ST CLEMENT HOFBAUER CSSR

Feast Day 15th March...

The Second Founder of the Redemptorists

Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer

As he points to the crucifix, let us look and make our Lent count!

Read the article below...

"Although his name is not listed on the official Church calendar for March 15, Clement Mary Hofbauer is my choice for saint of the month. (So writes Norman J Muckerman CSsR in the Liguorian Magazine)

One reason for this choice is that Saint Clement, born on December 26, 1751, in central Europe, became a Redemptorist priest, just as I did, so we are “family.” Second, I am presently living in Saint Clement Health Care Center, and I will soon need a benevolent promoter “on the other side.”

So even though we cannot celebrate him liturgically, we can recall some facts of his life that have caused him to be recognized as the “second founder” of the Redemptorists and the patron saint of Vienna.

His life was marked by frequent surprises and sudden changes. His earliest surprise was probably when his father, a butcher by trade, died. Clement, the ninth of twelve children, was six years old at the time. As he grew older he felt called to the priesthood, but his family was too poor to pay for his seminary training, so he became a baker instead.

Later he got a job as a servant in a Premonstratensian monastery. Perhaps the holy atmosphere awakened in him a desire to become a hermit, because he abruptly went off to be one—but not for long. Emperor Joseph II abolished all the hermitages in his realm, and Clement returned home to the bakery.

But Clement didn’t stay there. He became a pilgrim and made several trips to Rome. While there he came into contact with the Redemptorists and knew he had found a home. He and a fellow pilgrim named Thaddeus Hübl joined, entered the novitiate, professed their vows, and in 1785 were ordained Redemptorist priests. Clement was then thirty-four years old.

The aged founder of the order, Saint Alphonsus Liguori, was still living (just barely), but he rejoiced in hearing about the two new members. He predicted they would enjoy huge success in taking the Redemptorists, until then known only in Italy, beyond the Alps into Vienna and points beyond.

Because of the political situation at the time, Hofbauer and Hübl could not settle in Vienna. Instead they went to Warsaw, where the archbishop gladly gave them charge of the rundown, priestless Saint Benno’s church, which had been built for German Catholics living in Warsaw. He told them to see if they could make it go.

And make it go they did! Redemptorist lore is full of stories about the perpetual mission atmosphere that pervaded the parish when Hofbauer and Hübl were in charge. The stories tell of daily sermons preached in various languages and always to a full church. There are tales of the catechism lessons given to Catholic, non-Catholic, and even Jewish children, and accounts of the long lines of people waiting to go to confession. And there is the story of the orphanage that Clement built to house the abandoned children roaming the streets.

After Father Hübl died in 1807, Clement finally moved to Vienna. He lived and ministered there for the next twelve years. His official title was chaplain at the Ursuline convent, but his good influence and presence spread much farther. He influenced all levels of Viennese society from Emperor Franz Joseph to the poorest of the  poor.

It is difficult to list all his spiritual successes there, but the fact that Clement was (and still is) known as the “Apostle of Vienna” says it all.

Clement Mary Hofbauer died on March 15, 1820. He was beatified in 1888, and in 1909 Pope Pius X declared him a saint."