"Caritas Christi urget nos!"
"The love of Christ compels us!" (2 Cor 5: 14)

an excerpt from the life of the great Apostle, St. Clement Mary Hofbauer, C.Ss.R.

and an account of pastoral zeal and creativity in the face of difficulties--perhaps similiar to some we face today...

To St Benno's in Warsaw

Arriving in Warsaw in February, the tiny Redemptorist band found that priests were really not lacking in the city.  The small band found their way to St Benno's, in disrepair and poor in every way. There was a school and orphanage attached and St Clement had to go door to door begging for funds for these poor students and orphans.  The fathers and clerics lived in poverty and depended completely on Divine Providence, and they didn't have enough money for the candles in the church!   (The Polish people were very suspicious about these German religious).

Warsaw was sunk in a cesspool of immorality and corruption. As for all the priests Hofbauer had first observed when arriving, their presence was of no value. Many, in fact, were leading scandalous lives themselves.

"Scandal and vice," reads one of Hofbauer's letters from this period, "have reached their climax here, and one can hardly see how matters can be remedied. From the clergy down to the poorest beggar, society is rotten to the core. It is to be feared that God will remove the candlestick from this place."

Mission Emerges

The challenge now facing Saint Clement, therefore, was not merely to save St. Benno's, but the city of Warsaw itself.

It was by such examples that, gradually, more and more Germans and even Poles started attending church at St. Benno's and providing financial support. Now, with the school and orphanage on better footing, the saintly Superior could confront his next challenge--that of converting the city.

Spiritual Rebirth of Warsaw

Drastic maladies, Clement reasoned, require drastic remedies. If in Warsaw evil and moral perversity abounded in the extreme, then dosages of Catholicity in the extreme—if indeed there can be such a thing—were needed to correct them.   The government at that time forbade the preaching of Missions, the major work of the Redemptorist congregation.

To extraordinary needs extraordinary remedies must be applied. This was the simple logic which gave birth to the "Perpetual Mission " at St. Benno's. The Fathers were not permitted to go about from place to place or from church to church giving Missions. Sermons in public places, according to the Italian custom, on market days, which were essayed by Hofbauer, were expressly forbidden by the Prussian Government. 

Another way of laboring for the salvation of the people in the city, had to be devised he curtly and dryly remarked in a report to Father General. He made St. Benno's his headquarters, and endeavored to compensate the people for the loss of the occasional mission by conducting a " Perpetual Mission" in his own church.  Here we have one of the greatest examples of pastoral zeal and creativity in the Church's history.

The Perpetual Mission at St Benno's

The spiritual labors of the Fathers at St. Benno's were remarkably fruitful during these years of political changes. The sentiments of the people had gradually undergone a complete transformation. They were soon convinced that the foreign Religious at St. Benno's entertained no national or political aims, but were concerned only about the salvation of neglected youth. Once the people became convinced of this, their changed attitude was soon in evidence.

The great turning point in the history of St. Benno's, however, dates from the days of terror in 1794. Hofbauer mentions in one of his letters that their church was overcrowded from day to day.  Soon the Fathers were in greater demand by the Poles than by the Germans, although at that time only Podgorski, an angelic young priest, delivered short Polish sermons to the people. At this time, too, more Poles were applying for admission into the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.

At the beginning of 1795, the Community numbered eight Fathers, all of whom were Germans. Two of the five clerics, however, and four of the seven novices, were Poles, and there were two Polish juvenists. The people had come to recognize their apostle.  St. Benno's was no longer, as a few years previously, an almost isolated German national church: it was now the very heart and center of religious life, not only for the whole city, but for its environs as well.

The People Respond To Holiness

No more convincing evidence of this change can be cited than the unusual and sudden increase in the number of Communions in a year - from two thousand in the first year to twenty thousand, in 1796, and over one hundred thousand since 1800.

The church, which seated about one thousand persons, was greatly overtaxed on Sundays. Those who could not find place within the church stood praying outside in the cemetery or in the street. New devotions and services, such as frequent novenas, were introduced. Hardly a day in the week passed without a High Mass and special sermon. The Poles are fond of long and solemn services. Hofbauer had his reasons for complying generously with this wish of the poor and downtrodden people. In 1800, the development of the order of divine services at St. Benno's reached its climax in the so-called " Perpetual Mission," which became renowned far beyond the limits of Warsaw.

Sublime Extravagance

Details were arranged, not haphazardly, but with due consideration for the temperament of the people and the needs of the hour.   Solemnity and magnificence were of prime importance. The means flowed in abundantly. The days when Hofbauer had to complain that candles, oil, and wine could hardly be provided for the church, were now to be no more. The rich and the poor contributed to the church with openhanded liberality, and the donations kept pace with current expenses. And these expenses were by no means slight, for the lively faith of the Saint considered no expenditure too great, no splendor superfluous, when there was question of enhancing the beauty of divine service or observing the prescribed liturgy of the Church.

Instead of moving from place to place, Clement decided that at St Benno's he would offer the Mission continuously, all day, every day.  An incredible work began;  something unrivalled in the history of the Church perhaps....certainly one of the most creative and most innovative and daring ventures, yet so firmly rooted in the faith and the Tradition of the Catholic Church!

We shall let St. Clement, the founder of this glorious work, speak for himself. In a report prepared for the Nuncio at Vienna, in 18O2, Hofbauer briefly states the order of the divine services:

"On all Sundays and holy days there is a sermon at five o'clock in the morning for servants, who  cannot attend the divine service at a later hour. For their convenience Holy Mass is said immediately after the sermon. 

Every day at six o'clock there is a Mass of Exposition, during which the people chant hymns. After the Mass an instruction is given in Polish. During these instructions and sermons Masses are constantly being said, so that those who do not understand Polish or German, or who have not the time to remain for a sermon, may not be deprived of the Holy Sacrifice.

Every day at eight o'clock there is a High Mass with Plain Chant, after which there are two sermons—the first in Polish and the second in German. Then the school children come to the church, and the Solemn High Mass with musical accompaniment is celebrated.

In the afternoon at three o'clock the confraternities chant the Office of the Blessed Virgin. At four o'clock there is a German sermon, followed by Vespers solemnly chanted, and followed in turn by a Polish sermon. Finally there is a visit to the Blessed Sacrament and to the Blessed Virgin publicly made with the faithful.

Every day at five o'clock there is a German sermon. Then follow in order, a Visit to the Blessed Sacrament, a sermon in Polish, the Way of the Cross, and congregational singing of hymns in honor of the Passion of Our Lord and of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Lastly there is an Examination of Conscience for the people, the Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity are made, a short sketch of the life of the saint whose feast is celebrated on the morrow is read, and then the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary is recited, after which the people are dismissed and the church is closed."

This was the daily routine at St. Benno's for years!  Imagine the continuous feast of the Word of God and the Sacraments and of Prayer and Devotion, every day for 10 years! Imagine the immense outpouring of grace and of the Holy Spirit in this continual, perpetual Mission!

The Beauty of Holiness

On the more solemn feasts processions were held.  A contemporary enthusiastically describes these impressive ceremonies:

"Most magnificent," he writes, " was especially the Corpus Christi procession. . . . It differed in no way from other processions of this kind, except that there was no booming of cannon. But the stirring sermons that were delivered on this occasion in both languages not only resounded in the ears, but sank into the very souls of the hearers.

The church and its surroundings were literally covered with candles and flowers; twelve acolytes carried censers and incense, a host of boys clad in white and gold, strewed flowers before the Blessed Sacrament. The priests, who walked immediately before the Blessed Sacrament, wore their richest vestments.

The outstanding feature of the solemnity, however, was the canopy, which was carried by six men of the nobility. Princesses and other ladies of the noblest families had worked it. It was embroidered with flowers and with fires symbolic of the Holy Eucharist. Its gold ornamentation alone was valued at three thousand florins.

A troop of young men, clad in silver and gold, and representing the cherubim of heaven, followed after the canopy, under which the celebrant held aloft in view of the worshiping throngs the God of our altars. On account of the limited space, only fifty of the most devout and respectable members of the Young Ladies' Sodality were chosen to take part in the procession. Many of these had taken the vow of chastity. They were clothed in white, wore red sashes, were without vain ornaments, carried lighted candles, and marched under the Sodality banner borne by one of the members.

During the Mass these young women, with lighted candles in their hands, received Holy Communion from Father Hofbauer, who always conducted the entire ceremony himself. The procession was preceded by a sermon and the High Mass, and followed by a short exhortation, whereupon the Te Deum was chanted and Benediction given.

At the Blessing all bowed down to the ground, holding only their candles aloft, and the national colors were dipped in a triple salute to the Blessed Sacrament."

Popular Piety and Devotion

All this display of pomp and splendor was inspired chiefly by considerations of a pastoral nature. The Saint remarked on one occasion later on, that if one wishes to win over a people to God, ignorant of so many basics of the faith, one should surround the divine services and all public devotions with all possible grandeur and solemnity. "The public ceremonies of the Church," he would say, "draw the hearts of the people by their pomp and magnificence, and by degrees win them over in spite of their prejudices; the people hear with their eyes more than with their ears: they are at first captivated, then captured by the sight. This I experienced again and again at Warsaw.

Indeed he did! From the highest ranks of nobility to the poorest classes of society, they thronged St. Benno's—Germans and Poles alike. And not only Catholics, but Protestants, and Jews as well, whose conversions came in remarkable numbers. 

Repentance and the Word of God

The pulpit and the confessional he always regarded as the principal arena of the priest's activity. During all the divine services, therefore, Fathers were to be found in the confessionals, which were invariably thronged with penitents. Many of these persons journeyed for twenty hours to St. Benno's, in order to make their peace with God.

Catechetical instructions formed the very soul of the " Perpetual Mission." Hofbauer's zeal manifested itself particularly in the pulpit. He never wearied of preaching. The admonition of St. Paul, to "preach, exhort, in season and out of season," he obeyed to the very letter; for he was firmly convinced, that in many of the Christian countries of Europe the Gospel had to be preached anew.

The sermon-topics at St. Benno's were arranged according to the seasons of the ecclesiastical year, so that in the course of a year the entire field of Catholic teaching on faith and morals was covered. Most of the sermons, amounting to about two thousand in the course of the year, allowed thorough and detailed treatment of their subject-matter.  And sermons in those days were long and full, and not like so many of the "sermonettes" we hear today......(St Clement may well have known the truth of the saying "sermonettes make for christianettes!"  St Clement, as a true Redemptorist, in the spirit of St Alphonsus Liguori, knew the centrality of the Word of God in any authentic Christian life).

As these sermons were delivered in both languages, German and Polish, a double mission was in progress throughout the year. To many of the people, however, St. Benno's served as a mission in the stricter sense of the term, becoming to them a spiritual awakening, a season of extraordinary grace, and a rare opportunity of making sure their election and salvation.

Beyond Minimalism!

This was especially true of those who came from a distance and remained in the city for a short time. These, after attending the exercises for three, five, or eight days, returned to their homes renewed in spirit. The people of the city who visited St. Benno's daily, there received safe and systematic guidance in the spiritual life and in the ways of perfection, for the Fathers were not content to see the people observing merely the absolutely essential precepts of Christianity; they were concerned about, and as earnestly inculcated, also those lesser practices which make for the upbuilding of the interior man and are the stepping-stones to the devout life.

Accordingly, the faithful were trained to a deep religious, interior piety. Not only was the daily examination of conscience made with them, but during the Ember Days one day was set aside as a day of recollection or retreat, and once a year the Spiritual Exercises were held for eight days.

If the whole city was to be renewed in spirit, it was not sufficient that only individuals here and there should again be brought to the fulfilment of the most necessary duties of a Christian, but a class of Catholics must be created, who would in turn, as so many Apostles, be able to influence those with whom they came in contact.

The people were wont to say: " At St. Benno's the year passes by like a single day." 

What Hofbauer intended by this abundance of sermons and devotions was very laudable and necessary, namely, the thorough and lasting conversion of a city people that had become morally and religiously perverted. There may be diverse opinions about details, but in the main the " Perpetual Mission " at St. Benno's will ever remain a classical example of pastoral work in the care of souls in large cities.

In this radical departure from the antiquated and traditional order of divine services, which may meet the demands of the patriarchal conditions of a small country parish but does not come up to the requirements of a large city; in this praiseworthy endeavor every day and every hour to render it convenient for classes of people in cities so variously employed, to attend instructions in the faith and to receive the sacraments: will be seen nowadays, more than in those times, the ideal for the cure of souls in large cities--an ideal that is impracticable only on account of conditions in general.

In the final analysis, the Saint, with a deep knowledge of his times, did nothing more than adapt his pastoral work for the care of souls to those times. He set up an extraordinary program of spiritual aids to meet the needs and dangers, altogether new, of more recent times in church and religious matters. Where there was question of eternity and the salvation of souls, he knew no conservatism and no misplaced affection for old customs, but was ever ready for timely innovations.

The "Lay Apostolate", the "Apostolate of the Pen"

To expand and perpetuate this spiritual rebirth in Warsaw, Hofbauer not only organized sodalities and confraternities, but he established the Congregation of Oblates, who would carry the apostolic missionary spirit of the Institute into all segments of society. Its members were selectively chosen from the most exemplary and devoted followers, and were permitted to wear habits and participate with the Religious Community in the Divine Office.

With the help of these Oblates, a small printing plant was also operated at the Institute. Religious writings were published and disseminated as a means of further increasing the community's outreach.

And reading the life of this apostolic saint, we see many other means employed, inside the church itself and outside "in the world" to bring all things together in Christ, springing from a heart compelled by the charity of Christ.

Fruitful in Vocations

And, of course, there were new vocations.  By 1802, the religious community had grown to fourteen priests, six clerics, four lay brothers, and two novices. The most notable of these was Joseph Constantine Passerat, who had fled revolutionary France to join with our saint. Extraordinarily holy amongst even the most extraordinarily holy Religious at St. Benno's, Father Passerat lived in a state of constant prayer and meditation, which Saint Clement himself stated he envied. Now honored by the Church as Venerable, his cause for canonization was introduced at the beginning of this century.

Thus, within eight years of the Redemptorists' arrival in this decadent city, Warsaw witnessed a stunning revival of spiritual life in many portions of its society. And the center of all this new spiritual vitality was St. Benno's.   And largely thanks to the pastoral zeal and love of St Clement Mary Hofbauer, an apostle with a steadfast, childlike faith and a soaring vision, and a creativity of the Spirit, bringing out of the great Catholic storehouse treasures both new and old.

Perhaps this saint should be better known and could be one of the major patrons of the "new evangelization."  St Clement Mary said that in the countries of Europe "the gospel must be preached anew!"  May this saint inspire many to follow in his path: zeal, creativity, and great fidelity to Christ and His Church!

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This article is in large part adapted from "St Clement Maria Hofbauer" by John Hofer, C.SS.R. 

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