The first six Redemptorists arrive on U.S. soil from Vienna, Austria, to minister to the influx of German-Catholic immigrants who were without churches or German-speaking priests. They were the first to come to the United States and the first to undertake an overseas mission of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. For the first seven years, they suffered many hardships on the American frontier. | Shown above, illustration of New York City and the East River, 1848.