Baltimore, Md., Jul 9, 2009 / 13:10 pm
When President Barack Obama visits the Holy Father tomorrow, he will present a stole worn by St. John Neumann, a 19th century Redemptorist priest who is the patron saint of sick children and immigrants.
“It’s a delight that something of one of our Redemptorist saints would be given to our Holy Father,” said Very Rev. Patrick Woods, provincial of the Redemptorists’ Baltimore Province. “We’re delighted as Americans that our president is visiting the Holy Father, and delighted that something belonging to our province would be given to him.”
The Redemptorists, founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori in 1732, are priests who minister to the needs of the faithful, particularly the poor and the spiritually abandoned. Currently there are 300 Redemptorist priests serving in the United States alone.
Fr. Woods further explained that the stole was an appropriate gift for the Pope as a symbol of the priesthood because that was “at the heart of St. John Neumann’s life as a Redemptorist.”