🇺🇸 Francis Xavier Seelos : le Bavarois devenu le « saint joyeux » de La Nouvelle-Orléans
Un immigré allemand au cœur du catholicisme américain ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🇺🇸 Summary Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos embodies a profoundly American form of Catholicism. Born in Bavaria in 1819, he crossed the Atlantic as a young Redemptorist determined to serve German-speaking immigrants in the United States. He subsequently preached in both German and English, ministered with Saint John Neumann, travelled through numerous states, pleaded with Abraham Lincoln on behalf of seminarians during the Civil War and finally served the poor of New Orleans. His life ended during the yellow-fever epidemic of 1867 after he had exhausted himself visiting the sick. Beatified by Saint John Paul II in 2000, Seelos is commemorated on October 5 in the proper liturgical calendar of the dioceses of the United States. His story recalls that American Catholicism was constructed not only by institutions and bishops, but by successive generations of immigrants who became missionaries to one ano...