Clement Mary Hofbauer

After his ordination, Clement Mary Hofbauer settled in Warsaw, where for about twenty years he led a permanent mission attached to Saint Benno's Church. He deployed considerable pastoral activity there, preaching to German-speaking and Polish-speaking faithful, and founded works for the poorest, notably an orphanage and a school for boys as well as a home for abandoned children. His influence earned him numerous vocations and the foundation of the first Redemptorist houses in Poland, Northern Germany, Switzerland, and Romania. In 1808, by order of Napoleon, the Redemptorists were expelled from Warsaw, their social and cultural activities worrying the authorities. Hofbauer then moved to Vienna, where he spent the last twelve years of his life. A sought-after preacher and spiritual director, he exerted a profound influence on the religious life of the Austrian capital, to the point of being nicknamed the "Apostle of Vienna." There, he contributed to the decline of Josephinism, that state control over the Church, and reached both the popular classes and the intellectual circles of German Romanticism.

The holiness of Clement Mary Hofbauer is rooted in the spirituality of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, founder of the Redemptorists, whose writings and missionary spirit guided his entire life. His reputation for holiness stems from the union in him of tireless apostolic zeal and concrete charity toward the most destitute, whether the abandoned children of Warsaw or the poor of Vienna. A preacher of great simplicity, he sought less oratorical brilliance than the conversion of hearts, and his ministry of confession and spiritual direction attracted a large public. In a Central Europe marked by rationalism, Josephinism, and the Napoleonic upheavals, he embodied a resolute fidelity to the Roman Church and a renewal of popular piety. Several intellectuals and artists of German Romanticism, notably in the circle of Friedrich Schlegel, were brought closer to the Catholic faith through his influence. This renown for virtue and apostolate, recognized during his lifetime and after his death, founded the process that would lead to his beatification and then his canonization.

The cause of Clement Mary Hofbauer led to his beatification on January 29, 1888, by Pope Leo XIII. About twenty years later, Pope Pius X canonized him on May 20, 1909, in the Vatican Basilica. In 1914, the same pontiff proclaimed him the patron saint of the city of Vienna, consecrating his title of "Apostle of Vienna," and also designated him as the patron of bakers, in memory of the trade he practiced in his youth. His liturgical feast is celebrated on March 15, the anniversary of his death. The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints presents him as a priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer who "worked admirably to spread the faith in distant lands." The sources consulted do not detail the specific miracles accepted for the beatification and canonization; in accordance with the procedure of the time, these acts nevertheless assumed the official recognition of the heroic nature of his virtues and of wonders attributed to his intercession.

Clement Mary Hofbauer is often regarded as a "second founder" of the Redemptorists, for it was through him that the Neapolitan congregation of Saint Alphonsus Liguori became durably established north of the Alps, in Poland, Germany, Switzerland, and Romania. His work contributed to the renewal of Catholicism in Central Europe at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries and to the decline of state control over the Church. Patron of the city of Vienna and patron of bakers, he is venerated on March 15. His relics are preserved in Vienna, notably in the church of Maria am Gestade (Our Lady of the Shore). His memory remains particularly vivid in the Redemptorist family, in Austria, and in the countries of Central Europe where he founded the first communities of the order. His example of an apostolate rooted in the service of the poor and in popular preaching continues to inspire Redemptorist spirituality.