Arnold Janssen’s Intercultural Narration

Arnold Janssen was born on November 5, 1837, in Goch, a small town on the crossroads of the border between Germany and The Netherlands. His parents were Gerhard and Anna Katharina Janssen. He is the founder of three international mission congregations, namely, the Divine Word Missionaries (SVD), Missionary Sisters of Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSpS), and Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration (SSpSAP).

Tracing Janssen’s journey in founding SVD is a comprehensive adventure. It involves his countless interactions with various parties. Inevitably, a multitude of issues and problems arose in the process. He encountered cultural differences and religious turbulence with the emergence of the “Kulturkampf” in Germany, which resulted in the decline of spiritual practices in Germany. Janssen, raised in a very devoted Catholic family, was startled to witness a shift in the people’s religious attitude.

In the early stages of his life, Janssen had to learn and master several foreign languages: Latin, French,, and Hebrew to complete his education. Recalling his high school years, young Janssen did not consider himself a smart student in his class.  He even failed Latin. As a result, he only received a half scholarship for the secondary school study in Gaesdonck. Young Janssen acknowledged his intellectual incapability, but he was surprised by his achievement as he somehow received a commendation from his school. Despite the difficulty of achieving a good Latin mark, natural sciences were among his best and favorite subjects.

Janssen was ordained a priest on August 15, 1861, at Munster Cathedral. Janssen’s passion in the natural sciences was his assignment to teach at the secondary school in Bocholt later on. Aside from being a natural science teacher, he also held the position as vice-rector. His knowledge in science became a source of capital for him to ‘generate’ an income. Upon receiving an agreement with the school board, he voluntarily offered to purchase Marry’s statue with his resources by giving some scientific lectures in an auditorium and charging a small admission fee. Considering the attendance of non-Catholic (Jewish) students at the school, some of the board members rejected the idea of placing a Marian statue in the school’s auditorium. This was one of the early encounters in his life that posed the possibility of intercultural conflict. The school’s board dispute led to his resignation from the school after teaching for over 12 years.

After he resigned from teaching, Janssen lived at Kempen as chaplain and spiritual director of the Ursulines for more than two years. Inspired by the apostleship of prayer of which he was a diocesan director for several years, Janssen began to publish a mission magazine, the Little Messenger of The Sacred Heart, in January 1874

A few years later, he reflected on this, saying, “At Bocholt, I was imbued with the idea of doing more for the spiritual welfare of the Church and especially the foreign missions.” Janssen, in the first publication of the magazine, stated clearly that the objective of the magazine was to inform people about the Catholic missions at home and abroad in a readable and interesting manner.

In the first edition, Janssen stated his understanding of the mission. He said that the magazine sought to give information about catholic assignments at home and abroad. He then narrowed it down, as found in the second issue: “our messenger aims mainly at arousing an interest in the foreign missions of the Catholic Church carried on among the pagan nation. 

 Janssen seems to emphasize the foreign mission, a pagan mission, which is quite different from the previous understanding of mission whereby he treated mission at home and abroad equally. This shift in Janssen’s sense of mission was influenced by the practical implications, which made it impossible for many priests to continue their work in Germany. Reflecting on this reality, Janssen broadened his vision in his missionary activity to consider the faith’s proclamation among non-Christians abroad.

From then, as an author, editor, and publisher, he was interested in writing about mission work and in promoting it through the magazine. This encouraged him to visit Bishop Raimondi, the Prefect Apostolic of Hong Kong (then still Vicar Apostolic), who at that time visited Dr. Von Essen, the parish priest of Neuwerk, to ask more detailed information on the mission, which would be published in the magazine. 

On this occasion, Janssen presented his concern to Bishop Raimondi about the reality that there was no mission institution to train missionaries in Germany, given that Catholic life in Germany was so vigorous, unlike the life of the Catholic church in other countries like France, Italy, Belgium, and Britain. Janssen thought of being himself of the “old flock” and was, therefore,, unable to go to the mission anymore. However, Bishop Raimondi challenged him by saying, “some priests must stay at home to work for Germany’s cause.” 

After the first meeting, Janssen visited Bishop Raimondi twice in Kempen. At this meeting, bishop Raimondi forced him to start a mission house (seminary) himself. Responding, Janssen stated: “If no other German priest is willing to undertake the project, then, trusting in the help of God, I should begin myself and team up with Dr. Von Essen for that purpose.

In the founding of the mission house, he encountered many difficulties due to the lack of financial and property means. To resolve the issue, Janssen disseminated his concerns through the Little Messenger of The Sacred Heart. Moreover, he visited various places like Venlo and Tegelen to share the mission house’s complete proposal with the people. On these trips, Janssen discussed the proposal with multiple people requesting their financial support.

On one occasion, Janssen showed his plan to the manager of Prince Liechtenstein. Following the meeting, the manager informed him that he could not make any contribution to the project. All attempts at founding the mission house failed. Nevertheless, Janssen would never be discouraged. He believed that God would continue to lead him the way, using his low hands for this purpose.

Another struggle for founding the mission house came from his own Bishop Brinkmann. The bishop once wrote a letter responding to his request for the founding of the mission seminary.

This is undoubtedly a very redemptive and meritorious work. But we should not be blind to the fact that the realization of this goal will involve significant obstacles, starting with cost alone...but the matter must be considered carefully and tested according to the rules of Christian wisdom to see whether God has called you for this purpose. Not everything useful in itself is necessarily the will of God for us.

 

Despite these challenges, the mission house was inaugurated on September 8, 1875, in Steyl, Netherlands. The success of the mission house, however, was never guaranteed to be free from disputes. The challenge also came internally from within the three founding members of the house. Janssen was in disagreement with his companions over the rules and statutes of the house.

A series of problems, mainly of a practical nature, awaited resolution. The question of goals and statutes was the real cause of dispute and division but at the root, if it were the actors’ different personalities. The problems overlapped and had an effect on one another; they cannot be neatly separated.

A dispute over the statutes, particularly on the following issues such as the patron of the mission house, its primary purpose, the requirements for the candidates who would enter the mission house, the training content for the seminaries, with his companions was the climax of these problems. There was polarity in the new mission house in Steyl. 

Janssen stuck to his plan that it would be a place for an apostolic school and a mission seminary for preparing the seminarians for mission in foreign countries. The other members of the community, however, were against this idea. The other members observed that the seminary lacked applicants because the seminary rules were not in favor of the interests of most young people, particularly in terms of the practice of strict abstinence that Janssen adopted from the Dominican Third Order. Fr. Bill, a member of the mission house, expressed his opinion toward Janssen to end the unhealthy dualism in the mission house. He requested Janssen to start only with an apostolic school.

Throughout the narration o the Society of the Divine Word’s founding, Janssen continued to refine his skills and approaches to address and resolve the issues and problems that arose from situations of intercultural conflicts. With his particular ways, means and resolutions, Arnold Janssen eventually managed to establish the mission house in Steyl, which then gave birth to the Society of Divine Word (SVD).

The intercultural situation was seen in the mission house from the composition of its members who came from different places such as “Bavaria (Johann Baptist Anzer), Tyrol (Joseph Freinademetz), and Luxembourg (Franz Xaver Reichart and Peter Bill).

Since the early days of the mission house, Janssen had a particular concern for academic studies. Thus, many young missionaries were sent to study not only philosophy, theology but linguistics, ethnology, and anthropology. Janssen’s interest in the academic study was shown through his effort in supporting people like Wilhelm Schmidt to initiate the publication of Anthropos, which was founded in 1906 to publish reports and studies of missionaries on the peoples and cultures where they work. This was three years before Janssen’s death.