Francis Xavier Seelos

         One of 12 children, Francis Xavier Seelos was born on January 11, 1819 in Bavaria, Germany.  He was baptized that same day at his family’s parish church of St. Mang.  From very early, Seelos knew that he wanted to be a priest.  After his early education, he went to university in Munich to study philosophy and then entered the diocesan seminary on September 18, 1842.

          In the seminary, Seelos started to encounter the Redemptorist religious order and their charism of evangelizing the most abandoned.  He started to read letters in a Catholic newspaper from the Redemptorists describing the need for spiritual care for German-speaking immigrants to the United States.  After visiting a Redemptorist community, he sought permission to enter the order and asked to be sent as a missionary to the United States.  The Redemptorists accepted him on November 22, 1842.   The next year, he set sail from France and arrived in New York on April 20, 1843.  There he finished his novitiate and priestly studies.  On December 22, 1844, Seelos was ordained a priest at St. James in Baltimore, Maryland, a parish run by the Redemptorists. 

         Shortly after becoming a priest, Father Seelos was given the role of assistant pastor at St. Philomena’s Parish in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he served under Saint John Neumman (another individual featured on American Saints and Causes).  At the time, Neumman was pastor of the parish and the superior of the Redemptorist community in the United States.  Seelos would credit Neumann with being a great example of the virtuous life, loving Seelos like a son, and being a valued spiritual director.  Father Seelos evangelized many, preached numerous missions.  Later, Father Seelos was appointed superior of the Religious community and made the Master of Novices.  

         Quickly, Father Seelos developed a reputation as a valued spiritual director and someone who would make himself very available to the needs of the people.  The Faitherful started coming from neighboring areas to hear him preach.  He heard confessions in German, English and French.  He lived a simple life with a joyful disposition.  In 1854, he was sent back to Maryland, serving in a variety of larger parishes throughout the state.  He met with President Abraham Lincoln and sought Lincoln to excuse seminarians from having to serve in the military during the Civil War.  In 1860, Seelos was proposed to the pope as a candidate for Bishop of Pittsburgh by the retiring bishop, but he asked Pope Pius IX not to appoint him.  From 1863 to 1866, Father Seelos began a period of itinerant missionary preaching that took him to English and German speaking communities in 10 states on the East Coast and in the Midwest.  He then served a year as curate of St. Mary’s Parish in Detroit, Michigan, impressing many with his holiness.  In 1866, Father Seelos was made pastor of St. Mary’s Assumption Church in New Orleans, Louisiana.  It would be his final assignment and a brief one, which Father Seelos seemed to anticipate.  On the train to New Orleans, he was asked by a nun how long he was going to stay.  Father Seelos responded, “For a year and then I will die of yellow fever”.  In New Orleans, Father Seelos threw himself into his pastoral work, being available to all, with a joyous spirit, and striving to help the most poor.  Closing in on the anniversary of his arrival in New Orleans, on September 17, 1867 Father Seelos fell ill with yellow fever.  Many prayed for his recovery, but the yellow fever ultimately claimed his life on October 4, 1867.  Father Seelos was 48 years old.  Papers at the time described Father Seelos as “beautiful in death, wearing the same smile of sanctity as when alive”.

         Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos is considered a patron saint for immigrants to the United States. The National Shrine of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos is housed within St. Mary’s Assumption Church in New Orleans, Louisiana. A reliquary with Blessed Seelos’ remains can be venerated there. The Walk of Life Museum tells the history of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos and Catholic immigration to New Orleans. The shrine also has a ministry of traveling relics to nearby homes, parishes and hospitals.  A first-class relic of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, as well as one of 5 known death masks made of him, are housed at St. Mary of Victories parish in St. Louis, Missouri, where he preached a two-week mission during his itinerant preaching years.