St. Clement Mary Hofbauer

St. Clement Mary Hofbauer (born December 26, 1751, Tasswitz, Moravia [now in Czech Republic]—died March 15, 1820, Vienna, Austria; canonized May 20, 1909; feast day March 15) was a Roman Catholic missionary priest who established Redemptorist monasteries throughout northern Europe. He is venerated as the patron saint of Vienna and Warsaw as well as of bakers and waiters.

The son of a butcher, John Hofbauer worked as a baker until 1780. He made several pilgrimages to Rome and lived for a short while as a hermit, during which time he took the name Clement Mary. Educated at the University of Vienna and ordained a priest in 1785, he was authorized to establish Redemptorist monasteries in northern Europe. In 1788 he took up residence in Warsaw, where he worked for 20 years, establishing Redemptorist houses in Switzerland and southern Germany. In 1808, after Napoleon ordered the Redemptorist community at Warsaw disbanded and its members exiled, Hofbauer spent the remainder of his life in Vienna. There he served as a chaplain at an Ursuline convent and continued to seek government approbation for Redemptorist houses, which was granted shortly after his death.

Because of his work establishing the Redemptorist order beyond its original formation in Italy by St. Alphonsus Liguori, Hofbauer is sometimes called the “second founder” of the Redemptorists. Known also as “the apostle of Vienna,” he was named the city’s patron saint by Pope Pius X in 1914.