Saint Clemens Maria Hofbauer

Clement Mary Hofbauer CSsR (Czech: Klement Maria Hofbauer; German: Klemens Maria Hofbauer) (26 December 1751 – 15 March 1820) was a Moravian hermit and later a priest of the Redemptorist congregation. He established his congregation, founded in Italy, north of the Alps. For this he is considered a co-founder of the congregation. He was widely known for his lifelong dedication to care of the poor during a tumultuous period in Europe, that had left thousands destitute. He laboured in the care of the Polish people until expelled, when he moved to Austria. Clement-Mary Hofbauer is remembered as a saint in the Catholic Church. He is called the Apostle of Vienna, where he is a co-patron saint, along with St Colmán, St Leopold, and St Peter Canisius. He was born Johannes ("Hansl") Hofbauer on the feast of Saint Stephen (December 26) 1751, in Tasovice), in the Znojmo District of the Moravian region of what is now the Czech Republic. He was the ninth of twelve children born to Maria Steer and Paul Hofbauer (Pavel Dvořák had changed the family name from the Czech "Dvořák" to the German "Hofbauer"). His father was a grazier and butcher. Clement-Mary Hofbauer's father died when he was six years old. In those days the ninth of a dozen children of a poor widow in a small village could have had little hope of getting into a seminary, nor of joining a religious order. Latin studies nevertheless started with the local parish priest, apparently signalling already a call to the priesthood, though a long and tortuous path lay ahead. When Hofbauer was just fourteen, extra studies ended abruptly with the death of the pastor. His replacement did not put aside time to continue the tuition. No longer studying, Hofbauer had to learn a trade. He was sent to become an apprentice in a bakery 8 km away in the local capital of Znojmo (in German called Znaim) in 1767.