Fr. Longinus Neu (1846-1899)

Father Longinus Neu

After being educated in Milwaukee where he and his parents settled after coming from Germany, Father Neu was ordained for that archdiocese December 29, 1871.  He served the Archdiocese for 17 years and was rector of Pio Nono College there, which he built into a first-rate training college for Catholic teachers.  He had wanted to enter a religious order for many years and so came to St. Benedict’s Abbey in 1888.

He entered the novitiate at St. Vincent Archabbey for the Atchison community and was professed as “Longinus” September 14, 1889.  He served at St. Benedict’s Parish, Atchison, for a time and in 1892 became pastor of St. Peter’s, Council Bluffs. Iowa, where he built a parish house.  In January 1898 he became pastor at St. Benedict’s, Atchison.  He became ill in December 1898 and entered St. Margaret’s Hospital, Kansas City, Kan., returned to Atchison where he preached two farewell sermons January 1, 1899 before leaving for Belmont Abbey, Belmont, N.C., to recuperate.  He died March 2, 1899, at St. Vincent Hospital, Birmingham, Ala.