Blessed Francis Seelos Academy

Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos was born in Bavaria, Germany in 1819 and from an early age, expressed an interest in the priesthood. He entered the Redemptorist order and wanted to minister to the German-speaking immigrants in the United States. 

On December 22, 1844, he was ordained a priest in Baltimore, Maryland. He came to Pittsburgh and worked with Saint John Neumann in the 1840s at Saint Philomena Church in Pittsburgh’s Strip District, which is where the Redemptorist order was centered. Priests from the Redemptorist order served the fledgling Saint Alphonsus Parish in Wexford. His signature can be found on baptismal records at Saint Alphonsus Church on the main campus of Seelos Academy!

A constant endeavor in his pastoral activity was instructing the little children in the faith. He not only favored this ministry, but he also held it as fundamental for the growth of the Christian community in the parish. He was also known for his kindness in understanding the needs of the faithful, which made him become so well known as an expert confessor and spiritual director that people traveled from neighboring towns to come to him.  Seelos was said to have served his mission with joyful vigor, a cheerful person who enjoyed jokes and was often heard singing as he went about his day, earning the title "cheerful ascetic".

Seelos was assigned as Pastor of the Church of Saint Mary of the Assumption, New Orleans in 1866. However, his ministry in New Orleans was brief. In September of that year, exhausted from visiting and caring for victims of yellow fever, he contracted the disease. He died on October 4, 1867, at the age of 48 years. Throughout his priestly ministry, he was known for many miraculous healings of the body and spirit. He was proclaimed blessed by Pope John Paul II in 2000. His feast day is October 5th.