John Nepomucene Neumann was born in Prachatice (Prachatitz), Bohemia (present day Czech Republic) on 28th March 1811, son of Philip Neumann and Agnes Lebis.  He was given the names "John Nepomucene" after the great Bohemian martyr-saint, patron of the seal of confession.  He attended school in České Budějovice (Budweis) and entered the seminary there in 1831.

Two years later he passed to the Charles Ferdinand University in Prague, where he studied theology.  Meanwhile, stimulating letters from missionaries in America kept on drifting back to Europe.  Almost immediately the letters fired his zeal.  All John Neumann could see was the shortage of priests, the neglect of thousands of immigrant souls, the work for God to be accomplished.

He was looking forward to being ordained in 1835 when the bishop decided there would be no more ordinations.  It is difficult for us to imagine now, but Bohemia was overstocked with priests.  John wrote to bishops all over Europe but the story was the same everywhere no one wanted any more priests.  John was sure he was called to be a priest but all the doors to follow that vocation seemed to close in his face.

But John didn't give up.  He had learned English by working in a factory with English-speaking workers so he wrote to the bishops in America.  Finally, the bishop in New York agreed to ordain him.  In order to follow God's call to the priesthood John would have to leave his home forever and travel across the ocean to a new and rugged land.

Bishop John Dubois who welcomed him with open arms and accepted him into his diocese ordained him on 25th June 1836.  In New York, John was one of 36 priests for 200,000 Catholics.  John's parish in western New York State stretched from Lake Ontario to Pennsylvania.  His church had no steeple or floor but that didn't matter because John spent most of his time travelling from village to village, climbing mountains to visit the sick, staying in garrets and taverns to teach, and celebrating the Mass at kitchen tables.

For almost 50 months Father Neumann crisscrossed the Niagara frontier.  Because of the work and the isolation of his parish, John longed for community and so joined the Redemptorists, a congregation of priests and brothers dedicated to helping the poor and most abandoned.

The first novice to enter the Congregation in America, he took his vows in Baltimore on 16th January 1842.  From the beginning he was highly regarded by his fellow religious for his evident holiness, for his zeal and affability.  His knowledge of six modern languages made him particularly acceptable for work in the multi-lingual American society of the nineteenth century.

After working in Baltimore and Pittsburgh, in 1847 he was appointed Vice-Provincial, that is, Superior of the Redemptorists in the United States.

Father Frederick von Held, superior of the Belgian province, to which the American houses belonged, said of him: “He is a great man who combines piety with a strong and prudent personality”.  He needed these qualities during the two years he was in office, as the American foundation was passing through a trying period of adjustment.

When he handed over his charge to Father Bernard Hafkenscheid the Redemptorists of the United States were better prepared to become an autonomous province, and this took place in 1850.

On 1st February 1852, Pope Pius IX appointed Father Neumann bishop of Philadelphia, he was consecrated in Baltimore on 28th March 1852, his 41st birthday.  His diocese was a very large one, about the size of Ireland, and going through a period of considerable development.  Today the same area (more populous of course) is governed by an archbishop and a dozen bishops.

As bishop, he was the first to organize a diocesan Catholic school system.  A founder of Catholic education in the United States, he increased the number of Catholic schools in his diocese from two to 100.

He founded the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis to teach in the schools.

Among the more than eighty churches built during his episcopate must be mentioned the cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul, which he commenced.

One of a bishop's main duties and a most difficult one is to visit the parishes in his diocese.  Neumann thrived on these visits, continually gathering strength from his contact with the ordinary people in his diocese.  He was a man of the people.  He came to work, and whenever he made his parish visitations he heard confessions.  It was said that he spent more time in the confessional than any of his priests.  He heard confessions in French, German, Spanish, Bohemian, Italian, Dutch, English, and at least a few others.  Once, right after he was consecrated a bishop, an Irishman came and started confessing in Gaelic.

Neumann had to stop him and reveal that he did not know Gaelic.  That did not last for long; the Bishop got to work and soon he was hearing Gaelic confessions as well as the newest arrived priest from Ireland.  He became so accomplished that one Irish grandmother, stepping out of the confessional, wiped her eyes, and said, "Ahh, isn't it grand that we finally have an Irish bishop!"

St. John Neumann was of small stature, only five feet two inches in height, never robust in health, but in his short lifetime he achieved a great deal.  He found time even for a considerable literary activity in addition to his pastoral duties.  As well as numerous articles in Catholic papers and periodicals he published two catechisms and in 1849 a Bible history for schools.

John Neumann's body could not take his superhuman pace much longer.  In 1859 he began to be sick more and more often.  Fever seemed to burn his brow and weariness slowly but surely slowed his steps.  Eighteen hundred and sixty rolled into view and the 5th January found him up early, going to a lawyer's office, signing a deed for another property which eventually would mean another church.  On his way to the post office to check on a chalice lost in the mail, he collapsed on the street.  Passers-by carried him into a nearby house where he died almost immediately.  Bishop John Neumann died at 48 as he had lived, constantly busy about his Father's business.

Bishop John Neumann was buried at St. Peter's Redemptorist Church in Philadelphia.  Today this tomb is a spot of remembrance and a place of pilgrimage.

Pope Paul VI beatified him on 13th October 1963 and canonized him on 19th June 1977.