Clement Maria Hofbauer (1751–1820)

Biography

Of humble origins, he worked in a bakery until he joined the Redemptorists at the age of thirty-one. He became very famous. In Warsaw, where he lived for twenty years, he organized a kind of perpetual mission in his church. Soon after, the parish was known for the quality of the preachers, including himself, and for the beauty of the music that was performed there. Hence many faithful came from all over and numerous conversions took place. Exiled from Poland, he went to Vienna, where he achieved the same results. “Father Hofbauer is currently the most influential priest in the entire Empire,” the apostolic nuncio wrote to Pope Pius VII. He died at noon, praying the Angelus.