Francis Xavier Seelos was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1819. While studying for the diocesan priesthood, he encountered the Redemptorists and heard of their missionary work in America. He travelled to the United States in 1843 and there made his novitiate. After he was ordained a priest, he served with St. John Neumann at St. Philomena’s parish in Pittsburgh. Later he would be a novice master, director of students, pastor of parishes, and popular preacher of German and English language parish missions throughout the Northeast and Midwest.
After a brief time as assistant pastor in Detroit he was sent to New Orleans. There he died on October 4, 1867, after caring for victims of a yellow fever epidemic. He was beatified in 2000.
For more information
To learn more about Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, check out his Shrine’s website: http://www.seelos.org
For a good brief biography, try A Life of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, Redemptorist, by Carl Hoegerl, CSsR, and Alicia von Stamwitz.