Seelos Statue Dedication

On February 28, at the 11:00 Mass, we will bless and dedicate the statue of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, C.Ss.R.  Fr. Byron Miller, C.Ss.R., the Executive Director of the Seelos shrine, will be the principal celebrant for this Liturgy.

Fr. Seelos was born on January 11, 1819 in Füssen, Bavaria, Germany.  After studying for the Priesthood in Germany, he asked to be admitted to the Congregation of the most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists) for ministry to German-speaking immigrants in the United States.  In 1844, he was ordained a priest at the Redemptorist Church of Saint James in Baltimore.  His availability and innate kindness in understanding and responding to the needs of the faithful made him so renowned as an expert confessor and spiritual director that people came to him even from neighboring towns.  Seelos ministered for a time in Pittsburgh, Cumberland, and Annapolis.  From 1863 -1866  Seelos dedicated himself to the life of an itinerant missionary preacher in English and German in the states of Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

After a brief period of parish ministry in Detroit, Fr. Seelos was assigned in 1866 to the Redemptorist Church of St. Mary’s Assumption in New Orleans.  He was known to be joyfully available to his faithful and singularly concerned for the poorest and most abandoned.  In God’s plan, however, his ministry in New Orleans was destined to be brief.   By September 1867, exhausted from visiting and caring for the victims of yellow fever, Seelos contracted the dreaded disease and entered into eternal life on October 4, 1867, at the age of forty-eight years and nine months.

The enduring renown for his holiness occasioned his Cause for Canonization to be introduced in 1900.  A century later, His Holiness, Pope John Paul II beatified Father Seelos on April 9 of the Solemn Jubilee Year 2000.  He awaits one more miracle for canonization!

Fr. Bernie Carlin, C.Ss.R.