Clement Mary Hofbauer

Clement Mary 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 where his feast day is 15 March, and listed on the Franciscan Saint of the Day calendar as 16 March, the day after the anniversary of his death. He is called the Apostle of Vienna, where he is a co-patron saint, along with St Colmán, St Leopold, and St Peter Canisius.

Biography

Early life

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. In English, his first name is John. Clement-Mary Hofbauer found his way to Tivoli, in Italy. He resumed the life of a hermit, at the nearby shrine of Our Lady of Quintiliolo. This was under the patronage of the local bishop, Barnabas Chiaramonte (later Pope Pius VII), who clothed him in the religious habit of a hermit. This was when Hofbauer took the name of Clement Mary: Clement, most likely after St. Clement of Rome, and Mary in honour of the Virgin Mary. As a hermit, Hofbauer focused on oversight in prayer, appealing for himself and anyone who might neglect to pray. He made himself useful at the shrine, assisting pilgrims arriving there. After less than six months, however, he left Quintiliolo; while the force of praying for mankind could not be gainsaid, persistent was a call to the priesthood.

Hofbauer returned to the priory at Louka; to make himself useful baking bread again, and to resume studying Latin. At age 29, sponsored by two ladies he met while serving at Mass in the priory's basilica (dedicated to the Assumption and St. Wenceslas), Clement-Mary Hofbauer enrolled at the University of Vienna. Emperor Joseph's government had closed all seminaries. Students for the priesthood had to study at government-controlled universities. Theology courses permeated by Josephinism, rationalism etc. were frustrating. He was taught much that he found questionable. This notwithstanding, he had completed his philosophy studies by 1784. But he could proceed no further toward ordination: the emperor had forbidden religious communities from accepting new candidates.

Redemptorist

On the feast of Saint Joseph, 19 March 1785, Hofbauer and Hübl were clothed in the Redemptorist habit, publicly professing vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Ten days later, at the Cathedral of Alatri, they were ordained to the priesthood. They were to return and establish a Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer north of the Alps. Aware of this, the two Redemptorists moved on to the part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that is now Poland. On their journey, the two were joined by Peter Kunzmann, another trained baker. Hofbauer and he had pilgrimaged together. He was to become the first non-Italian Redemptorist lay brother.

Mission beyond the Alps

Warsaw

Background

thumb|upright|Portrait by R. Rinn

For more than two centuries the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had been a large and unwieldy polity. After years of economic and military decline, vis-à-vis Russia in particular, there was turmoil when Hofbauer arrived in 1787. Under Catherine II's thumb, King Stanislaus II was virtually a puppet. Fifteen years earlier, a partition had been forced on the country, land being distributed between Austria, Russia, and Prussia.

In 1791, a parliamentary constitution was promulgated; historically the second written constitution after that of the United States in 1787. The constitution “assumed a symbolic importance… It was the Bill of Rights of the Polish tradition, the embodiment of all that was enlightened and progressive in Poland’s past, a permanent reproach to the tyranny of the partitioning powers.” It “sought to create a modern, centralized republic.”. It was too late, however, to withstand the encircling hostile forces of autocracy. Such fears were voiced by the Prussian statesman Ewald von Hertzberg: "The Poles have given the coup de grâce to the Prussian monarchy by voting a constitution". Were the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to grow in resilience, pressure would come to return what Prussia had recently purloined. The new constitution infuriated Empress Catherine. Poland's king was her former lover; she considered Poland a de facto protectorate. A chief author of Russian foreign policy, Alexander Bezborodko wrote "The worst possible news has arrived from Warsaw: the Polish king has become almost sovereign".

For Poland's neighbours, the links of Polish reformers with the French National Assembly reeked of revolution; throwing down the gauntlet before the absolute monarchies. Catherine intervened. By chance, Russia had just extricated herself from separate entanglements with Turkey and Sweden. Support was lent to a Polish anti-reform group, the Targowica Confederation. After barely a year, the machinery of the new constitution had been wrecked by Russian armies allied with conservative Polish nobility. In the War in Defence of the Constitution Polish loyalist forces were routed.

Another partition, as unsettling as the first, was to occur six years after Hofbauer arrived. This left 10 million (i.e. 71%) of the original population of 14 million disenfranchised; no longer under Polish rule. At yet another partition two years later (see Partitions of Poland), Poland ceased to exist.

Clement Mary Hofbauer and his team had been in Warsaw twelve years when, on 19 November 1799, Napoleon led a coup d'état in faraway Paris. Within a few years he announced he was an emperor, planning to claim an empire. From 1803 the armies of France under his command fought almost every European power, and acquired control of most of continental Europe, whether by conquest or alliance. In 1806 the Grande Armée took over the city where Hofbauer and his team were working. The Duchy of Warsaw was established as a client state. The impact of King Frederick Augustus' rule was subordinated to French requirements. What little remained in the Warsaw Duchy was now to resource military ambitions elsewhere.

Throughout Hofbauer's 21 years in Warsaw, he can have counted upon neither public security nor institutional stability. The three partitions of Poland brought about great bloodshed. Enemy forces were overwhelming, notwithstanding the endeavours of Tadeusz Kościuszko. Soon after his victory at Racławice, the fighting engulfed Warsaw during Holy Week of 1794. There followed the massacre of Warsaw's Praga district. Whether in reprisal or revenge, the Russian imperial army killed up to 20,000 civilians, regardless of gender and age. "The whole of Praga was strewn with dead bodies, blood was flowing in streams" wrote the Russian commander, Alexander Suvorov. Along with all Warsaw's residents, the Redemptorists' lives were in constant danger. Crashing through the church roof where they were based, bombs failed to explode on no less than three occasions.

Poverty

Back in February 1787, when the trio reached Warsaw, it had almost 120,000 people. Despite some 160 churches and 20 religious houses, charitable work cried out for attention: lots of people were poor and uneducated, their houses in disrepair.

They had arrived in Warsaw with no money; since Hofbauer had given their last three silver coins to beggars along the way. They met the apostolic delegate, Archbishop Saluzzo. With bad roads and wintery weather, he signalled his guests should stay in the capital for the time being. The bishop of Poznań, in whose diocese Warsaw lay, entrusted them with the church dedicated to St Benno, to serve the German-speaking people of Warsaw. At the same time, an orphanage and a school for the families of manual craftsmen were put under their care. Charged with all this, Hofbauer and his companions had to see things through. They ended up remaining in Warsaw.

After an audience with King Stanisław August Poniatowski, Hofbauer and his companions gained material assistance. Help was promised also from the Commission of National Education, and the Sejm (Parliament) in Grodno. This notwithstanding, sometimes Hofbauer had to seek alms. The story goes that on one occasion he went begging at a local pub. When he asked for a donation, one of the customers scornfully spat beer into Hofbauer's face. Wiping off the beer, he responded, "That was for me. Now what do you have for my boys?" It is said that the astounded men in the bar were so full of remorse that they gave Hofbauer all their winnings, more than 100 silver coins.

When he saw a homeless boy on the street, Hofbauer brought him to the rectory, cleaned him up, fed him, and then taught him a trade and instructed him in the Christian way of life. When the number of boys grew too large for the rectory, Hofbauer opened the Child Jesus Refuge for his homeless boys. Hofbauer was loved not only by his pupils, but also in more intellectual circles. It is reported that he accompanied the struggles of his pupils, advising them, teaching them, feeding them and guiding them through everyday life.

Evangelisation

When the Redemptorists first opened their church they preached to empty benches. People apparently found it hard to trust these foreign priests. Many others had lapsed from Catholicism, some to adopt Freemasonry. To help restore the Catholic faith, Hofbauer and his companions set to work.

Street battles were to reach Warsaw (see above). Hofbauer and his companions appealed for peace. This only served to fuel suspicion and they became labelled as traitors. Persecutions started in 1795, when Warsaw came under Prussian occupation. Hofbauer appealed directly to the Prussian king. Memoranda to him from Hofbauer record that attending the elementary school were 256 boys and 187 girls; that this was Warsaw's only school for girls; that the children were poor and receiving their tuition free; that many were homeless and orphans, housed at school free of charge. All to no avail. The decree arrived to close the school.

In time St. Benno's became the thriving centre of the Catholic Church in Warsaw. By the year 1800, growth was palpable, both in the work at the church and in the Redemptorist community. Reception of the sacraments had risen from 2,000 (in 1787) to over 100,000.

From among the boys under his care, Clement Mary Hofbauer started to recruit future Redemptorists. After ensuring they got into junior high schools, he himself undertook teaching them philosophy and theology, maintaining this until presented for ordination. He had seven priests after eight years. A novitiate was also founded. There were 18 priests by 1803. In 1808 there were 36 Redemptorists.

After the French took over in 1806 a law was passed that forbade local pastors from letting the Redemptorists preach missions in their parishes. There followed an even harsher prohibition from preaching and hearing confessions in their own church of St. Benno's. King Frederick Augustus I was powerless to stop those who wished rid of the Redemptorists. At the request of Marshal Davout, Napoleon signed an order (9 June 1808) that they be transported (20 June) to the fortress in Kostrzyn nad Odrą. They were released after a month, but not allowed to return to Poland. In 1809, when the forces of Napoleon attacked Vienna, Hofbauer worked as a hospital chaplain caring for the many wounded soldiers. The archbishop, seeing Hofbauer's zeal, asked him to care for a little Italian church in Vienna. He remained there for four years until he was appointed chaplain to the Ursuline Sisters in July 1813. Attending to the spiritual welfare of the nuns and lay people who came to their chapel, Hofbauer gained a reputation as a powerful preacher and gentle confessor.

In the early days of the 19th century, Vienna was a major cultural center of Europe. Hofbauer enjoyed spending time with the students and the intellectuals. Hofbauer took care of young people, especially students at the university. He was always ready to offer support, both spiritual and material. Students came, singly and in groups, to his quarters to talk, share a meal, or get advice. A good many of them later became Redemptorists. Under his influence, one of the students under his spiritual care, Frederic Baraga, decided to become a priest. Baraga went on to become the first Slovenian missionary in the United States and an influential missionary to the Ottawa and Ojibwa tribes in the Great Lakes region of the United States.

A coterie of the learned and educated among the Viennese gathered around Clement Mary Hofbauer. Through them there developed a redeeming influence on others, fuelling religious revival in Austria. Notable and artistic people he shepherded into the Catholic Church included Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, Dorothea von Schlegel (daughter of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn), Friedrich August von Klinkowström the artist, Joseph von Pilat (Metternich's private secretary), Zacharias Werner

Legacy

Hofbauer is one of the figures immortalised in Jan Matejko's 1891 painting, Constitution of 3 May 1791.

Gallery

File:Wien Minoritenplatz Hofbauer-Denkmal 2.jpg|Klemens Maria Hofbauer statue, Minoritenplatz, Vienna

File:Wien Maria am Gestade Hofbauer-Relief.jpg|Tombstone, Maria am Gestade, Vienna

File:August von Wörndle, Clemens Maria HofbauerJS.jpg|Drawing by August von Wörndle von Adelsfried, c. 1902