In the village of Steyl in the Netherlands, Saint Arnold Janssen, priest, who founded the Society of the Divine Word to spread the faith in the missions.
Lifespan: 1837–1909
Beatified: 19 October 1975 by Pope Paul VI
Canonized: 5 October 2003 by Pope John Paul II, Rome
Memoria liturgica: 15 January
“The proclamation of the Good News is the first and foremost expression of love of neighbour.”
Arnold Janssen was born on 5 November 1837 in Goch, a small town in the Lower Rhine region of Germany. The second of ten children, he learned from his father to be a man of deep religious faith. He was ordained a priest on 15 August 1861 for the Diocese of Münster and was entrusted with teaching natural sciences and mathematics at the secondary school in Bocholt, where he earned the reputation of a demanding yet fair teacher. On account of his deep devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he was appointed diocesan director of the Apostolate of Prayer. Through this apostolate, Arnold sought to open himself also to Christians of other confessions.
Little by little, there grew in him a concern for the spiritual needs of people beyond the borders of his diocese, until it broadened into a concern for the universal mission of the Church. He resolved to dedicate his life to fostering within the German Church a greater awareness of its missionary responsibility. With this purpose in his heart, in 1873 he gave up teaching and soon founded The Little Messenger of the Sacred Heart. Through this monthly journal he offered news from the missions and encouraged German-speaking Catholics to commit themselves more fully to missionary work.
These were difficult times for the German Church. Bismarck had declared the Kulturkampf (“struggle for culture”), which involved a series of anti-Catholic laws that led to the expulsion of priests and religious and even the imprisonment of several bishops. Arnold Janssen suggested that some of these priests be sent on mission, or at least be able to assist in the formation of missionaries.
Finally, urged on by the Apostolic Vicar of Hong Kong, Arnold came to understand that he was the one called by God for this difficult task. Many thought that he was not the most suitable person, or that the time was not yet ripe.
“The Lord challenges our faith to accomplish something new, precisely when many things in the Church are crumbling.”
Arnold Janssen
With the support of various bishops, Arnold opened the missionary house at Steyl (the Netherlands) on 8 September 1875 and founded the Society of the Divine Word. Already on 2 March 1879 the first two missionaries departed for China. One of them was Joseph Freinademetz. Aware of the importance of publications for attracting vocations and raising funds, Arnold opened his own printing press just four months after inaugurating the house. Thousands of generous lay people devoted time and effort to missionary promotion in the German-speaking countries by distributing the Steyl journals. In this way the new congregation developed from the very beginning as a community of priests and brothers.
The volunteers who assisted in the missionary house were not only men. From the outset a group of women placed themselves at the service of the community. Their desire was to serve the mission as religious sisters. This desire, years of faithful service, and an awareness of the importance of women in mission led Arnold to found the congregation of the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit on 8 December 1889. The first sisters departed for Argentina in 1895. In 1896, Father Arnold chose some sisters to form a contemplative congregation, the Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration. Their service to the mission was to pray day and night for the Church and especially for the other two missionary congregations, maintaining an uninterrupted service of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.
Arnold died on 15 January 1909. His life was a continual search for God’s will, marked by trust in divine Providence and by hard work. That his labours were blessed by the Lord is witnessed by the very growth of his foundations: more than 6,000 missionaries of the Society of the Divine Word work in 63 countries; the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit number more than 3,800; and the Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration more than 400.