Vigils Reading – St John Neumann

THE PROPOSAL TO

GO TO AMERICA

From the autobiography of St John Neumann

◊◊◊

On the feast of All Saints, 1831, I began the study of theology… I studied

Sacred Scripture, Hebrew and Church History… At the end of the first year of

theology I was one of the few who were to receive Tonsure and the four Minor

Orders. This actually took place on July 21, 1832.

In the second year of theology we had the New Testament in Latin and

Greek together with Exegesis and Canon Law. What appealed to me most were

the letters of the Apostle, St Paul, which the professor knew how to explain very

well. About this time I began to read the reports of the Leopoldine Society,

especially the letters of Father Baraga and other missionaries among the

Germans in North America. This is how there arose in one of my fellow

students, Adalbert Schmidt, and in myself on the occasion of a walk along the

Moldau River, the determination to devote ourselves to North America as soon

as we acquired some experience after ordination.

Two or three of our fellow students, whom we invited to join us, marvelled

at our decision, but they did not want to promise anything. Obviously, it was not

their vocation. From that moment on my resolution was so strong and lively

that I could no longer think of anything else.

We had talks on how to carry out our project. We thought it would be

better for me to try to obtain from the bishop the recently vacated foundation

scholarship at the University of Prague for a theologian from the seminary. We

did this in the hope of easily learning French and English there because we

thought that the knowledge of these languages was much more important than

is actually the case. The bishop granted my request, but I found myself very

much disappointed. I had hardly gone to the French classes at the Clementinum

for a few [days or weeks] when an order came from the archbishop that no

seminarian was to attend these classes. As for English, I could learn even less

because that language was not taught at the University then.

Meanwhile, the bishop of Philadelphia, Fr. Francis Patrick Kenrick

empowered Dr. Raess, the rector of the Strassburg seminary to accept young

priests or, even better, theologians for his diocese. The latter wrote to a very

saintly priest, who was Vicar of the Budweis Cathedral, about the possibility of

getting some of them from Bohemia. Through a special disposition of divine

providence this turned out to be the one (Father Hermann) who happened to be

the confessor of my friend Adalbert Schmidt and knew about our proposal to go

to America.

Aside from three or four or our fellow students and him, no one knew

about this. He was very happy to discover in us the first two that he found ready

to go to America. The request to Dr. Raess and our decision seemed to be signs

that his plan would be feasible. Since the bishop, who was over eighty, was sick,

and since, for four or five months, there was no prospect that he would hold an

ordination, he was all in favor of the two of us being ready to take off as soon as

possible.