SAINT CLEMENT MARIA HOFBAUER. Born 26 Dec. 1751 at Tasswitz (Austria), died at Vienna 15 Mar. 1820. After a hard and laborious youth he lived for a time as a hermit, then attended the University of Vienna (1780–84). At Tivoli, in the hermitage of the Madonna di Quintiliolo, he took the name C. M. (his baptismal name was Giovanni). In 1784, in Rome, he entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer; he was ordained priest at Viterbo on 29 Mar. 1785. Soon after he returned to Austria to propagate his Congregation there, but, hindered by Josephinism, he went to Poland where he found a wide field of action, and the college of St Bennon (Warsaw) soon became an educational and missionary centre. From 1788 C. M. was vicar general of the transalpine branch of his Congregation.
Opposed by Napoleon, he was expelled from Poland, arrested, and confined. From 1808 he lived in the Austrian capital, earning the title of “apostle of Vienna.” Indeed he displayed admirable activity among the people, the aristocracy, and the cultured classes. His numerous disciples, among whom were some of the most renowned leaders of Austrian Romanticism (Schlegel, Veit, Werner, Müller, Pilat, Eichendorff, the future bishops Rauscher, Ziegler, Zängerle, and many others), laid the foundations for the religious renewal of Austria, which finally overthrew Josephinism and restored the Catholic character of the people. On the day of his death the Emperor admitted the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer into the Austrian states, and it was from Vienna, through the work of the Saint’s disciples, that its worldwide diffusion began. In 1886 C. M. was beatified and in 1909 canonized; he is the patron of Vienna.
GIUSEPPE LÖW