Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos: A Martyr to Charity

Francis Xavier Seelos was born in Fussen, Germany on January 11, 1819.  He was the sixth child born into a family that would eventually have 12 children. He was baptized on the same day at his parents’ parish church of St. Mang.

Clues to Francis’ eventual vocation to the priesthood were seen in childhood, when he would set up an altar at home and hold services for his little friends.

After completing his philosophy education at the University of Munich, Francis entered a diocesan seminary in 1842.  One day, however, he read letters printed in a Catholic newspaper called Sion from Redemptorist missionaries how German-speaking immigrants in the United States lacked spiritual care.  Therefore, he applied to, and was accepted by, the Redemptorist Order.

Francis Xavier Seelos departed for the United States on March 17, 1843 from the port of Le Havre on the ship Saint Nicholas and arrived in New York City on April 20, 1843.

He did his novitiate year in Baltimore, and on May 16, 1844, he took his first vows.  On December 22, 1844, Francis was ordained a priest.

After serving at St. James Church in Baltimore for 6 months, he was sent to St. Philomena Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This church was nicknamed “the factory church” for it was a makeshift church originally built as a factory.

Fr. Francis grew and flourished under the direction of his pastor, St. John Neumann, a Bohemian Redemptorist.  Soon, stories began circulating about how incredibly generous and kind Fr. Francis was to the poor.  His love of the sick was also becoming legendary.  Sometimes, for example, he would do private duty nursing for a sick child so the mother, who had an exhausting job outside the home, could have a break.

Fr. Francis did all the usual duties that priests in parishes do – baptize infants, witness weddings, visit the sick, celebrate Reconciliation, counsel individuals and couples, and the myriad of other things parish priests do.  In addition, he also preached in English, German, and French.

People loved Fr. Francis’ sermons because they were simple and highly entertaining despite his poor English.  His sermons showed his very deep pastoral love for the people.

Though his parishioners loved him, he encountered anti-Catholic bigots from time to time who tried to harm him.  Once, for example, he was brutally beaten, and he was also pelted by rocks, threatened at gunpoint, and nearly thrown overboard a ferryboat while carrying the Blessed Sacrament with him.

On March 1854, Fr. Francis became pastor of St. Alphonsus parish in Baltimore and was appointed director of students at the Redemptorist seminary.

Fr. Francis loved the sick so much, that often he would sleep in his clothes at night on a bench near the front door so he could go at a moment’s notice if the sick needed him. 

In March 1857, Fr. Francis was sent to Annapolis as pastor of a very small parish named St. Mary and was appointed novice master for the Redemptorists.  This assignment lasted only two months, and then his superiors sent him to a smaller church in Cumberland, Maryland – Saints Peter and Paul.  He also was made director of a Redemptorist seminary.

In the seminary, Fr. Francis was wildly popular with the seminarians because he was very progressive for his time.  He not only was very approachable, but he was also playful with the students.  Once, for example, he asked if he could become a member of the Laughing Society that 3 students had formed. 

Fr. Seelos popularity with the students made many other priests jealous of him.  His peers’ jealousy, however, did not make him change his joyful, Spirit-led, progressive style.

In 1865, Fr. Francis served in Detroit, and in September 1866, he was transferred to St. Mary’s Church in the Irish section of New Orleans.  It was during this time that a yellow fever epidemic was devastating New Orleans. Fr. Francis nursed the sick and met their spiritual needs.  As a result of his nursing, he contacted yellow fever and died on October 4, 1867.  His nursing earned him the title of “martyr to charity.”

Fr. Francis Xavier Seelos was buried next to Brother Wenceslaus Neumann – St. John Neumann’s brother – in St. Mary’s in New Orleans.

Pope St. John Paul II beatified Francis Xavier Seelos on April 9, 2000.

Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos’ feast day is October 5^th.

On January 11, 2013, the Seelos Center was dedicated at Research College of Nursing at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri.  This facility has classrooms, meeting spaces, nursing simulation labs, lounges, and offices, all designed to assist nursing students to one day become great nurses.