U.S. Seelos Shrine Newsletter

Subscribe to the monthly Seelos Shrine newsletter

Newsletter Archives

ST MANG FÜSSEN IS PART OF FÜSSEN PARISH PARTNERSHIP WHICH COMPRISES THE FOLLOWING PARISHES

ST MANG,FÜSSEN

Saturday 1800hrs 1st Mass of Sunday

Sunday Mass 1030hrs

Monday  0830hrs(St Mang Basilica) & Friday 1830hrs (Krippkirche). 

ACHT SELIGKEITEN,FÜSSEN WEST

Sunday Mass 0800hrs, 1800hrs. Thursdays-0830hrs.

ST WALBURGA,WEIßENSEE

Sunday Mass 0900hrs. Tuesdays May-October 1900hrs. November-April 0830hrs

ST PETER & PAUL,HOPFEN AM SEE

Sunday Mass (Winter) 1000hrs. (Summer) Either 1st Mass of Sunday 1930hrs OR Sunday 1000hrs.

Wednesdays-1900hrs

MASS TIMES IN PINSWANG AUSTRIA

Saturday 1900hrs(1st Mass of Sunday)Vils During July-August 

Sunday 1000hrs St Ulrich von Augsburg Kirche,Pinswang

Monday 0700hrs (Vils)

Tuesday 0800hrs Widum (Back of the Priest`s House)

Wednesday 1900hrs Oberpinswang

Thursday 1900hrs Widum (Back of the Priest`s House)

Friday 0800hrs Musau

https://files.constantcontact.com/ea67a4dd701/fb3444f7-2ef1-4d55-882c-c1799498d3e5.pdf?rdr=true

Wednesday 31st August a group of American Pilgrims to Füssen will join with their Priest for Holy Mass in English at 1000hrs in St Mang Basilica. The pilgrims will then join "Seelos in Füssen" in an hour long tour of the city seeing all the sites associated with Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos.

They will then spend the rest of the day in Füssen before moving on to Neuschwanstein Castle for a "photo stop", not a visit to the actual castle itself. This seems to be the new accepted norm for many tours due to local traffic jams and time restraints, something the local Tourism Offices should be keeping an eye on! The pilgrims will then move on to dinner and overnight accommodation in Bad Kohlgrub before watching the world famous Passion Play in Oberammergau the next day. The Pilgrims have the very experienced Autrian Tour Guide, Julia Woodwards in charge of them. 

Rubenena & Roberto who renewed their marriage vows in St Mang Basilica,Füssen, Germany during Holy Mass celebrated by Father Antonio Mena.

A group of 25 Texan Pilgrims of Latinos origin celebrated Holy Mass today in the Choir-stools of St Mang Basilica. The pilgrims were on their rest-day before moving on tomorrow to view the world famous Oberammergau Passion Play. Led by Spanish Tour guide Pila the pilgrims arrived about 1315hrs in the basilica with their Priest Father Antonio Mena, who has  served the El Paso Diocese for over 30 years. He is Now Parish Priest of  San Felipe De Jesus Parish(Socorro), El Paso, Texas.

The happy couple renew their marriage vows and are blessed by Father Antonio Mena

Father Antonio celebrated the Mass in Spanish and gave his sermon in Spanish & English highlighting  the Epistle of the day and its message about following God in humility and not taking advantage of those who live in poverty.

During Holy Mass a couple called Rubenena Maria & Roberto renewed their marriage vows much to the delight and joy of the rest of the congregation!

After the Holy Mass the entire group posed for a group photo and were then given holy pictures and 2nd & 3rd class relics of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos by Seelos in Füssen 

Pila Spanish Tour Guide to the Pilgrims

Seelos in Füssen would like to thank the Spanish Tour Guide, Pila, Father Antonio Mena  and the entire group of Pilgrims for allowing us to partake in their joyous and deeply moving Holy Mass.

SAN FELIPE DE JESUS - SOCORRO
Rev. Antonio Mena
Pastor
401 Passmore, Socorro, TX 79849
(915) 851-3039

The Füssen Tourism Office continues to turn a blind eye to the needs of American Religious Pilgrims visiting Füssen because of the American Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos who was born here on 11th January 1819. American Pilgrims continue to flock into the City so as to be able to attend Mass in St Mang Basilica where he was baptised the day he was born. Apart from the pilgrims Seelos in Füssen has shown around another group of pilgrims celebrated Holy Mass in St Mang at 1200hrs Monday 11th July with yet another large group due to celebrate Holy Mass at 1230hrs Wednesday 13th July. These are just a small number of the pilgrims we get to hear about as the local Parish Office do not give us any information about visiting groups due to German privacy laws!

At the beginning of September two pilgrimages will visit Füssen from the USA. Their sole reason to visit Füssen will be to see the sites associated with the "great son of Füssen" Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos.

Magnificat Travel are bringing a Pilgrimage to Oberammergau visiting different religious Shrines in Switzerland, Austria & Germany including St Mang Basilica Füssen and a tour of the sites in Füssen relating to Blessed Seelos. The Spiritual Director of the Pilgrimage is Father  Michael Russo. The founder of Magnificat Travel Maria Tregre will be leading the Pilgrimage.

Also in September the Director of the National Seelos Shrine in New Orleans, Father Richard Boever will be leading the "In the Footsteps of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos " Pilgrimage. The pilgrims will be in Füssen Friday 9th and Saturday 10th September. They will also have a tour of all places in Füssen to do with Blessed Seelos

A group of 43 joyful and happy pilgrims from St Helen Parish Houston, Texas visited Füssen Saturday 9th July 2022. on a Pilgrimage arranged by Magnificat Travel of Lafayette, Louisiana.

Pilgrims arriving at St Mang Basilica,Füssen 

Entering St Mang Basilica

Father Jim Courville,Parish Priest of Sr Helen Catholic Church,Houston, Texas in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston  and Deacon Juan Pagan, Coordinator for the Hispanic Ministry for the Diocese of Lafayette, waiting to celebrate Holy Mass in the Choirstools of St Mang Basilica

Father Jim Courville celebrated Holy Mass in the choir-stools of St Mang Basilica assisted by Deacon Juan Pagen of the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana.

Father Jim Courville spoke about the whole point of the Pilgrimage, to come closer to Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ through a deepening of our understanding of His Passion and crucifixion. Tomorrow the group will watch the world famous Oberammergau Passion Play which starts in the afternoon and has one break during the performance.

The Parish of Füssen had agreed to send a guide to give a tour of the Basilica but they failed to turn up.

The group at the Baptism Font where Seelos was baptised 11th January 1819

Pilgrims from St Helen Catholic Church Houston,Texas outside St Mang Basilica for a group photo

Thanks to quick thinking and forward planning Official Tour Guide Julia Woodwards had arranged with Seelos in Füssen to give the group a tour of the Basilica and Füssen showing all places associated with this "great son of Füssen".

Pilgrims on the Lech Bridge in Füssen,Germany where they took photos of the "Our Lady Of the Mountains Shrine", The St Mang Basilica and Monastery and the Franciscan Church of St Stephan.

Pilgrims outside the house where Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos was born

The pilgrims see the grave of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos`s Mother and Father and his siblings.

The pilgrims having completed their Seelos tour of Füssen get ready to board the bus to Garmisch-Partenkirchen 

ALL PHOTOS ON THIS NEWS STORY ARE COPYRIGHT FREE AND CAN BE CLICKED AND DOWNLOAED IN THEIR ORIGIONAL SIZE .if you were on this pilgrimage and have better photos to share please contact us via the contact page and we will get back to you.

David and Paula Schoenadel report "

Wayman is finishing up with the final sculpture of Blessed Seelos for the grotto. He has added the rosary which hangs from the cincture.

He says he is thankful for the opportunity to do this and to learn more about Blessed Seelos. He believes he is a Saint we need in this day and age of a world recovering from a pandemic. He says he is such a humble and pious Priest giving his life to care for those during yellow fever. He said it was an honor building it.

Next steps

1. dry for at least 4 weeks

2. bisque (first firing)

3. Glaze (second firing)

Thank you Wayman for your excellent work on this very special sculpture for the prayer garden at SSPP Shrine.

Many thanks to Joe and Maggie Sank who who read about Wayman in the Catholic review when a artist was needed. This was perfect timing. Prayers answered!"

FACEBOOK PLEASE NOTE WE HAVE PERMISSION TO USE THESE PHOTOS BEFORE YOU PUT NASTY MESSAGES TO US AGAIN

The Superior General of the Redemptorist Order when communicating with "Seelos in Füssen" today said about  Blessed Seelos, "He is a remarkable man with a wonderful story of holiness and gentleness. "

Father Brehl is Canadian by birth and has been Superior General of the Redemptorist order since 2009. He is known for great knowledge of Redemptorist history especially its Saints and Blesseds.

Photo Copyright © Seelos Shrine Newsletter.

42 American pilgrims will be attending Holy Mass at 1400hrs Saturday 9th July 2022. The group will be lead by Julia Woodwards of European Premier Tours,Austria.

Many US pilgrimages to Oberammergau deliberately make a detour to Füssen to honour their fellow American citizen. Although born in Füssen Francis Xavier Seelos became a US Citizen on 6th October 1842.

The pilgrims also long to visit the Seelos Shrine her in Füssen and pray in the Church where he was Baptised the day he was born 11 January 1819, Confirmed 3 September 1828 and made his first Holy Communion 2 April 1830. A point that Füssen Tourism Office seem oblivious too as their site has nothing to help the American tourist learn more in the city about this great "son of Füssen".

https://files.constantcontact.com/ea67a4dd701/5c434dba-63d2-4ce0-a26b-0567d20c4d63.pdf?rdr=true

Seelos in Füssen can announce that more tours are coming too Füssen because of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos. As soon as we have finalised  the details we will post them here.

LOOKING FOR A GOOD EXPERIENCED EUROPEAN TOUR GUIDE?

Look no further- Julia Woodwards is your first choice!

Brunnenwasser 15

A6600 Lechaschau

Österreich/Austria

European Organisation for Coach Travel

Find out more on her website!

Link

Seelos in Füssen highly recommends her

David & Paula Schoenadel posted the following message on the Save the Shrine of SS Peter & Paul Facebook page

"Exciting news-

Photo © David & Paula Schoenadel

The American Pilgrims standing in front of the Seelos Door to St Mang Basilica, Füssen with Father David  in the back row and Tour Guide Carmen qith the official tour flag!

The City of Füssen welcomed Father David, a Priest of the New Orleans Diocese and his group of 27 pilgrims and their Spanish Tour Guide on Saturday 25th June 2022, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On what was a beautiful sunny day the joyous  pilgrims had requested to visit Füssen for the sole reason of being able to pray at the Seelos Shrine in St Mang Basilica. The group were mainly from Louisiana where Seelos is a household name to most people! Others on the Pilgrimage were 2 from DC, 2 from Memphis and 2 from San Antonio.

The pilgrims had been in Italy the previous days and had visited Rome & Assisi.

Photos Miriam Rosenthal-English

Having flown from Italy to Munich yesterday and stayed overnight, they were fortunate not encounter any traffic problems on they way to Füssen due to the G7 summit being held at Schloss Elmau near Garmisch Partenkirchen. 

The group celebrated Mass before coming to Füssen as they have to move to Garmisch tonight for their meal and overnight stay.

They had Carmen Sánchez Gil as their tour guide. This was her first time bringing a tour group to Füssen. She flew in from her home in Spain to lead the pilgrims and was the one who contacted Seelos in Füssen to give them all a guided tour of the city showing places relevant to Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos.

The Pilgrims visited Seeloshaus, and the House where Seelos lived when his father was sacristan of St Mang. They saw the Hohes Schloss, the former summer residence of the Prince Bishops of Augsburg. In St Mang Basilica they spent time in prayer in the Baptistry where the font that Seelos was baptised in is still in use today. They also put their prayer requests in at the Shrine itself. After a 30 minute break for refreshments in the city they continued on to see the former Benedictine Monastery, Our Lady of the Mountains Shrine, the Holy Ghost Hospital Chapel. Finally they walked the street where he was born and took photos outside the house he was born in. 

So having refreshed their spiritual batteries at the Shrine of Blessed Seelos tomorrow the have a police escort at 0930hrs from Garmisch to Oberammergau where they will watch the world famous Passion Play starting at 1430hrs. We just pray that their tour guide Carmen manages to find a Holy Mass for them all to attend!

Thanks to the generosity of Gregg Terrabone who visited Füssen with his wife, Peggy, two years ago, Seelos in Füssen was able to give all pilgrims a 2nd class relic of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos.

Stefan Friedlmeier, Director of the Füssen Tourism Office has responded to a complaint by Seelos in Füssen about the lack of mention of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos on the city tourism website. Despite other towns like Oberammergau and Alttoting not being afraid to use spiritual events to promote the town. The same cannot be said of Füssen which completely ignored the 200th birthday of Blessed Seelos despite many events in the USA celebrating this renowned "Son of Füssen"!

            Seelos in Füssen had in fact informed the Tourism Office over 12 years ago about the lack of information about Blessed Seelos. We were totally ignored at the time despite many tour guides contacting us personally to give Seelos guides of Füssen. Mr Friedlmeier claims "Thank you very much for your email and for your information – even if it is a complaint.   We will discuss the topic internally. To be honest: You are the first one in years to address to us in this respect.". To be fair too Mr Friedlmeier he was not the Tourism Director 12 years ago when we first brought this to the attention of the tourism department! 

          We were made aware due to information from an Austrian Tour Guide that Füssen was loosing out on American pilgrimages to Oberammergau. Tour guides in Munich totally ignored Füssen when taking Oberammergau tours and would only visit Neuschwanstein Castle and the world renowned Wieskirche. The Austrian guide actually cancelled a trip to Salzburg in Austria as her group WANTED to visit Füssen due to Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos! The photos and news item about the group visit 12 years can be found in the archives.

         Hopefully the Füssen Tourism Department can see the benefit of including information of places in the city relevant to Blessed Seelos on their website, especially as a second miracle has been forwarded to Rome which could eventually lead to this "Son of Füssen" being declared a SAINT!

A few of the sites in the city of Füssen relevant to Blessed Seelos!.There are many more!

A Pilgrimage group of 28 people and a tour guide will visit Füssen on the afternoon of Saturday 25th June 2022 at 1600hrs. They will then be shown all the sites in the city with connections to Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos by a representative of Seelos in Füssen Website for free as well as being given 2nd & 3rd class relics of Blessed Seelos. The group arrive in Munich from the U.S.A. on Friday 24th June. On 25th June they leave Munich and will stop at Füssen for 3 hours before moving on to Oberammergau where they will view the world famous Passion Play. There is a Catholic Priest amongst the group and he expressed a great desire to celebrate Mass in St Mang Basilica where the Shrine of  Blessed Seelos is located. Unfortunately they left it too late to apply as the Basilica is really busy that weekend and only one sacristan is available to do it all. The group therefore decided to do exactly the same as the Pilgrimage from the National Seelos Center in New Orleans will do when the come in September. They will tour the sites connected with Blessed Seelos then attend the 1800hrs Mass in German in the Basilica.

Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos has a permanent place in the narthex. Also we have memorialized our foundation with the words found in St Matthew’s Gospel (chapter 25). Of course these are the verses scrolled across our sanctuary wall at the Prodisee Pantry. God Bless the ministry at Prodisee Pantry. God Bless our new community and the work we are called to do in Jesus’ name.

St Alphonsus Parish in New Orleans will welcome Deacon Michael Thien Hoang C.Ss.R. on the feast of Pentecost. Newly ordained, Deacon Hoang is posted there for a year.

He is a Vietnamese American who was born in Austin Texas.He has been with the Redemptorists for 7 year and was ordained Deacon on 30th April 2022.

For more infomation about Deacon Hoang click this link https://stalphonsusno.com/welcomedcnhoang/

Photo Copyright © St Alphonsus Parish New Orleans

https://files.constantcontact.com/ea67a4dd701/034ccfb2-903d-4f24-aa8d-0e80b7a54800.pdf?rdr=true

Archbishop Joseph Fred Nauman, Archbishop of Kansas City,Kansas 

©Scott Maentz - https://www.flickr.com/photos/smaentz/6202801140/ 

Wikipedia  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

  The Most Reverend Joseph Fred Naumann, 4th Archbishop and 11th Bishop of the Archdiocese of  Kansas City, Kansas on Friday 22nd April 2022 blessed and dedicated the Blessed Francis Xavier Chapel at Donnelly College in Kansas City, Kansas.

©Michaela Remijio | Director of Marketing and Communications, DONNELLY COLLEGE

        The College is a Catholic Institution of  higher education and aims to bring the the love and message of Jesus Christ to the world. It was opened in 1949 and has served the area for 73 years. The Chapel and the new academic building of the college were expected to be blessed in 2020 but due to COVID 19 and other technical work it was delayed.

©Michaela Remijio | Director of Marketing and Communications, DONNELLY COLLEGE

The Leaven, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas has an excellent article on the blessing of the chapel and admin buildings at http://theleaven.org/new-donnelly-academic-building-blessed-and-dedicated/

©Michaela Remijio | Director of Marketing and Communications,DONNELLY COLLEGE

Donnelly College website:- https://www.donnelly.edu/

Seelos in Füssen would like to thank Michaela Remijio for her help in obtaining photos of the beautiful Blessed Seelos Chapel in Donnelly College.

Father Rich Boever, Director of the National Seelos Shrine in New Orleans recently shocked many when he publicly announced he had cancer of the lung. During the recent Seelos Healing Mass on 24th April 2022, Father Rich told the congregation he was joining them in prayer for healing for himself as he was told last December that he had spots of cancer on his lung. We ask all who visit this website to offer a prayer to Blessed Seelos for the healing of Father Rich. Seelos in Füssen also look forward to seing him if he is well enough when he visits Füssen on 9th September and hopefully celebrates Mass in St Mang Basilica sometime in the afternoon. He and the pilgrimage group will also attend the 1800hrs 1st Maas of Sunday in St Mang Basilica on Saturday 10th September 2022. Seelos in Füssen will be giving the "In the Footsteps of Blessed Francis Seelos Alpine Europe Pilgrimage" a tour of all the relevant sites in Füssen connected with Blessed Seelos.

The Last Parish that Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos served in was St Mary`s Assumption Church in New Orleans.Over the years patchwork renovation has been made to the magnificent church. Now it is time to do a major renovation which will cost over $4,000,000! Will you help them to reach this target so they can save the church for future generations? To find out mor you can visit the Parish web page giving more details of the work involved.

https://stalphonsusno.com/savestmarys/

St Mary's Assumption Church

St. Mary’s Assumption Restoration Capital Campaign is underway.
To donate using your cell phone, please scan the QR code here.
Or visit our donation page today!

Thank you for your generosity and continued support. God Bless!

Father Gil  Enderle, Vice-Postulator for the Seelos Canonisation Cause of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos was asked to update the congregation who attended the Seelos Healing Mass on how the cause was progressing. Father Enderle told those present that he had sent the case of Carson Joseph Coyle of Metairie, Louisiana to Rome. Carson was born with the help of vacumn extraction which caused brain damage and massive swelling around his skull. He was given a Seelos blessing by Judge Dennis Waldron with the  Crucifix used by Blessed Seelos. Rome say that it has a good chance of passing and allowing Seelos to be canonized. However Father Enderle has to send many more details to allow the cause to proceed in Rome. The video below shows the story of Carson. Carson is now 3 years old

News Item from 4WWL(To view in Europe you will need to use a VPN) https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/new-orleans-baby-given-hours-to-live-makes-unexplainable-recovery/289-b6f21270-8e24-42d4-8be3-7e5741902084

Meet 43 year old African-American artist Wayman Scott from Baltimore,Maryland, U.S.A. He has agreed to help the Shrine of St Peter & St Paul in Cumberland to finally be able to place a statue in their Seelos Prayer Garden Grotto!(Photo below)

For nearly a year the grotto has been awaiting a statue, David & Paula Schoenadel told us "The mockup Blessed Seelos sculpture is underway. Wayman Scott out of Baltimore,Md has been very gracious in every way and has been working on the mockup sculpture for the Blessed Seelos grotto at the Blessed Seelos prayer garden. The mockup is completed first to see what edits and so forth are needed. He may change the book to a hand position to the chest. We have left this to his discretion as he would know what would hold up best over time. Friends of ours saw an article of Wayman in the Catholic review about a year ago. They passed the information on to us and we made contact through a Parish Priest and the author of the article in the Catholic review. " 

This original sculpture should be ready in July. Seelos in Füssen look forward to seeing the finished statue in the Seelos Prayer Garden Grotto.

Link

The Catholic Week, official publication of the Archdiocese of Mobile,Alabama covered the opening of the Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos building which is designed to look like a church even though it is the Parish Hall!

Spanish Fort parish established in 2018 has home for Mass with new parish center

https://www.mobarch.org/news/spanish-fort-parish-established-in-2018-has-home-for-mass-with-new-parish-center

Congratulations to Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos Parish in Spanish Fort, Alabama on the official opening of your new Church! Photos curtesy of the Church's & Archdiocese of Mobile  facebook pages.