BIOGRAPHY OF BLESSED FRANCIS XAVIER SEELOS

Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos

Also known as

• 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 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 an 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 neighbouring 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

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

Readings

O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight. I offer praise to You for the grace You have bestowed on Your humble missionary, Father Francis Xavier Seelos. May I have the same joyful vigour that Father Seelos possessed during his earthly life to love You deeply and live faithfully Your gospel. Amen. - Byron Miller, C.Ss.R.

Faithful to the spirit and charism of the Redemptorist Congregation to which he belonged, Father Francis Xavier Seelos often meditated upon these words of the Psalmist. Sustained by God's grace and an intense life of prayer, Father Seelos left his native Bavaria and committed himself generously and joyfully to the missionary apostolate among immigrant communities in the United States.

In the various places where he worked, Father Francis Xavier brought his enthusiasm, spirit of sacrifice and apostolic zeal. To the abandoned and the lost he preached the message of Jesus Christ, "the source of eternal salvation" (Hebrews 5:9), 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. Through his intercession, may all who work in the vineyard for the salvation of God's people be encouraged and strengthened in their task. - Pope John Paul II at the beatification recognition for Blessed Francis