria in Monterone near the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona. Ordinarily, he toured the city on foot dressed in his simple Redemptorist cassock with no sign of his episcopal dignity. Occasionally, he was accompanied by Father Joseph Fey whom he had once replaced as pastor in Pittsburgh, and who now served as a consultor to the Redemptorist General Superior.
Neumann said Mass at the four Great Basilicas and the numerous shrines. He visited the catacombs and accepted an invitation to celebrate a Solemn Pontifical Mass in the Church of St. Andrea della Valle. Mrs. Peters met him and Archbishop Hughes of New York at a reception in the Spanish Embassy. She reported that both bishops seemed delighted to see her but appeared to be somewhat lost in the gala gathering.
At a series of theological discussions in the Vatican preliminary to the papal declaration, Neumann met Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman of England, and Bishop Joachim Pecci of Perugia, the future Pope Leo XIII. He was introduced to a host of cardinals, prelates and theologians from all over. In the debate, both Kenrick and O'Connor voiced their opinions about the doctrine. There is no record of an intervention by Neumann.
With the rest of the tremendous gathering of prelates and people on December 8th, Neumann witnessed the Pope's solemn declaration of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. In letters to Canon Dichtl in Prague and to his own people back in Philadelphia, he described the great spiritual excitement that came over all in Rome for the occasion. On the next two days he participated in a papal consistory or special meeting in the Vatican, and assisted the Holy Father in the consecration of the rebuilt Basilica of St. Paul's-Outside-the-Walls that had been destroyed in a disastrous fire.
On December 16th, Neumann presented his account of the Diocese of Philadelphia to the Holy Father. He had a long, cordial conversation with the Pope. Pius IX twitted him, "Well, Monsignor, is not obedience better than sacrifice?" referring to Neumann's original reluctance to accept his appointment as bishop. Among other things Neumann spoke to the Pope about obtaining Sisters from Europe to conduct an orphanage for the Germans. But the Pope suggested that he start a branch of the Sisters of St. Francis on his own with American women. Thus he would be able to train them for his special needs.
Neumann remained in Rome until the first of the New Year, 1855. He purchased books and vestments and obtained relics and other religious mementoes for his people. On his journey north, he made a detour to the Holy House of Loreto in the mountains above Pescara where he said Mass; he then pushed on through Rimini to Venice taking in the monuments and artistic treasures preserved in these great centers of Italian and Byzantine culture.
On January 13th, he arrived in Graz, Austria, and was welcomed at the Redemptorist house. Here he met the great companion of his youth, Father Adalbert Schmidt who was now director of the local seminary. Then he travelled leisurely to Vienna where Father Coudenhove, a Redemptorist colleague from St. Peter's, Philadelphia, was rector of the famous Church of Maria Stiegen.
He journeyed to Prague with Coudenhove, and both men were the guests of the ex-Emperor Ferdinand. Delighted with the account of the Church in America that Neumann gave him, the aged prince made him a member of the Austrian national society of Nepomucene Hereditat. What was more important, he gave him a sizeable donation for his work.
In Prague, Neumann was housed in the convent of the Sisters of St. Charles where his own sister, Mother Caroline was the Superior. She described for him the details of his mother's last days and death, and told him about the family's present situation. To his great delight, he also met his young nephew, John Berger, son of his sister, Catherine, for the first time. Berger would be joining the bishop later in America.
Neumann left Prague on January 30th and journeyed to Budweis by sleigh. There he was shown hospitality by Bishop Valentine Jirisik; and he spent several days visiting his old haunts in the seminary, the college, and the hospital. After visiting with his friends from seminary days including Canon Dichtl, he refused the offer of the Bishop of Budweis to use his sleigh for the final run to Prachatitz. "If the children see your sleigh," he said, "they will think it is the Bishop of Budweis, not his poor cousin from Philadelphia."
Actually, Neumann had planned to slip back quietly into Prachatitz in the manner of his departure some nineteen years earlier but his friends would not hear of it. They obtained the sleigh used by Prince Schwarzenbach, and alerted the people all along the route who came out in small groups to see the American bishop and to receive his blessing. At Nettolitz, they made him spend the night and celebrate Mass for the whole town the next morning.
His arrival in Prachatitz was greeted with a band, and the whole countryside turned out in holiday attire. The mayor and town council were determined to give him a royal welcome. But his attention was focused on his home and his aged father whose joy could not be contained.
The bishop stayed a full week in Prachatitz. He celebrated Mass each morning for a crowded church, visited with relatives and boyhood friends, and with church and civic officials. He made his way to the shrines and historic monuments that held a fascination for him as a youth. His presence in the town occasioned a week-long holiday. Nothing like it had happened there in centuries. Then suddenly he was gone - as quietly as he had on his first departure.
The album presented to Bishop Neumann by the residents of Prachatitz.
Neumann travelled in slow stages by coach over the snow-packed roads. He stopped at Hohenfurth with the Cistercian monks who had taught him philosophy in Budweis, and with the Redemptorists in Altotting. In Munich he stayed with the Steissberger family, parents of one of his priests. In his round of visits to the church and civic officials, he met Bishop Timon of Buffalo, and they teamed up for a visit to the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and then the return journey to Paris. They stopped at Augsburg, Stuttgart, and Speyer. In Speyer they were introduced to Bishop Nicholas von Weis, famous editor of the renowned monthly, Der Katholik.
They arrived in Paris on the last day of February to discover that no ship was leaving Le Havre for America until mid-March. Neumann booked passage for London, and caught the SS Atlantic out of Liverpool. On board he discovered Archbishop John Hughes of New York, and Cyrus W. Fields. The voyage was rough but he was delighted to arrive safely in New York, seventeen days later. That same evening he boarded a train for Philadelphia.
His European interval proved a great stimulus for Neumann's spiritual growth and his awareness of the importance of the work in which he was involved.
The Bishop spent his first week at home entertaining well-wishers with an account of his travels and his meeting with the Holy Father. He dined with the Redemptorists at St. Peter's and brought them up-to-date on the doings of their colleagues in Rome, Graz, Vienna, and London. He wrote a long pastoral letter explaining the importance of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the lives of all Catholics.
Turning his full attention to the needs of his vast diocese, he was faced with several difficult problems. The Pennsylvania Legislature had enacted a law regarding the ownership of church property that gravely infringed on the bishops' control of church and parish institutions. The Nativist movement had stepped up its attack on Catholics as members of an anti-democratic institution. And there were the usual problems with priests in financial trouble or who caused scandal with their drinking or gambling or worldly behavior.
What troubled Neumann most was the financial depression that had thrown great numbers of his people out of work during the Winter of 1853. He used much of the largesse he received in Europe to help these families. In turn, this matter had caused anguish to the pastors and trustees saddled with large debts on newly constructed churches and schools. Neumann busied himself in helping all he could. He tried in vain to persuade his old companion, Father Rumpler, the Redemptorist Superior in Baltimore, to take over the Church of St. Alphonsus, making a special trip to Baltimore for that purpose. And he offered the Church of St. John to the Jesuits.
In the vigorous presidential campaign of 1856, the Bishop refrained from expressing his opinion regarding the candidates. But he followed the political scene carefully, and wrote to Canon Dichtl in Prague that he was certain most Catholics would vote the Democratic ticket. He himself had no concern about any of the candidates in their attitude toward the Church. And when James Buchanan of Lancaster, within his own diocese, became the new President, Neumann rejoiced.
His real concern centered on the social needs of his people. He had encouraged the organization of the St. Vincent Orphanage in Tacony for children of German immigrants during the summer of 1855. Actually, the committee in charge bought two farms for seventeen thousand dollars and by dividing the one into lots, sold it for a profit of twenty-nine thousand dollars. Unhappily, however, not all of the diocese's financial dealings went that well.
His next interest was to provide help for the sick poor and lodging for homeless working girls. Following the advice given to him personally by Pope Pius IX, he encouraged three women from St. Peter's Church to organize a convent of the Sisters of St. Francis. Eventually, he wrote their rule, and obtained a residence for them as they branched out into nursing and school work.
On his round of visitation of the diocese, Neumann gave great encouragement to priests and people anxious to organize new parishes and erect their own churches. In 1855, he dedicated the churches of St. John's in Haycock, St. Gabriel's in Hazelton, and Seven Dolors in Parkesburg. The next year, churches were built in Hawley, Minersville, Doylestown, Pottstown, Berlinville, Tremont, Lykenstown, Bethlehem, and Tuscarora. The year 1857 saw eleven new church buildings completed including the Immaculate Conception in Safe Harbor, the Annunciation, and St. Laurence in Catasauqua, St. Simon's in Dunmore, St. Joseph in Ashland, and St. Boniface in Williamsport, St. Mary's in Rosemont, the Immaculate Conception in Lock Haven, and St. Nicholas in Wilkes-Barre.
On this score alone, the Bishop proved himself an eminently successful pastor. But he claimed none of the credit, giving full acknowledgment to the courage of the local pastors and the generosity of the people.
At the same time he pushed the organization of schools in both Philadelphia and the country parishes. An industrial school for girls was built in the parish of the Assumption under Father Charles Carter. The Bishop brought into the diocese both the Brothers and the Sisters of the Holy Cross, the nuns of Notre Dame de Namur, the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters and the Christian Brothers to staff the quickly multiplying educational institutions.
In the Diocesan Synod of 1855, Neumann himself laid out sensible rules regarding curriculum, textbooks, pedagogical competence, clear doctrinal teaching, and firm but benevolent discipline. He insisted that "wayward children are not to be expelled from school too quickly." He suggested instead that patience and instruction should be used to "bring them to a happier frame of mind."
In 1857, Neumann welcomed his nephew John Berger to his residence in Philadelphia. The young man had decided to study for the priesthood and the Bishop was delighted. He employed him as a travelling companion in his visitations that summer and sent him to the Benedictines at Latrobe, Pennsylvania to finish his classical studies. In 1859, following his uncle's footsteps, John Berger joined the Redemptorists, and later did much to stimulate his uncle's reputation for sanctity by writing his biography.
Despite his total absorption in his work as bishop of the largest diocese in the country, Neumann was troubled. He felt he was not adequate to the task. In particular he was concerned about the financial difficulties facing him on every side. He also felt that someone of greater stature and worldly interests would be more successful in dealing with the upper classes in Philadelphia itself. While he worried painfully about these matters, they did not interfere with his round of pastoral duties. Discovering a large group of Gaelic-speaking parishioners in the coal regions of Pennsylvania, he mastered enough of that language to be able to hear confessions. He preached retreats to priests, gave conferences to the nuns, and presided over the functions in the colleges, schools, and other organizations all over the diocese. Nor did he neglect the wider aspects of his duty as a bishop to participate in the ecclesiastical events of nearby dioceses.
Nevertheless, as early as November, 1852, six months after his installation as bishop, Neumann had suggested that the diocese of Philadelphia should be divided. Following that, he let it be known that he would be willing to accept the lesser half, and organize a new diocese in a growing town such as Pottsville.
A vast correspondence developed between Archbishop Kenrick and several American bishops with the Congregation of the Propaganda in Rome, and among the American bishops themselves. Neumann's qualities were discussed at length. All were agreed that he was an energetic and holy bishop. But some, including Bishop O'Connor of Pittsburgh and John McGill of Richmond, were concerned that he was inadequate in financial matters and unacceptable to some of the more important Catholics in Philadelphia for lack of outstanding preaching ability.
Neumann's pectoral cross
Neumann himself was responsible in part for some of this criticism. He wrote frequently to Archbishop Kenrick about his problems. He frankly admitted to some of his confidants among the bishops and laity that he despised financial matters, felt ill at ease at social events, and would be much happier as a country bishop dealing with the basic problems of human life.
Actually, he was a meticulous organizer whose financial problems were endemic to the expanding church over which he presided and the wavering economy afflicting the country. A key to Neumann's fundamental good sense in these affairs was an admission he made to Archbishop Kenrick concerning a letter he had written to Rome to explain his inadequacy as a bishop. "I fear they will regard my protestations and statement as nothing but a fine display of very praiseworthy or crooked humility, and leave me splashing in the midst of my floating and non-floating debts." As Kenrick realized, the man who wrote that sentence had both excellent common sense and a subtle sense of humor - two qualities that eminently fitted him for a bishopric. In the end Rome agreed.
Meanwhile, Neumann had written to Cardinal Franzoni and Monsignor Barnabó in the Congregation of Propaganda insisting that the diocese be divided and the lesser portion given to him. Later, he suggested that he be considered for the Vicariate of Florida or the new Diocese of Wilmington, North Carolina. But he did not offer to resign from his episcopal office. He had accepted that burden at the insistence of the Pope and felt he could not lay it down unless the Pope so ordered. Eventually, all these matters were brought to the attention of the Holy Father, but no decision was taken in Rome.
Instead, in April of 1857, at the urging of Archbishop Kenrick, Neumann was given an auxiliary bishop. Father James Wood of the Diocese of Cincinnati - a native American and a convert - was made coadjutor to the Bishop of Philadelphia with the right of succession. He was given no independent powers and was to serve under the explicit control of the bishop.
Tall and handsome, an excellent orator, and financial administrator, and possessed of the social graces, Wood was hailed as the perfect solution for the Philadelphia "problem." Neumann hastened to Cincinnati for his consecration. And Wood was encouraged - by Bishop Purcell who had suggested his selection and by Bishop O'Connor of Pittsburgh - to think that Neumann would resign in short order and turn over the full control of the diocese to his auxiliary.
No such thoughts were in Neumann's mind. For all his protestations about his inability, he had a strong sense of his obligation to serve his people and to struggle under his burdens as a bishop until relieved by a direct act of the Holy Father, or of God. In his vast theological reading, evidenced in his notebooks and study ledgers, he had collected an armory of the Church's teaching about the nature of a vocation to a state in life. Once consecrated a bishop, he felt he had no business challenging the decision of the Holy Spirit.
Neumann handed over most of the decisions in financial matters to his new auxiliary, and in particular, responsibility for completing construction of the cathedral on Logan Street. He then initiated him into the spiritual chores of visiting parishes and administering the Sacrament of Confirmation. But Neumann continued in full control of the diocese, even though he spent most of his time in pastoral work, particularly in the far-out section of his territory.
Unable to hide his discontent, Bishop Wood sought consolation from his bishop friends. There was no direct clash between himself and Neumann since the bishop deferred to his coadjutor in financial and legal matters and appeared to be unaware of the latter's expectations. During the economic crash of 1857 Neumann staunchly supported Wood who was under severe pressure from creditors. And when the cathedral roof was finally completed, Neumann made Wood the principal celebrant of the Pontifical Mass at which Archbishop John Martin Spalding of Louisville preached.
At the Eighth Provincial Council of the Catholic Bishops in Baltimore in 1855 Neumann had played a leading role. He was respected as a theologian who did his homework and offered clear, precise opinions regarding doctrinal and pastoral matters. In preparing for that Council, Neumann had studied the issues meticulously, frequently referring to the vast body of notes he had collected as a seminarian and young priest. Thus, as chairman of the committee to deal with a proposal for the creation of an American College for clerical students in Rome, he had a balance sheet of pros and cons ready for the debate. He voted against the erection of a separate diocese in Washington, D.C., basing his opinion on the danger of awakening further opposition to the Church by Nativist agitators, and a concern lest somehow a bishop in Washington might be dragged into the political struggles troubling the nation.
At the Ninth Council, in 1858, Neumann won the highest praise of Archbishop Kenrick for his equanimity and sense of decency. Arriving in Baltimore, Neumann had suggested to the bishops that his new coadjutor Bishop Wood, be invited to assist at the gathering. As an auxiliary bishop he did not have the right to participate. Neumann's petition was accepted; but on his arrival Wood made a public issue of the situation in which he found himself, stating he had accepted the position on the understanding that Neumann would resign.
This was evidently the first time that Neumann had heard of this proposition. He expressed great perplexity; he had had no canonical reason for resigning. He was neither ill nor incapacitated physically or mentally, nor guilty of any crime - hence the idea had never really crossed his mind.
As a solution for the difficulty, he repeated his suggestion of dividing the diocese. Wood could retain the City of Philadelphia while he would be content with forming a new diocese or being transferred to some lesser See. After discussing the matter, the bishops, with Neumann's express consent, suggested this solution to the Holy See. But the Congregation of Propaganda after mature consideration decided that a man as kind and conscientious as Neumann had just proven himself to be, should stay where he was. God obviously wanted him there.