Arnold Janssen was a German-Dutch Catholic priest and theologian born in 1837 in Goch. He is primarily recognized for establishing the Society of the Divine Word, a missionary congregation, alongside two religious orders for women. After serving as a teacher and a chaplain, he moved his missionary operations to Steyl in the Netherlands to bypass political difficulties in Germany. He died in Steyl in 1909 and was later canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2003.
Life and missions
Following his ordination in 1861, Janssen worked as a teacher of physics and catechism. He also managed the Apostleship of Prayer and published a German-language journal to support missionary work. Due to the constraints of the Kulturkampf, he established the St. Michael the Archangel Mission House in Steyl. This location became a center for training missionaries, including those sent to Hong Kong, and served as the base for his various religious foundations.
Veneration and legacy
Janssen was declared a saint by the Catholic Church in 2003. His path to sainthood included the reported miraculous recovery of a young girl in the Philippines. Today, his name is honored through several educational institutions and a church in his birthplace. His religious communities continue to operate globally, maintaining the missionary spirit he established in the late nineteenth century.