Today we celebrate the memorial of Saint Clement Mary Hofbauer, Patron Saint of Vienna.
The ninth of 12 children, John, as was his baptismal name, was born in an impoverished family in Moravia. He had always wanted to be a priest, but there was no money for education, so he was an apprentice to a baker instead. But God controlled the young man’s circumstances. He could attend lessons in the Latin school of the monastery, where he found work in the bakery. Once the local abbot passed away, John tried living as a hermit, but when Emperor Joseph II banned hermitages, he moved back to Vienna and resumed baking.
He requested a carriage for two ladies waiting in the pouring rain one day after celebrating Mass at the Cathedral of St. Stephen. They discovered throughout their talk that he could not continue his priestly studies due to a lack of funding. They kindly volunteered to help Thaddeus, John’s companion, and them both with their seminary studies. The two traveled to Rome, where they became interested in the Redemptorists and Saint Alphonsus’ idea of the holy life. In 1785, the two young men got ordained simultaneously.
At the age of 34, Clement Mary, as he was now known, and Thaddeus were both newly professed and transported back to Vienna. But because of the local religious issues, they left and headed north to Warsaw, Poland. Several German-speaking Catholics who had lost their priests due to the Jesuits’ suppression met them there. At first, they had to preach outside while living in extreme poverty. After receiving the church of St. Benno, they preached five sermons daily for the following nine years, two in German and three in Polish, winning many people over to the faith. They established an orphanage and then a school for boys as part of their humanitarian activities among the underprivileged.
The congregation was able to send missionaries to Poland, Germany, and Switzerland by attracting new members. The historical political and theological disputes ultimately forced the abandonment of these foundations. Clement Mary was imprisoned and forced to leave the nation after 20 years of arduous labor. He only gets to Vienna, where he would spend the following 12 years living and working after being arrested again. He swiftly rose to “the apostle of Vienna,” listening to the confessions of the wealthy and the impoverished, visiting the ill, offering advice to the powerful, and spreading his holiness across the city. His crowning achievement was founding a Catholic institution in his beloved city.
Clement Mary experienced persecution after his preaching, but certain influential people were able to put a stop to it for a while. The highest echelons of government launched an effort to excommunicate him. The Redemptorists’ expansion which his holiness had aided, and his popularity, protected him. At his death in 1820, the congregation had firmly established itself north of the Alps, thanks to his efforts.
In 1909, Clement Mary Hofbauer became a saint. The day of his liturgical celebration is March 15.
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