Fr. Arnold Janssen permitted God’s providence to work in
him by responding wholeheartedly to God’s call and
becoming truly a man of God. Fr. Arnold, initially perceived
as a very pious man but devoid of necessary capacities,
impractical and lacking wisdom, tact, and discernment to
start such a foundation, grew and transformed gradually into
a leader who accomplished extraordinary things for God and
the Church. As a leader, he not only did things right but did
the right things in extremely turbulent times- “when
everything seems to be shaking and sinking” -so that the
Triune God could live in the hearts of all people. His
leadership over his foundations reflects the five
characteristics of a real leader: Vision, Management, Team
building, Encouragement, and Risk-Taking.
1. Vision. Fr. Arnold carried in his work and foundations a
future oriented vision which he promoted through the press
and retreats. He pursued his grand vision of mission with all
determination, as long as he had the conviction that God
wanted it. Fr. Arnold was by nature prudent and reflective,
endowed with mathematical mind. He learned to plan the
priorities strategically and knew how to carry out the vision
through achievable steps. His missionary realism is visible
in decision-making, e.g., accepting new missions like the
ministry among European migrants in Latin America. His
wisdom prompted him to be extremely cautious in taking
over a new mission and selecting good leaders at the very
start. He sought much information, studied books and maps
about geography, climate, culture, languages of the territory
as well as assessing the circumstances carefully to make
the final decision with “inner calm”. He consulted the
expertise and advice of others, taking time and praying to
the Holy Spirit, “The good grows slowly. The Lord does not
ask us more than we can do. But we must avoid an
excessive zeal because in it there is much more personal
spirit than that of God. God does not ask for anything
impossible but proceeds in harmony with all the
circumstances.” His all-encompassing vision sprang from
his harmonious balance between the active and
contemplative life and was concretized in the constant
search of the will of God and its fulfillment. This became the
only guiding reason for his life and mission.
honors and forbade confreres to praise him in their official
speeches. The Founder’s spirit captured his own words to a
confrere in Chile (1904), “Worthwhile indeed is the life of
one who gives his all.” Consequently, Fr. Arnold understood
the mission as an act of love, of self-giving, which strongly
opposes our dominant and secular culture of comfortable
self-fulfillment, lack of sacrifice and suffering. Like all good
leaders,
he continuously worked to build up his strengths and
improve on his weaknesses. The Founder displayed
extraordinary trust in God and impressive self-control so that
he could get very energetic, but never angry. In the
meetings with the superiors of the religious congregations,
he impressed his counterparts with his prudence and
serenity. When the others got excited, he remained calm.
What he believed in he accomplished with great energy and
constancy, but without excitement. He learned to look in the
mirror and saw his limitations. Already in the minor seminary
in Gaesdonck, he had to repeat a year; then as a Superior
General, he received grave accusation presented by Fr.
Wilhelm Gier in 1901. The fifty-six-page accusation made
him think of resignation. Eventually Fr. Arnold concluded
that true humility doesn’t demand that we go against the
truth. His humility paired with prudence and strict sense of
justice towards everyone, regardless of his status. In his
over 8000 letters, he was straightforward and direct. In his
words and deeds, he practiced simplicity, modesty, sincerity
and was a declared enemy of excessiveness, ostentatious
appearance, and over reactions. In his view, the duty of the
superior is to maintain peace in the community, to level the
conflicts, to recall the established order and to take a care of
the sick confreres. He enjoyed a lot the family spirit which
animated his religious communities. He respected the
hierarchical proceedings but also he was firm to defend the
rights of the Society against the unjust interferences of the
higher authorities of the Church.
2. Management. Fr. Arnold was also a leader who knew
how to organize the people and the available resources for
mission. The beginnings of his foundations were challenging.
There was nothing to start with, no rule, no tradition, no
adequate basis to proceed with confidence. His utmost
priority was the proper management of human resources.
Therefore, the formation of future missionaries was the
apple of his eye. He educated them in the spirit of sacrifice
and stressed the solid formation of mind in compliance with
the requirements of mission work. In the selection of
candidates to the Society, he was highly prudent and
believed in testing their motives. The Founder demanded an
entirely religious spirit, fidelity to vocation, the will to work
and great love for prayer. He proceeded strategically trying
to discover at an early stage confreres who could be
destined for critical positions and assigned them first to
ministries to test their capabilities. He supervised their
training so that they would be capable of administering their
future tasks: “Often obstacles and difficulties will serve to
bring some confreres into positions that are instructive, and
that will prepare them for the future”.
4. Encouragement. Our Founder was a motivational leader,
enabling and empowering others to act. Behind his
necessary formality, there was a sense of warmth, sincerity,
humility, and genuine care for his confreres. As evident, Fr.
Arnold’s biographer portrayed earlier the image of a stern,
inflexible, demanding superior. But from the Founder’s
letters emerged a compassionate and respectful superior
who always acted considering all the sides concerned and
their contrary opinions. He won the hearts of many by his
tireless patience, gracious goodness, kindness and
coherence. He had to work on improving himself heroically.
This was evidenced by Fr. Völlmecke as he observed the
last years of the Founder’s life. Fr. Arnold became so calm,
amiable and balanced. He repeated that he did not want to
be too rigorous because with love and gentleness one gets
more than by being rigorous. He developed into a leader
with the authority of the Father and with a Heart of the
Mother. This was stated by Fr. Peter Schmitz. Accordingly,
the Founder was firstly more respected than loved. His
physical appearance of being skinny and short (164 cm.),
equipped with soft voice and modest oratory skills were
endowments that were not in his favor. His temperament
was choleric and severe. Fr. Reginaldus Geyer saw in him a
true hard-headed Westphalian. Fr. Arnold – tireless in his
activity – addressed one of the missionaries with the words:
“always pray, always work, never get tired,” and this
constituted his life program.
3. Team building. Fr. Arnold was a team leader selflessly
searching for the common interest yet unrecognized and
caring little for personal prestige. He fled away from all
5. Risk-Taking. Arnold Janssen took up challenges and
risks at the proper time, recognizing and taking advantage
of opportunities. He once said, “We live in a time when
much is collapsing, and new things must be established in
their place.” Despite tough beginnings in Steyl (1875-78), Fr.
Arnold said to the skeptics: “You must avoid rejecting a goal
just because it is momentarily unattainable.” Arnold
possessed the fundamental feature of a leader, that is, the
capability to make decisions, sometimes complicated ones.
He used to say that one can never say that an obstacle is
unsurpassable until he hasn’t done all he could do to
overcome it. He noted, “The more work is holy, the greater
are generally the difficulties to encounter.” Fr. Arnold took
them on with unlimited trust in God. He knew how to wait for
the right time, despite the “delays,” often incomprehensible
in the context of human logic. He heroically dismissed his
two closest collaborators Peter Bill and Franz Xaver
Reichart to affirm his commitment to the service of truth.
Our Society needs leaders who are men of God and with a
vision embodied in their lives, able to both communicate and
to put it into practice. Leaders like our Founder are apt to
encourage and to motivate others to act with humility and
with a strong sense of community. Especially as leaders like
our Founder, they ought to know how to take advantage of
all the material and human resources available for the
Society to carry out its mission and commitment.
Our constitutions characterize Arnold Janssea as a man of
prayer, of unshakeable trust in God – a man of deep faith.
He was ever open to God’s plans offering unconditional
surrender to his will. An open-minded man of great apostolic
zeal. Arnold responded to the call of the Holy Spirit and the
needs of all people.
Arnold Janssen and His Family
His parents. Gerhard Johann Janssen and Anna Katharina
Janssen. raised their children in an atmosphere of deep
faith and prayer. The mother was, above all. a praying
mother in the fullest sense of the word. The father had a
deep veneration of the Holy Trinity and the Holy Spirit. At
family evening prayer the Prologue of the Gospel of St. John
was read often, and the rosary faithfully re- cited. It was a
common practice to have magazines of the missions and
missionary activities read aloud in the family gatherings
each evening. Thus it was within the context of family that
the seed of .Arnold Janssen”s prayer-life was sown. This he
continued to nurture and develop throughout his life.
Arnold Janssen, a Man of His Time
Arnold Janssen was very much a man of his time, a time of
authoritarian government, and strict social mores. His prayer
was bound by structures which were never questioned,
inherited as they were from past generations. Devotional
exercises blessed by the ancient traditions of the Church
formed the main-stay of his prayer.
At the time of the founding of the SVD. the Kulturkampf was
at its height. This represented a clash between die Catholic
Church and the secular government, between spiritual and
temporal power. It was the time of Emperor Wilhelm JJ and
the Prussian Otto von Bismark, German Chanceiler and
political enemy of Catholicism.
The Church of Central Europe faced its hardest test during
the decade of the 1870*s. The government considered as
enemies of the new empire all belonging to the Central
Parry which, under the influence of die Catholic hierarchy,
was an unwelcome power for opposition. During 1874-75
five of me eleven bishops were in prison. 3y means of the
“May Laws”, the authorities hoped to break the resistance of
the Catholics, but their opposition became stronger than
ever.
These laws attacked the religious orders: their houses in the
Prussian State were closed, they were forbidden to accept
new members and they were ordered to disband within six
months. Institutes for education could still continue four
years. After that time only those working in the field of health
remained, and they were controlled by the State and subject
to arbitrary closure.
This effectively all but ended the new religious life evolving
in Germany since the middle of the 19th century. Religious
groups emigrated to the USA. Belgium and Holland.
Arnold Janssen, the Founder of Missionary
Congregations
Father Janssen knew how to read the signs of the times and
provide, as fruit of his life of faith, viable answers to their
challenges. He recognized the situation as coming from the
hand of God. from his divine providence, and was prepared
to be used as his instrument.
Arnold had clear goals. Witb the “Lisle Mcssergtr of the
Sacred Heart” he hoped to awaken interest in the foreign
missions of the Church. Under the adverse pressure of the
Kulturkampf. he was inspired to exert even more effort on
be- half of the mission cause.
Seeing the need for priestly personnel in the mission field.
Fr. Janssen set about trying to inspire bishops to begin a
seminary to prepare young men for this purpose. He
considered himself too old and his health too poor to work in
the missions, and to found his own seminary was
unthinkable. Therefore, he in- tended merely to act as
mediator for the project and put himself at its service
according to his abilities. To this end, he began a series of
personal visits to bishops of Holland. Germany and Austria.
He sought their advice and blessings for a seminary and a
school to be attached to it.
In the years 1874-75. thirty-two bishops responded with
approval of his plan. Many of them expressed hope that
God would inspire capable persons to dedicate themselves
to this project. Some bishops, however, pointed out that
because of the Kulturkampf this was not the right moment to
start such a large enterprise, especially because of the
financial aspect.
The Person of the Founder
Arnold Janssen was of average intelligence, neither a good
speaker nor singer, and not especially attractive.
His talent for studies was limited, but he made up for this
lack by perseverance and dedication. Mathematics and
natural science were his preferences, while languages
caused him much difficulty. By dint of hard work, he spoke
Dutch reasonably well and French correctly but not fluently.
He knew some Italian and English.
As a teacher. Janssen was too dry and rigid to be loved by
his students but he did earn their respect.
How. then, did Arnold Janssen become the Founder of three
congregations? For one thing, he worked with what he had.
then he allowed himself to be led by God. A strong will,
combined with perseverance and a deep sense of
responsibility, enabled him to carry out what he perceived
as God’s will for him.
Humanly speaking, it was difficult to discover his greatness
and most people doubted his abilities and qualifications: he
himself would have been the first to deny them. He was
criticised by his collaborators for the heavy schedule
imposed on men and the students, and for the too
centralised form of government within the new societies,
and by outsiders for his uncompromising character. In spite
of this. Father Janssen gave a solid formation to the
members of his congregations.
Characteristics of Arnold Janssen
Father Arnold Janssen was noted as a man of: –
tirelessness in seeking the will of God: Once he perceived
an action as God’s will he never lost sight of his objective
and the means to achieve it.
In the Decree of Beatification. Paul VI praised his
perseverance in seeking God’s will: “Open to the signs of
the rimes and attentive to God’s voice, he recognized God’s
will…Once he recognized God’s call he would leave
everything aside, forget himself and dedicate his whole
being completely to its fulfillment…”
– deep prayer life: his decisions were the fruit of genuine
sincere prayer, which accounted for his perseverance and
tenacity in following them. (These were quite often judged
as self-will and stubbornness.)
– life of faith and union with Cod: through these he saw the
world, and was enabled to perceive the urgent needs of the
moment in the context of the future needs of the Church.
With a world-vision beyond provincial limits, he proved to be
far ahead of his times.
– frankness in his observations: the Founder insisted upon
his collaborators being trust- worthy, co-responsible and
reliable.
– charity and humility: when criticized and opposed he
would remain silent rather than further offend his detractor.
He was heard to remark that criticism began the day
superiors were appointed. With wisdom and compassion he
listened to both sides of disagreements.
– love for truth: he was straight forward in all his words and
actions.
– clear-sightedness: in selecting candidates he held to these
criteria which he deemed essential to religious life: love for
prayer and closeness to God. humility as the sign of
genuine union with God. and love for ones companions with
a readiness to serve others.
Foundation of the Three Congregations
From Father Arnold, his “family” has received a rich heritage
that includes a deep spirit of faith and prayer, devotion to
the Holy Trinity with veneration of the Holy Spirit, and a
deep attachment to the Word of God.
He became a real apostle of universal prayer through
promoting the Apostleship of Prayer of which he became a
member in 1865. His pamphlet on mis subject was re-edited
several rimes reaching almost ninety-thousand copies.
During the Easter and autumn seasons of 1869 he visited
160 parishes of the Munster diocese to spread this practice.
By 1869 when he made his final report as Director of the
Apostleship. 300 of the 350 parishes of the diocese had
been registered as members. Thus Father
Arnold became a missionary and apostle of prayer.
Gradually Janssen began spreading this Apostleship and
the devotion to the Sacred Hean. another of his attachments,
beyond the boundaries of Germany, enlarging his vision and
horizons. Reserved by nature with a strong tendency
towards the contemplative life. Arnold soon found it
necessary to overcome these tendencies, giving a new
direction to his life: the missionary aspect. Thus in 1875 he
founded the Society of the Divine Word for priests and
brothers, in 1889 the Missionary Sisters Servants of the
Holy Spirit, and finally in 1896 the Servants of the Holy Spirit
of Perpetual Adoration.
Charism and Spirituality
As time passed. Arnold Janssen penetrated ever more
deeply into the mystery of the Holy Trinity. He studied above
ail die books of the theologian J. M. Scheeben. particularly
“The Mysteries of Christianity”. As his missionary spirit grew,
participation in the “sending of the Son” and identification
with him became an essential element of our charism and
spirituality. Identification with Christ leads us necessarily to
glorify and manifest the Trinity. Thus Father Arnold’s legacy
to his sons and daughters: a distinctly Trinitarian spirituality.
Over the years. Arnold Janssen also grew in his veneration
of the Holy Spirit and openness to his action. The early
constitutions of the SVD’s show his grow- ing surrender to
the influence of the Spirit. In 1887. Fr. Arnold consecrated
himself to the Holy Spirit in the SVD church of St. Vincent
near Vienna. In 1889 the laying of tile cornerstone of the
Church in honor of the Holy Spirit near Vienna was to be a
permanent expression of gratitude to the Holy Spirit for the
extraordinary graces given to the SVD’s as a whole. The
founding of the Servants of the Holy Spirit in 1889 climaxed
this manifestation of his devotion to the Spirit. And finally, he
founded the Sister Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual
Adoration.
The deeper Arnold Janssen went into the theology of the
Divine Word, the more clearly he saw the close relationship
between Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit opens
the mind and heart of humankind to what the Logos, the
Word made man, communicated in word and action. In
prayer and studies, Arnold recognized the interaction – with
and for – between the Word {Logos) and the
Spirit (Pneuma).
He perceived the Holy Spirit more and more as Mediator
between God and man. and also as Mediator of the
Incarnate Word to humankind, as movement of life between
God and his people.
What is specific to Arnold Janssen is expressed in the name
“Divine Word”, which he gave to his Society: he
contemplated God as a God that shares, who reveals
himself as Person: a God who shares his thoughts, who
shares himself. – the Divine Word!
God speaks the Word and in Him gives himself and
expresses himself totally. The Word returns all to the Father
in love. This giving and receiving, a movement of Life and
Love, is the Holy Spirit. Thus the Blessed Trinity is the true
basis of the whole spirituality of Arnold Janssen.
His meditations on the mystery of the Blessed Trinity could
have led him to the mystical and contemplative way of life
because of his temperament. Yet, the Word urged him
towards the apostolic and missionary dimension of
commitment. His whole spirituality eventually took on a
missionary character.
However, Arnold Jansen did not stress the Divine Word
exclusively. He cultivated intensively the veneration of the
Holy Spirit as we saw earlier. For him it was clear that the
power and strength of the Word of God was dependent on
the Spirit. He understood that the Divine Word sent the
Spirit precisely to make the Word of the Father more
efficacious and dynamic.
It is important to realize that the spirituality of Arnold
Janssen was a living and dynamic process, which kept
growing.
1907. the Dutch missionary newspaper.”Catholic Mission”
was also printed in Steyl. In Argentina the ” Argentinische
Volksfreund” was published and in the USA.thc
“Amerikanische Missionsblaif. and since 1906. the “Christian
Family”.
From the beginning Arnold was the editor, writer and author
of his newspapers. Since 1876 he used his own press,
making the newspapers and magazines interesting with a
variety of topics, not only religious ones.
– In the retreat movement, he was a pioneer, especially in
retreats for lay people.
– In the field of anthropology, through the
Institute Anthropos. with studies in ethnology and linguistics,
he helped to foster a deeper understanding of other peoples,
cultures and religions. Through all of this he prepared the
ground for inculturation and dialogue.
– in the acceptance of vocations from among the local
people.
– in the trend towards one world family through the
internationality of our congregations.
Retreats at Steyl
True. Father Arnold took specific aspects of religious life
from other congregations: concern for a well celebrated
liturgy from the Benedictines, the preaching of the Word
from the Dominicans, a special devotion to the Child Jesus
on Christ- mas, and to the Suffering Lord (Stations of the
Cross) from the Franciscans, retreats, and the centralised
structure of the SVD from the Jesuits. Even so. his
spirituality was distinctive and well integrated.
It was only in the 19th century that one heard about retreats
for lay people, and even so they were rare and held in only
a few places. In the middle of the century, first the
Franciscans, then the Jesuits began giving retreats. But
then came the Kulturkampf and put an end to that ministry
for a time in Germany. In 1877, Steyl held retreats for
priests and lay men but only for men. Later on lay retreats
were given for women also.
Today we see expressed in the Being and Sending of the
Church: the Trinity, the Word, the Spirit. Mission and
Community. This is the Good News that we. SSpS/SVD, are
urged/privileged to announce.
In 1893 the SSpS started offering retreats for women. Their
convent became an important center of retreats for women.
In the first group were 102 women, and in the second 87.
This strong retreat movement in Steyl went on for 12-15
years before others started to give them too. The Jesuits
began in Holland in 1894 and later on in Germany. The
Capuchins started in 1893 and also the Sisters of St.
Joseph in Trier.
Specific Contributions of Arnold Janssen to the Life of
the Church
Arnold Janssen: A Man of Today Apostle of Our Times
Besides having founded three missionary congregations,
Arnold Janssen made the following contributions to the
world Church:
– formation of mission awareness among the German
Catholics specifically through the press and the retreats
given in our Mother Houses and in other houses of the
congregations.
– in ecumenism which was already his concern during his
early days in the priesthood, and was one of his objectives
in writing “The Little Messenger of the Sacred Heart”.
– in the promotion of the lay apostolate. of which he was a
tireless promoter.
– in the apostolate of the Catholic Press through:
publications for the Apostolate of Prayer. Steuit
Cones, and Michaeiskaiender. Besides the
German Michaeiskaiender one was printed in Dutch. Since
At the beginning of this century, the ground for retreats was
prepared. Priests and lay people alike who made their
retreats in the early days at Steyl, agreed that if Arnold
Janssen had done nothing else but promote the retreat
movement – its revival and promotion for all groups – he
would still have earned the name “Man of Providence”.
When the Dutch Jesuits wanted to open the retreat house
“Manresa” in Venlo. in 1908. Bishop Drehmans of
Roermond advised them: “Get in contact with the Superior
General Janssen of Steyi. He did a great work in this field
and has rich experience. He can help you.”
Arnold, however, never thought of himself as a pioneer. For
him. retreats were indispensable means for the renewal of
the life of faith. He promoted them, following his heart, not
as a great organizer, but as a humble instrument of God. As
in all other things, also in this he attributed all glory and
success to God.
Another factor in the wealth of blessings from the retreats of
Steyl was the atmosphere which existed in St. Michael
Seminary, Mother House of the SVD. Many sacrifices were
borne by the community during all the retreats, and the
rctreatants were drawn into close contact with the life and
prayer of the community.
Though there were 30 to 45 groups of retreatants per year,
with some 6000 or more participants, there was no real
retreat house. In the Mission house of St. Michael, as well
as in the Herz-Jesus-Kloster of the SSpS. the retreatants
were welcomed in the cloister. The members of the
community then went to the attic if there was no other place.
In the Chapel, the benches were given to the retreat- ants
and the members of the house would remain standing. The
community would take their meals after the retreatants were
served. Even recreation places and the gardens were made
free for the retreatants. They had their own schedule, but
the morning prayer, evening prayer and the Eucharist were
together with the community.
Besides this, there was the added work of arranging the
rooms, cooking and serving the meals, caring for the house
and the laundry, etc. When one realizes the community
consisted of about 750 members, and the retreatants at
times like Easter and Pentecost numbered as many as 250
to 300, one marvels at the Broth- er cooks who sometimes
catered for 1000 people.
The many sacrifices made by the members of the house
community surely were a source of blessings. Since the
majority that came for retreats were lay people, this living
together with the community members was of great
importance in in- fluencing the retreatants’ lives. What they
heard in the conferences, they saw being lived concretely.
They had a concrete example of how to put theory into
practice.
On the other hand, the ending ceremonies of the retreat, the
solemn consecration to the Sacred Heart in front of the altar
which was festively decorated with candles and flowers, the
solemn liturgy and singing with the community and choir, the
whole assembly going to communion, the Te Deum as
thanksgiving — all this made a strong impression on the
community as well.
For those preaching the retreat, to speak to 30 or 300 made
no difference. For confessions and personal direction, there
were many other priests available.
Joseph Freinademetz was born on April 15, 1852 in Oies, a
small village of five houses in the Dolomites in the Alps of
northern Italy in South Tyrol. He was baptized on the same
day as his birth and learned from his family to have a simple
but strong faith at the same time. During his theological
studies at the Major Seminary in Bressanone, he already
began to think seriously about foreign missions as a
possibility for his life. After being ordained a priest on July
25, 1875, he was sent to the community of San Martino di
Badia, very close to his birthplace, where he soon gained
the people's respect and affection.
In all that time, however, he did not abandon his
restlessness for the missions. Only two years after his
ordination, he got in touch with Father Arnoldo Janssen,
founder of a missionary congregation that would soon
afterwards officially become the "Society of the Divine
Word." With the permission of his bishop, Joseph entered
the missionary house of Steyl in August 1878. He received
the missionary cross on March 2, 1879 and together with
another Verbite missionary, Father John Baptist Anzer, he
left for China. Five weeks later they landed in Hong Kong
where they remained for two years preparing for their
assigned mission in South Shantung, a province of China
that had 12 million inhabitants and only 158 baptized.
They were hard years marked by long and difficult journeys,
assaulted by robbers, and an arduous job in forming the first
Christian communities. As soon as he was able to build a
community that could stand on its own, the order of the
Bishops came to leave everything and start again in another
place. Joseph soon understood the importance of the laity
as catechists for initial evangelization. He devoted much
effort to their formation and prepared a catechetical manual
in Chinese for them. At the same time, together with his
brother Anzer who had become a bishop, he committed
himself to the spiritual preparation and ongoing formation of
Chinese priests and other missionaries.
His whole life was marked by the effort to become Chinese
among the Chinese, so much so that he wrote to his family
members: "I love China and the Chinese; I want to die
among them, and among them be buried." In 1898, the
continuous work and many hardships took a toll on him.
Sick in his larynx and with the first symptoms of tuberculosis,
the Bishop and his brothers insisted on his spending a
period of time in Japan with the hope of recovering his
health. He returned to China, regained some strength, but
was not completely healed.
For those who preferred to make a retreat in smaller groups,
there were many opportunities. Yet. there is no doubt that
the big retreat groups were favoured by many even when
mere were already some 200 retreat houses in Germany. It
happened many times that 100 or more applicants could not
be accepted, even in 1927. when the movement was
already in existence 50 years. For Pentecost 1927. 650 men
applied and only 340 of them could be accommodated.
When the Bishop had to travel to Europe in 1907, Father
Freinademetz took over the administration of the diocese.
During this period, a typhus epidemic broke out. Joseph,
being a good shepherd, gave his tireless assistance until he
became ill himself. He immediately returned to Taikia, the
seat of the diocese, where he died on January 28, 1908. He
was buried under the twelfth station of the Stations of the
Cross and his tomb soon became a point of reference and
pilgrimage for Christians.
Those who made their retreat in Steyl, became in turn the
best benefactors of Fr. Arnold’s work, for they spread the
news everywhere of their rich spiritual experience. This in
turn brought in many vocations to carry on the work.
Father Freinademetz was able to discover and love deeply
the greatness of the culture of the people to whom he had
been sent. He dedicated his life to proclaiming the Gospel,
the message of God's love for humanity, and incarnating
this love in the communion of the Chinese Christian
communities. He animated these communities by
encouraging them to be open to solidarity with the rest of
the Chinese people. His example led many Chinese people
to become missionaries among their own people, such as
catechists, religious men and women and priests. His whole
When the Founder died in 1909. Steyl had already given
592 group retreats with 63.513 participants.
Fr. Hermann Fischer SVD. *Seit 50 Jahren Exerziuen in
Stevl* – Steyl. 1927
life was an expression of what was one of his slogans: "The
language that everyone understands is love."
ISt. Joseph Freinademetz
St. Joseph Freinademetz canonized together with St.
Arnold Janssen on October 5, 2003, was the very
first Divine Word (SVD) missionary to China. He
served the Lord in China with all the love in his heart
and strength and courage of his soul. It was not an
easy mission; he had to undergo many sufferings
and trials, not only from the Chinese but also from his
own Confreres. But he proclaimed the Gospel until
death, in-season and out-of-season.
His motto: “The only language that everyone
understands is the language of love” had summed
up his whole life. He had learned to love China and
its people; he became a Chinese to the Chinese. In
one of his letters at home, he wrote: “In heaven I will
be a Chinese.”
Today, January 29, we commemorate his Feast and
we gratefully celebrate his being a gift to the
Steyler Missionary Congregations. His example of
love, fidelity, courage and perseverance in
proclaiming God’s Word has been an inspiration to
us, to me particularly. I could not thank him enough.
When I was new here, coming from Asia, the
language barrier was so big. I have asked him to help
me learn the language and to adjust to the culture
here – and he really did! St. Joseph Freinademetz
was a real big Brother. One can go to him, ask for his
intercession and experience his help. Try it!
n every celebration that I attended, both at the opening and
closing of the death centennial year of Sts. Arnold Janssen
and Joseph Freinademetz, or any other program that was
organized through the year, there was a tone of gratitude.
Yes, that is the sentiment that was perhaps uppermost in
the heart of every SVD, SSpSAP and SSpS. Gratitude to
God, for the gift of the two Saints, and gratitude to the
Saints, for whom they were and are to us.
“Precious is the life given for Mission” (Worthwhile is the life
of the one who gives his all, AJ, 1904). The time and culture
we live in are somehow characterized by a certain distaste
for the religious missionary vocation. The decreasing
number of young people attracted to this way of life and the
increasing departures from religious congregations allude to
this tendency.
Perhaps the theme challenges us to look at ourselves, as
missionaries. How precious do we consider our missionary
vocation? To what depth has this truth of being a disciple of
Jesus, being á missionary in the Arnoldus family, has
captivated us or been uppermost in our consciousness? It is
vital that those who remain committed, are convinced of the
preciousness of our vocation, in order to become who we
are called to be, to give our best to God in the people we
serve, and thus to live our lives to the best. For, in giving lies
the meaning of life. One of our most precious needs is to
contribute to and enrich life. They live well, who live for
others.
Life is the best and the most fundamental gift we have from
God, and it is the most precious. Nothing else matters
without it. The life given for mission becomes even more
precious, as the missionary sees every other life also as
precious and valuable, graced with, dignity. The missionary
and is urged to move in the direction of defending,
protecting, promoting, and caring for life especially where it
is threatened. The human person in a very special way is
the sacrament of God’s presence. He is present in
everything. God’s preferred presence is his presence in the
human being. Meditating on the throne of God as the human
heart will help us see what a tremendous value mission
work is. Imagine that we could gaze into the hearts of all
those in the state of grace. We would see their hearts
suffused and enveloped with light and at the center the
Triune God. What an astonishing sight! This truth
permeated Arnold to the depths of his being; it was the
focus of his life around which everything else revolved.
Arnold never tired of leading others to this living faith,
encouraging them to love this divine presence. And so, he
would say, “For the cause of mission no sacrifice is too
great.”
In a similar tone, Joseph Freinademetz, wrote to his family
from Steyl in 1879: “Thank God… that the Lord has given us
the grace of having a missionary in our family. In 1880, he
wrote from China, “To be a missionary is an honor that I
would not exchange with the golden crown of the emperor of
Austria.” In 1884, he wrote: I cannot thank the Lord enough
for having made me a missionary in China.” In 1887, “I do
not consider being a missionary as a sacrifice that I offer to
God, but as the greatest gift that God is giving me… When I
think of the countless graces that I have received and
continue to receive until now from God… I confess that I
could cry. The most beautiful vocation in the world is being a
missionary.” It is important to note that he claimed these not
when things were smooth, easy and comfortable, but in the
midst of the struggles that he had to face in the initial years
in China.
I believe we continue as SVD, SSpS, SSpSAP, because we
deem our religious missionary life as precious. If not, it is not
worth wasting our energies, our years of life. God’s dream
for each of us is to live life to the full. And these two saints
who chose to move ahead on a ‘road less traveled’ – taking
risks of every kind, never sparing themselves, offering their
lives to something greater than themselves – have opened
up before us the road of fuller life. Journey on such a road of
missionary commitment as seen in their lives inevitably calls
for self-dying, “because we are called to follow Jesus on the
path of a small seed that has to die in order to grow and
bear fruit.”
Arnold Janssen: A Man of Deep Faith
In reality, there is no separation between faith and love, as
there is no faith without active love, and no true love without
faith. Both the Saints have lived a life of deep faith and great
love. Without denying them either of the virtues, what is
intended here is only to highlight one of the characteristic
marks of their lives.
It was Arnold’s Faith in the Triune God that led Arnold to be
open and attentive to the world’s needs, which in turn, led
him to found the three congregations with their particular
missionary thrust. The inner strength that enabled him to
persevere in the face of tremendous difficulties and
opposition was his deep rootedness in God, and his radical
surrender to God’s will. In the initial years, he had plenty of
external privations and limitations to bear. These did not
become a big burden to him and he put up with them
bravely. What was harder was to bear the contempt of so
many educated and influential personalities who viewed his
work skeptically and judged it negatively and, therefore, did
not offer him the necessary support. He was looked on as a
man of eccentric ideas. Throughout his life he had also to
struggle with his own personal limitations. Engaging in real
issues often exposed his personal vulnerabilities. Yet, as a
man of unshakable trust in the God who led him by hand, as
it were, he went ahead with his convictions amid
controversies and oppositions. Arnold’s capital was his
unshakable trust in God and the conviction that God had
called him to the work of mission.
Joseph Freinademetz: A Man of Great Love
Freinademetz’s natural gifts of ‘attractive kindness, of
pleasantness, of a friendly and charming personality formed
the backdrop that made of him a missionary of love. The
deepest driving force of his life was love. “Most of the time,
his eyes shone with such attractive goodness, with such
serenity that the Chinese easily trusted him and felt at home
with him,” Bishop Henninghaus recounted. Joseph said,
“The pagans will only be converted by the grace of God and,
let us add, by our love, for the language of love is the only
foreign language which the pagans understand.”
Freinademetz had evidently learned to speak this ‘foreign
language’ very well. “The apostolate is love, a work of love:
the more a missionary is imbued with love’, the more he is
missionary. Mission must be a matter of the heart” he said
another time. He had understood the message of for his
Master, Jesus, that the essence of Christian and missionary
life is love, and what is loved lives. This conviction was his
source of strength through many an experience of being
tested and tried, of being rejected and insulted. In his loving,
he didn’t spare himself at all. As someone said, he ‘burnt the
candle at both ends.’ It was simply natural that at Joseph’s
death, one who knew him expressed his feelings with the
words: “I feel as if I had lost my father and my mother.”
The two men shine before us as saints, primarily because of
the transformation they underwent through the grace of
struggle and surrender to God, because of the many
vulnerable moments they passed through, which turned out
to be graced ones. Surrender in struggle gifts us with
change and growth, gives life depth and vision, insight and
understanding, compassion, and character. It not only
transforms us, it makes us transforming we become able
and worthy to walk with others, becoming more human.
Struggle is the process that drives us to find God within us
and in the darkness that surrounds us. “How happy are
people who have surrendered completely to God! While
others crawl like snails through many troubles and anxieties
those who have surrendered completely to God run like the
deer That is no wonder because it is not they that run, but
God draws them… “(AJ).
Let one of the ‘learnings’ from the saints’ lives be:
welcoming into our hearts the hidden wisdom and the
transforming power of struggle and pain, which we, so very
often tend to avoid or try to escape. Our lives would then be
very different. Setting ourselves on their path, would
certainly be a better expression of our gratitude and tribute
to our Saints than the wordy homilies, speeches and
prayers we make in their honor. May we have the grace to
live their life changing words. May their dream live on in our
time and into the future!
[VANI – Newsletter of India South Province; Vol. 19 – No.1
January 2009]
Their Message for Our Times
“Canonization” is not only for the recognition of individual
holiness, nor is it only to present a person as an intercessor
before God. Canonization proposes a number of virtues that
Christians should emulate, based on the life witness of a
specific person.
Arnold Janssen and Joseph Freinademetz remind us of the
fundamental identity and mission of the Church: we are a
community of Jesus’ disciples, united in his love and sent by
him to all peoples. Every local church must look beyond its
own needs, urgent though they may be, so as to discover
and respond to the most profound needs and aspirations of
peoples of all cultures and races. The Church must be a
community that extends an open armed welcome to all
people, building a unity that protects and appreciates the
richness of diversity.
The lives of Arnold and Joseph give expression to Jesus’
vision: a Kingdom where all peoples and cultures reach the
fullness of life in the loving embrace of God. As sons and
daughters of the God of love, we recognise ourselves as
brothers and sisters in a new reality that challenges us to
overcome the obstacles that we encounter in our daily
journey towards God’s reign of love: racism, xenophobia,
fear of other religious ways, lack of social solidarity, and a
lukewarm or nonexistent faith.
Arnold Janssen, both personally and as a German citizen,
felt responsible for his brothers and sisters who lived in the
remotest corners of the world. Though he never left Europe,
he dedicated his life to them. When he found it necessary
he renounced his German citizenship so as to cross
frontiers that were otherwise closed to him. And because
the Kingdom transcends the limits of nationalities, cultures
and races, he soon transformed his “German” foundation
into an international community. In this way legitimate
differences could not only be respected but also valued as a
witness to the presence of God’s love. Arnold insisted that
missionaries be educated in the social sciences so that they
could systematically study the cultures and languages of
other nations and so be able to appreciate the cultural
richness of the people with whom they would work. A
notable outcome of this concern was the establishment in
1906 of the Anthropos Journal.
Joseph Freinademetz once wrote that “not even for 3000
coronas am I prepared to leave country and friends so as to
relocate myself forever in a new world.” But love for Jesus
and for all of God’s people motivated him to do exactly that.
He left country, family, friends, culture and language, to go
to China, a world that was totally new to him. It was a
difficult challenge. Struggles with the language and the new
way of life provoked in him a “culture shock” where
everything seemed dark and depressing. This same
experience afflicts almost all those who have to emigrate
and put down roots in a new reality. But he was able to
respond to the challenge. Though he never forgot the
mountains that surrounded his native valley, he opted to
become Chinese among the Chinese, even writing: “ I love
China and the Chinese; I want to die among them and to be
laid to rest among them”… “ I want to continue being
Chinese even in heaven”. And so it turned out… There is a
certain irony in the fact that the vicissitudes of history erased
all trace of his tomb. It is now entirely impossible to separate
him from China.
In both Arnold and Joseph one finds a deep love for the
Word of God. In both there was an intense passion to be
instruments of God’s will. And in both, one finds a living
testimony that the Kingdom is open to all, no matter what
the race, culture or language or way of life… Their
openness was also able to include all, seeing in legitimate
differences a source of enrichment, even in spite of the
difficulties that can sometimes result.
Their lives do have something to say to us today. We live in
a multicultural and multireligious world that compels people
from the farthest ends of the earth to learn to live together
side-by-side. If Arnold and Joseph were able to do it, why
can’t we?
Arnold Janssen – Father, Leader and Founder
Arnold Janssen was born on November 5th, 1837 in the
German town of Goch – very close to the border with the
Netherlands. His parents were Gerhard and Anna Katharina
Janssen. Arnold was the second of 11 children; however,
three of them died at a very young age.
His parents had a very deep faith. Daily prayer and daily
work had been completely integrated into the life of the
Janssen Family. For Mother Anna Katharina there was no
question that she would attend Holy Mass daily. Arnold’s
parents practised the words of St. Paul who said: Pray
always; and so Arnold was brought up and formed in the
spirit of prayer. It does not come as a surprise then that as a
high school student of about 13 or 14 years he composed a
long evening prayer which was not only prayed in his own
family, but in other families as well.
From his childhood, Arnold Janssen’s desire had been to
become a priest; however he did not like to become a priest
who would spend all his life working in a parish; he wanted
to be a priest and a teacher and his favourite subjects were
mathematics and natural sciences. On August 15th, 1861
he was ordained a priest in the Cathedral of the German
town of Münster ; and before that he had passed his exams
as a high school teacher.
After his ordination his bishop sent him to the town of
Bocholt, and from 1861-1873 he taught at the High School
there. His students liked best his natural science lessons.
He also helped the priests in the parish in Bocholt whenever
his help was needed.
While in Bocholt Arnold Janssen joined the international
“Apostolate of Prayer in union with the Sacred Heart of
Jesus.” This Apostolate of Prayer originated in France and
from there it had spread all over Europe. In the service of
this apostolate he discovered his own apostolic and
missionary vocation. He became an Apostle of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus and his motto was: May the Sacred Heart of
Jesus live in the hearts of all people! The wish to work
exclusively for the mission of the church grew stronger and
stronger, and finally he quit teaching in 1873 and moved to
the town of Kempen. There he became chaplain at a
convent of nuns who also ran schools for girls. He
celebrated Mass for the nuns and helped to teach in the
girls’ high school whenever his help was needed. Otherwise,
in Kempen he was free to dedicate himself completely to the
mission of the church in non – Christian overseas countries.
The very first thing he did was to found a mission magazine,
of which the first issue was published in January 1874. Its
name was “Kleiner Herz-Jesu-Bote“, that is the “Little
Messenger of the Sacred Heart of Jesus”.
The more he occupied himself with the missionary work of
the church the more he became painfully aware of the fact
that the Catholics in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands
had no mission house to train their own missionaries and
send them overseas whereas other countries like France,
Italy, England and even the Protestants in Germany had
such mission houses After he had met several times the
visiting Bishop Raimondi PIME of Hongkong (formerly one
of the first missionaries to Papua New Guinea) who had
encouraged him to found such a mission house himself, it
gradually became clear to him that God had in fact called
him to found the mission house.
Most people whom he told about his decision to found a
mission house did not believe in his ability to undertake
such a task. They rather ridiculed him. That, however, could
not discourage him.
On the other hand there were also those who encouraged
him in his decision, like Bishop Haneberg of Speyer. For a
long time, so he wrote to Arnold Janssen, it had been his
personal wish that such a mission house should be built.
Surely, the Kulturkampf in Germany, that is the cultural war
between mainly the Prussian government and the Catholic
Church during which the Catholic Church was persecuted,
caused grave problems to the church. However, that
persecution of the church must not stop the execution of
such a plan as Arnold Janssen had, but on the contrary, it
must push it forward. The strength of the Catholic faith must
not show itself only in negative remarks, but most of all in
works built upon faith, the Bishop wrote.
Such words gave Arnold Janssen the courage to continue
carrying out his plan.
Still more than those good words, his own faith and trust in
God made him accept his new vocation. He himself once
said:
“It necessarily belongs to God’s guidance that he reveals to
us his intentions only gradually. How else would we learn to
walk before him in the light of faith and unconditional trust?”
That meant for him: as soon as he had come to the
conviction that God wanted a particular task to be done and
that God wanted him to do it, with unshakable trust in its
successful outcome he developed a calm determination, for
which there were no insurmountable obstacles.
However, there was one huge difficulty which stood in the
way of founding the mission house in Germany: it was the
time of the already mentioned Kulturkampf in Germany. We
must keep in mind that Germany in those days was one
nation made up of different states which had their own
governments to rule them. The most powerful state within
this nation was the State of Prussia. Prussia was ruled by a
king who at the same time was the Emperor / Kaiser of the
whole German nation. At that time he was Emperor Wilhelm
II (after whom the highest mountain of PNG is called Mt.
Wilhelm). The Prime Minister or Chancellor ( as the
Germans say) of Prussia and at the same time of the whole
German nation was Otto von Bismarck (Bismarck
Archipelago in East New Britain!). The majority of the
population of Prussia was Protestant and so were the
Emperor and Bismarck.
Bismarck got the Prussian Parliament to issue laws which
went very much against the Catholic Church. Some of these
laws became binding for the whole of the German nation.
There was for instance a law which expelled the Jesuits and
similar religious orders from Germany (like the Holy Spirit
missionaries, CSSp, who now also work in PNG). Nobody
was allowed to start a new religious order. Another law
determined that priests could not be put in charge of a
parish unless the government had approved their
appointment. The appointment by the Bishop was not
sufficient. There were still other laws which were directed
against the Catholic Church. Anybody who would go against
those laws would be severely punished, even with prison.
The Bishops opposed these laws and so some of them were
imprisoned and even deposed; yet they were not the only
ones who had to suffer, but ordinary priests and outspoken
lay people as well. It is truly proper to say that the Catholic
Church was persecuted by the government. This time of
persecution is generally called the “Kulturkampf” or “Cultural
War”.
Since it was forbidden to start new religious orders in
Germany, Arnold Janssen was unable to start his mission
house there. So he looked to the Netherlands where already
many German religious orders had found refuge in the
Diocese of Roermond. Historically, the Diocese of
Roermond had always had close ties with Germany. For
several hundred years the diocese extended to towns which
today belong to Germany (like the famous town of Kevelaer;
it is famous because of its chapel with a picture of Mary to
which every year thousands of Catholics from Germany and
the Netherlands make pilgrimages. Arnold Janssen used to
go there frequently, since it was very close to his home town
of Goch.)
Arnold Janssen found a house and a piece of land in the
little village of STEYL near the towns of Tegelen and Venlo
(today Steyl is politically part of the city of Venlo). On August
4th, 1875 he bought both the house and the land. Both were
situated next to the river Maas. The house was not a family
house, but an inn. Until a few years before Arnold Janssen
came to Steyl, Steyl had been an important trading place.
Up to 20 small ships a day would anchor at the Steyl wharf.
Traders from neighbouring Germany would come and get
the goods from those ships to bring them to Germany and
sell them there. They would stay in that inn, waiting for the
ships to come or simply to rest a little or get a meal. But
then trains were invented and carried all the goods. So
ships did not come any more to Steyl to discharge goods
there and that little inn lost all its customers. So when Arnold
Janssen searched for a house, the owner of the inn readily
sold his house together with the land to Arnold Janssen.
On September 8th, 1875 the new mission house was
solemnly blessed and opened and the old inn became the
new and first German – Austrian – Dutch mission house St.
Michael, recruiting and training Germans, Austrians and
Dutch men to become overseas missionaries.
Steyl was the first mission house which Arnold Janssen
founded. In 1888 a house of studies followed in Rome and
in 1889 he founded a third mission house in Austria, near
the capital Vienna. In order to start that mission house he
was faced with a difficulty of a very different kind than when
he had planned to start the first mission house. Since it was
to be a Higher Education institution, that means a College in
which Philosophy and Theology were to be taught, the
Austrian Government insisted that only an Austrian citizen
could start such an educational institution. Arnold Janssen
saw two possibilities to solve that problem: either he would
recall Fr. Josef Freinademetz from China, since he was an
Austrian citizen, or he himself would become an Austrian
citizen; and that he did. Near Vienna the little village of
Goggendorf accepted Arnold Janssen as a member of its
community, and so he was able to become an Austrian
citizen. For that he had to give up his Prussian or German
citizenship. Once he had done that he was able to start the
new mission house which he dedicated to the archangel St.
Gabriel.
As much as Arnold Janssen knew himself in the service of
the overseas mission work, he did not forget to care for the
Catholics in Europe. Therefore he allowed all the mission
houses to welcome lay men and women or diocesan priests
for retreats. From 1877 to January 1909 when Arnold
Janssen died, about 65 000 men and women had come to
Steyl alone to make their retreats there, that means almost
3000 a year!
To the care of Catholics in the German speaking countries
of Europe were dedicated also the magazines which he
published: first the “Kleiner Herz-Jesu-Bote” (that is the
“Little Messenger of the Sacred Heart of Jesus”) and then
“Die Holy Stadt Gottes” (that is “The Holy City of God”).
According to Arnold Janssen’s plan, this latter magazine
should publish sound stories and interesting novels, high
quality engravings and drawings illustrating daily life as well
as daily and war events, in short, something of that colourful
variety which seems suitable to fill a bit of leisure time in a
pleasant and instructive way,” as he himself wrote. It was to
serve the dissemination of beneficial knowledge, in
particular knowledge from that awe-inspiring “temple of God
which is nature” into which God placed us so that it would
proclaim to us God’s existence, His greatness and all his
illustrious qualities. Last but not least this magazine was to
give religious knowledge. In short, this magazine was to
give solid general knowledge and formation to the Catholic
family.
Arnold Janssen died in Steyl on January 15th, 1909. By that
time and under his guidance, from those tiny beginnings in
Steyl three missionary congregations had developed which
worked in 14 countries of Europe, Asia, Oceania, Latin
America and the USA. They were the Society of the Divine
Word, in Latin Societas Verbi Divini – short SVD, the
Congregation of the Sister Servants of the Holy Spirit, in
Latin Congregatio Servarum Spiritus Sancti – in short SSpS,
and the Congregation of the Sister Servants of the Holy
Spirit of Perpetual Adoration, in Latin Congreatio Servarum
Spiritus Sancti de Adoratione Perpertua – in short SSpSAP.
At the time of his death Arnold Janssen was a successful
man. However, this success he did not attribute to himself.
He knew that he owed all his success to the grace of God
for which he was most grateful. On September 8th, 1875, at
the blessing of the first mission house in Steyl he had said:
“If this house develops into something big and great, we will
thank the grace of God.”
Today more than 10 000 male and female missionaries
have Steyl as their place of origin. They belong to more than
60 countries and work in 70 countries of our world.
Wherever in the world they may be, they honour Arnold
Janssen as their “Pater, Dux et Fundator” as we can read
on his sarcophagus – the iron coffin which contains his body
– in the Lower Church in Steyl, and those three words mean
that they honour Arnold Janssen as their “Father, Leader
and Founder.” Their common spiritual home is Steyl; there
they all have their roots. The soil of Steyl therefore is holy
soil to them – since a holy man, a Saint, started there that
holy work which they have inherited, and on that soil of Steyl
a Saint has found his final earthly resting place.
Already at the time of his death many people were
convinced that Arnold Janssen was a Saint.
Upon the news of Arnold Janssen’s death hundreds of
condolence telegrams and letters were received in Steyl.
They all pointed out the same character qualities of the
founder: simplicity, humility, a spirit of hard work, trust in
God, piety and then those great achievements for the
missions with the visible blessing from God.
People from the neighbouring villages and monasteries and
convents came to see his corpse for a last time. He was a
holy man, many said.
One of Arnold Janssen’s close friends, the Franciscan Friar
and Bishop Döbbing of the Italian Diocese of Nepri-Sutri
gave a very practical advice to Arnold Janssen’s spiritual
sons and daughters. He expressed his hope that Janssen
one day would be declared a Saint and he added:
“Therefore it is only right, to start early to collect everything
that is related to this blessed man.”
It was a wise advice the bishop gave. For all those things
were needed once the procedures began which led to
Arnold Janssen’s beatification in 1975 and which led to his
canonization on October 5th, 2003.
Josef Freinademetz – “I came to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already kindled” (Lk 12:49)
Josef Freinademetz was born on April 25th, 1852 in the tiny
hamlet of Oies in the Gadervalley of the South Tirol Alps.
His parents were Johann Matthias and Anna Maria
Freinademetz. He was the fourth of 13 children of which four
died at a very early age. The hamlet of Oies belonged to the
parish of Abtei in the then Diocese of Brixen (today Diocese
of Bozen-Brixen). Freinademetz belonged to a very special
group of people, the Ladinians who have their own Ladinian
language. At the time of his birth South Tirol was part of
Austria and therefore Freinademetz was an Austrian citizen.
He was very gifted in learning languages: he spoke Ladinian,
Italian, German, Latin, French and in China he learned two
Chinese languages.
Freinademetz’s father was a farmer; to look after a farm in
the Alps meant hard, very hard work. That hard work never
prevented the Freinademetz family from setting time apart
for prayer. Prayer and work just belonged together. During
winter time father Johann Matthias Freinademetz went to
Mass every day, during summer time he was not always
able to attend Mass daily, but he tried to do it as often as
possible. In order to get to church he had to walk for about
30 minutes.
His primary school Josef Freinademetz did in Abtei; and
there the language of instruction was Ladinian. His high
school he did in the big town of Brixen; there the language
of instruction was German which he had to learn first before
he could attend high school.
After completing high school he joined the Major Seminary
in order to become a Diocesan priest and a year before he
had finished his studies, he was ordained priest on July 25th,
1875, by the Bishop of Brixen, Bishop Gasser.
From 1876 on he was Assistant Priest in the parish St.
Martin in Turn, close to home.
Freinademetz was ordained priest for service in the Diocese
of Brixen. However, from his high school days on he also
wanted to become a missionary.
Once he heard in a sermon this Bible verse from the OT
book of Lamentations quoted:
“Children are begging for food that no one will give them”
(Lamentations 4:4). When he heard those words again
during Holy Week, he was struck by them and he told a
friend: “Did you hear what Jeremiah is lamenting about?
The children beg for food. Those are the poor pagan
children. They beg for the food of truth; however, there are
only very few messengers of the faith, very few missionaries.
If only I could become such a messenger, a missionary!”
At that time there was no place yet to train German
speaking missionaries where he could have fulfilled his wish.
So he decided to pray first for the grace of the missionary
vocation.
He felt that his prayers were heard when in January 1878 he
read an article in the Diocesan newspaper about the newly
founded mission house in Steyl. With permission of his
Bishop, on February 28th, 1878, he wrote to Arnold Janssen
in Steyl applying for admission to the mission house in order
to become a missionary. Two weeks later he received the
acceptance letter from Arnold Janssen. On August 27th,
1878, Freinademetz finally arrived in Steyl to begin his life
as a missionary.
Together with the young Bavarian priest Johann Baptist
Anzer he got the mission appointment for China, but it
should still take until March 3rd, 1879, that the two were
able to leave Steyl and begin their journey to China.
Freinademetz first went home to say good bye to his
parents and relatives and friends, then he went on to Rome
and from there to Ancona where he and Anzer set out for
China on March 15th, 1879. Being on the ship he suddenly
felt homesick and what he thought he described with these
words: “We are not any more on European soil. Strange
thoughts cross my mind: I have to leave home, friends,
parents! At home I had already built for myself a good and
happy life. In my first years of my priestly life I saw only
roses blossoming for me: a circle of well meaning people
and friends surrounded me. And now I was to be pulled out
of all that; in a different world I should begin to search for
new friends, to learn new languages, in short, to start all
over again. What have you done? – Yet: What do you want
to do? You want to save souls for heaven! And my wounded
heart was healed.”
On April 20, the ship arrived in Hongkong. Two students
from the local Major Seminary were waiting for them.
Freinademetz describes his feelings: “Silently praying the Te
Deum, our hearts beating with excitement, that is how we
made our way through the crowded streets of that big
oriental city to the Bishop’s residence. We had reached the
end of our journey. Praised be the Lord for everything.”
To a friend at home in Abtei he wrote just before the end of
the journey, still on the ship: ‘I would have to tell you a lot….
The conclusion I have arrived at is this: just don’t let us care
all that much about this evil world, let us rather seek to
make daily progress in the true science… in the love for the
sacred heart, especially through being one with him in his
suffering’.
And there should be suffering, a lot of suffering.
When Freinademetz and Anzer came ashore in Hongkong,
China was full of tensions, and the missionaries and their
new Chinese Christians became victims of those tensions.
The Chinese are proud of their culture and religion. Several
hundred years before Freinademetz and Anzer had entered
China there had been Catholic Missionaries there. The
Jesuit missionaries Matteo Ricci and Johann Adam Schall
von Bell and others like them were very much liked by the
Chinese Emperor and the educated people, for they were
first class scientists. Their way of inculturating the Christian
faith into the Chinese way of life was highly appreciated and
quite a number of people became Christians. However, the
Vatican Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith
forbade their way of doing missionary work through
adaptation to the people’s customs and beliefs. Catholic
Chinese were not allowed to venerate the ancestors or to
participate in the cult of Confucius. The Chinese emperor
interpreted that decision of the Vatican as an insult of the
Chinese people and their ancestors, and he in turn forbade
any missionary activity, and all missionaries were expelled.
During the 19th century the European countries led wars
against China; first the English fought the Chinese; the
English wanted to import Opium into China in order to pay
with Opium for the tea which they exported from China –
something the Chinese refused. So it came to the Opium
war which lasted from 1840-1842 and in which the Chinese
were defeated. From 1856-1860 there was a second war in
which the English were joined by the French and again the
Chinese were defeated. They were then forced to pay war
compensation to England and France, to accept trade with
opium as a foreign medicine, to open a number of their
harbours for trade with Europe and to permit missionary
work in the interior of China.
The Chinese felt humiliated and hated all the foreigners,
missionaries included. Any foreigner was considered a
“foreign devil”. Furthermore, the non-Christian Chinese
could not understand that the Chinese Christians were
forbidden to take part in the official veneration or cult of the
ancestors and Confucius, and that was a further reason that
the missionaries were hated.
Those Chinese who became Christians had to experience
that hate as well and even more than the missionaries.
Many of them lost their house, their belongings and even
their lives.
Such was the situation in China when Josef Freinademetz
and Johann Baptist Anzer arrived there as the first
Missionaries of the newly founded mission house in Steyl,
and this situation overshadowed their whole life and work in
China.
For two years Anzer and Freinademetz remained with
Bishop Raimondi in the Apostolic Vicariate of Hongkong.
While Anzer was teaching in the Seminary, Freinademetz
spent those two years in a rural parish. He was like a
missionary ‘apprentice’. He learned the local language and
changed his looks: from now on he wore only Chinese
clothes and had his head shaved, with the exception of a
few hair at the back of his head to which was tightened a
plait; later he had one made of his own hair.
However, that outward change did not mean an inner
change and adaptation to the Chinese people and their
customs and beliefs. Before Freinademetz made that
adaptation he first went through a culture shock. His idea of
mission work had been completely different and so he was
deeply disappointed and discouraged by the reality and that
in turn made him look in a negative way at the Chinese and
everything Chinese. If the missionaries had no higher
motives, so he said, they would take the next ship and
return to Europe.
Luckily, Freinademetz was able to overcome his culture
shock and- in so far as that is possible – he became a
Chinese to the Chinese.
In 1881 Anzer and Freinademetz finished their missionary
‘apprenticeship’. Back in Rome Arnold Janssen had been
able to secure for his missionaries their own mission
territory. The Franciscans who looked after Shantung gave
South – Shantung to the missionaries from Steyl. Anzer was
appointed ecclesiastical Superior of this mission; after some
years South -Shantung was elevated to the rank of an
Apostolic Vicariate and Anzer became its first Bishop and
Vicar Apostolic.
In March 1882 Freinademetz arrived in South – Shantung.
Until his death in 1908 he was to give a variety of services
to the people and the church in South – Shantung as well as
his missionary order, the Society of the Divine Word: he was
a “wandering” missionary who moved from place to place,
founding new Christian communities and strengthening the
old ones in their faith; every time his bishop went overseas,
he was the administrator of the Apostolic Vicariate; he was
Provincial Superior of the Society of the Divine Word; in that
latter position he represented the Superior General, Arnold
Janssen, in China and therefore he was his closest coworker there.
Suffering was part of his missionary work: there were, for
instance, hostile attacks on his life by those who hated all
foreigners or there was the disappointment about people
whom he had trusted and who had betrayed his trust; in
spite of that his love for the Chinese people grew and he
said: “Also in heaven I don’t want to be anything but a
Chinese.”
In loving China and the Chinese he did not forget his home
area of Tirol and his country Austria. He kept up a keen
interest in all the church and political events back home. In
his last years of life it gave him great joy to be able to send
a congratulatory message to the Austrian Emperor’s envoy
in Peking at the occasion of the Emperor’s birthday.
The first biography about Josef Freinademetz was written by
Bishop Augustinus Henninghaus SVD. First, he had been a
fellow missionary of Freinademetz, then his subject and
then his superior once he had become bishop. When
Henninghaus was ordained bishop something beautiful
happened to Freinademetz. Ordinarily there are three
bishops who ordain a new bishop; however, one of those
three who was to be co-consecrator of Bishop Henninghaus
had suddenly fallen ill and no other bishop could be found to
attend the ordination. So Fr. Freinademetz was asked to
function as co-consecrator on behalf of the sick Bishop, and
he placed his hands on the new Bishop.
Because of their close connection no one knew
Freinademetz as well as Bishop Henninghaus; and
therefore his characterisation of Freinademetz is particularly
valuable. Bishop Henninghaus writes:
‘He had a good grasp of things, a faithful memory and a real
talent for learning languages’. (His Chinese was impeccable,
a Chinese said.)
‘To save souls, to lead them to the true faith, to a genuine
Christian life, to sacrifice himself completely, not to be afraid
of hard work, in short to be a missionary with heart and soul,
that was his ideal. That is what it meant for him to be a
priest.’
Missionaries looked upon the Bishop as a father and
Freinademetz as a mother of the mission. Bishop
Henninghaus comments: ‘A mother’ in his mild, soul
touching influence, in the loving care for the true, religious
well being of each individual, that he was and that he
became more and more for the whole mission, and in that
way, more than through anything else he did, he became a
blessing for South – Shantung’.
Looking back at the outward development of the mission,
Bishop Henninghaus describes Freinademetz’s contribution:
‘We know how miserable the beginnings were that …
Bishop Anzer and Fr. Freinademetz found when they came
to South – Shantung. How tremendously this mission grew
in the 26 years that Fr. Freinademetz worked here….!
Where in earlier times even the name of the Christian,
Catholic religion was completely unknown, there are now
more than 1000 villages where houses are dedicated to
religious service, where a bell rings and calls for prayer and
where the sign of the cross is seen all over. Whereas in
earlier times missionaries were in an insulting manner
driven out of all the towns, in the meantime it had been
possible to start a mission station almost everywhere, and
there were no more districts in which the Catholic name had
not been made known in some way or other.’
‘Fr. Freinademetz saw all this develop. It wasn’t only his
work. However, in one way or the other he had participated
in it. In some places he had laid the foundation himself and
in any case, he had done his best to deepen and sanctify all
the activities of the mission. Like Moses on the mountain,
during long hours of prayer he had stood over his people
protecting and blessing them, in all their labours and in the
dangers they faced he had always gone ahead of them
ready for sacrifice and undauntedly. Particularly this vivid
example showed what and how a good missionary should
be. And that makes his life so meaningful for South –
Shantung and perhaps for others as well.’
On January 28th, 1908. Josef Freinademetz died in his
residence as Provincial Superior, Taikia, of typhoid. At that
time, beside being Provincial Superior, he was also once
again the Administrator of the Vicariate Apostolic since
Bishop Henninghaus was in Germany.
Immediately after his death the following message was sent
to Superior General Arnold Janssen in Steyl:
‘A short while ago, at 18 hours our good Acting Apostolic
Vicar died of typhoid. … In his sickness he gave us a heroic
example of patience. He did not like to die, but he
surrendered himself to God’s holy will’.
Arnold Janssen replied:
The Lord God has taken away from us ‘this second founder
of the mission, this good and holy soul, who gained so great
and immortal merits in his work for South Shantung.’ ‘We
therefore may hope that his heavenly crown was prepared
for him and that the Lord has called him, to give to h is
faithful servant the well-earned rest and a beautiful place in
his sublime kingdom. The more zealous, the more selfless,
the more self- sacrificial he worked, the more he will now be
filled with joy, but he will also be our intercessor at the
heavenly throne.’
A Chinese Christian said: ‘I feel like having lost my father
and mother.’
A Holy Spirit Missionary Sister in China wrote:
‘Already now we would like to venerate our highly revered Fr.
Superior Freinademetz as a Saint …The only consolation
for us poor orphans now is that we have an exceptionally
good intercessor; the future will prove that.’
Well, time has proven it: On October 5th, 2003 Josef.
Freinademetz was given to the whole world as a Saint.
Daniel Comboni – Africans must be missionaries to
Africans
On October 5th, 2003, a third great missionary was
canonized: Daniel Comboni. He and Arnold Janssen knew
each other personally and Comboni visited Janssen in Steyl.
In his mission magazine, Der Kleine Herz-Jesu-Bote – the
Little Messenger of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – Janssen
frequently reported about Comboni and his work and most
of what is now said about Combini is taken from those
articles; it is actually now Janssen talking about Comboni.
Daniel Comboni was born on March 15th, 1831 in Limone,
Italy. He joined the Mazza Mission Institute which had been
founded by the Italian priest Don Mazza. 1854 he was
ordained a priest.
The Mazza Mission Institute sent its missionaries to the
Apostolic Vicariate of Central Africa which had been
founded in 1846. Many of the missionaries got sick and died.
Comboni went to the Sudan in 1858. But a year later he had
to return to Italy because of sickness. The loss of so many
missionary lives led to a halt in the missionary activity in
Central Africa. Comboni, however, never gave up his wish
to work as a missionary in Africa.
In Rome, in 1864 Margaretha Maria Alacoque was beatified
who was a great admirer of the Sacred Heart and to whom
Jesus had appeared and given the task of spreading the
veneration of his Sacred Heart. Comboni was present at the
beatification ceremony and during that ceremony he felt a
mighty urge to work for the Christianisation of Africa. He
also became aware of the plan according to which
missionary work should proceed. It was a two – point plan:
1. In Africa houses should be built for Europeans and
indigenous Africans in which indigenous African
missionaries should be trained to be missionaries for their
own people. Africans must be missionaries to Africans!
2. In Europe colleges should be founded which would train
the personnel to run the training places in Africa.
From then on Comboni looked for support for his plan.
However, hardly anybody seemed to be interested in it due
to the loss of many missionary lives earlier on.
Therefore, on June 1rst, 1867, Comboni founded the
Institute for the Mission in Nigrizia, as he called Africa. It
was to be a community of priests and lay brothers who
dedicated themselves to the evangelisation of Africa, that
means they were to train indigenous Africans to become
missionaries to their own people. The centre of this
community was and is Verona in Italy; today this community
is called ‘Comboni missionaries of the Sacred Heart of
Jesus’, in Latin Missionarii Comboni Cordis Jesu, in short
MCCJ.
During the first Vatican Council Comboni wrote a petition on
behalf of the missionary work in Africa and asked the
bishops gathered for the Council to sign and support it. In a
short and compelling form he requested the Council to take
effective measures for the conversion of Africa.
Comboni tirelessly travelled throughout Europe to win
support for the mission in Africa. He found such support in
Cologne in Germany where there already was an
association which had as its goal the support of the mission
in Africa and it gave him generous financial aid. In South
Tirol, Bavaria, Belgium and England he found support as
well.
On Januray 1rst, 1872 Comboni founded a congregation of
missionary sisters; they also have their center in Verona.
The main task of these sisters was to train African women to
evangelise Africa.
In 1872 the Vatican Congregation for the Propagation of
Faith was prepared to give new life to the Apostolic Vicariate
of Central Africa and entrusted it to Comboni’s congregation;
he himself was appointed head of the mission. Comboni
chose the town of Khatoum in Sudan as the centre of his
missionary activities.
In that mission area entrusted to Comboni the slave trade
flourished. Whenever Comboni met slaves he got them
released and gave them the chance to settle on a piece of
land which he had bought. So the former slaves could
support themselves.
In 1877 Comboni was appointed Vicar Apostolic for Central
Africa. On August 15th,1877 he was ordained Bishop in
Rome. On November 5th and 6th of that year he visited
Arnold Janssen in Steyl. It was during this visit that he
encouraged Arnold Janssen to start a congregation of
missionary sisters – which he eventually did, as we know.
The kind of man Comboni was we get to know from some of
his own sayings. Once he wrote a letter thanking that
Cologne association which supported him financially.
Towards the end of that letter he wrote:
‘As for me and my missionaries, you may know, that with
great joy in our hearts we dedicate our lives to the wellbeing of this part of the world which is still almost unknown
and where there is so much misery, in order to win it for
Jesus Christ. Our sole program, which we want to carry out
with the help of God and with all the means of human
prudence and wisdom, is: Either the Africans or death. Aut
Nigritia aut mors.’
When he arrived in Khartoum to take up his work as newly
appointed head of the Apostolic Vicariate of Central Africa,
he told the people there:
‘I return to you to belong to you always and to dedicate
myself forever to work for your best.
Day and night, cold and rain will find me always ready to be
of service to your spiritual needs. Rich and poor, Master and
slave will always have equal access to my heart. Your well –
being will be mine as well, and your sufferings will be mine
also. I want to have everything in common with everyone of
you, and the happiest day of my life will be the one when I
will be able to give my life for you.’
During his visit to Steyl Comboni told stories from his life.
Arnold Janssen writes:
‘How deeply touching were his stories about the difficulties
which he head encountered, about the misjudgements, the
slander and the unjust accusations which he had to suffer
and likewise about the mistrust which he had encountered
on his thorny way. Because of that his work will be built on a
much stronger foundation.” And then, at the end Msgr.
Comboni added:
‘Sed confidete, cornua Christi sunt fortiori quam cornua
diaboli, that means, Be confident, the horns of Christ are
much stronger than the horns of the devil.’
Daniel Comboni died on October 10th, 1881, in Khartoum /
Sudan.
In the June issue of his Kleiner Herz-Jesu-Bote (Little
Messenger of the Sacred Heart of Jesus) Arnold Janssen
introduced Daniel Comboni to his readers with these almost
prophetic words:
‘The time has come to say something about this missionary
whose name probably will one day still be mentioned with
honour when many of those others will be forgotten who
now boast with their discoveries in Africa.’
How right Arnold Janssen was. On October 5th, 2003,
Daniel Comboni’s name was called with honour, when Pope
John Paul II wrote his name into the Book of the Saints and
elevated him to the honour of the altars.