Today we ventured up to Philadelphia to visit the
National Shrine of St John Neumann, and the
Franklin Institute.
This being First Friday, we were Blest to have a tour, given by a wonderful Redemptorist priest, Rev. Matthew Allman. He gave such a heartfelt history of the order, from St Alphonsis to St John Neumann.
St John Neumann had such a heart for simple people, and there are many miracles attributed to him.
One of the really beautiful stories that Father Matt told was about a young boy who had been in a coma from a brain aneurism and had woken up asking for his friend "John", a boy of about his age that he said he had been playing with. His family didn't know of a John, that he had ever played with. After he recovered the family visited the shrine and saw a picture of the young John Neumann. The little boy looked at the picture and said "That's my friend, John!" The young boy, Julio, made a complete recovery.
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| St Alphonsis Liguori |
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| St John Neumann |
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| The Upper Church looking to the back.... |
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| Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help |
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| Mosaic Of St. John Neumann |
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| St John Neumann lies in the lower church. |
We enjoyed our time at the shrine, where we visited the upper church, which is not much in use these days, and the lower church, where the Saint lies in rest.
After the Shrine we headed up to the Franklin Institute to let the boys do Science!
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| Ben and the Boys |
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| Kevin Hoppel |
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| A Shocking Experience |
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| Good One!! |
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| Getting to the heart of the matter... |
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| A heart attack looking to happen |
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| Brendan |
