By Father Franz Gassner svd
In 1874 the prefect of Hong Kong, Timoleon Raimondi, travelled to Europe. He visited Germany and there played a crucial role in suggesting and encouraging Father Arnold Janssen to found a mission house, which ultimately became the Mother House of the Divine Word Missionaries [SVD] in Steyl, Netherlands. Like the biblical Visitation and Encounter of Mary and Elizabeth, this “modern” visitation in 1874—by two priests open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit—exerted a lasting and global impact. Today, 10,000 missionaries of the Divine Word, of the Holy Spirit Sisters, and of the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters, are serving all over the world, supported by an increasing number of lay mission partners.
Father Janssen wrote in a letter: “In May 1874 I read in the Gladbacher Volkszeitung [Folk News of Gladbach] that the prefect apostolic of Hong Kong, Bishop Raimondi [then still vicar apostolic], was visiting Dr. von Essen, the parish priest of Neuwerk. I visited him to get more detailed information about the missions and other things. I wanted to awaken and promote interest in the missions through the Messenger of the Sacred Heart. I told him of my regret that Germany, where Catholic life was so vigorous, did not have a single mission house for the training of missionaries.
“On the other hand, France, Italy, Belgium and even Britain, where Catholic life was so weak, did have such institutions. I myself could not go to the missions because I was too old. ‘But that is not necessary,’ replied Monsignor Raimondi, ‘some priests must stay at home to work for the cause in Germany.’ I thought then only of placing myself at the disposal of whoever would begin such an enterprise and of dedicating my energy to it. I visited Monsignor Raimondi again and we spoke about the same question.
“Finally, Monsignor Raimondi said that if no other German priest whom I could join was 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. The notion of beginning such a project myself had never dawned on me. As a result, I thought it was asking too much; I did not consider myself capable of it.
Monsignor Raimondi is a fine missionary figure with a long beard and a face that clearly reflects the signs of hard missionary work. He is an intermediary between Rome and the 28 Catholic bishops of China
“Later Monsignor Raimondi visited me in Kempen and urged me even more pressingly to take up the task. I hesitated just as before. Nevertheless, I wanted to present the plan to the public through the Sacred Heart Messenger and try to arouse interest in it” [Letter Arnold Janssen to Reinke 3.336, quoted from Josef Alt, Journey in Faith: The Missionary Life of Arnold Janssen [Rome: Apud Collegium Verbo Divini, 2002], p. 44].
After the two visits of Father Arnold Janssen to Raimondi, in summer 1874 Raimondi himself visited Father Arnold Janssen two times to further encourage him to start a mission house. These visits took place on June 26 and July 27 1874 in Kempen, Germany. It seems that Raimondi judged Father Janssen very suitable for founding a German-Austrian mission house and he made two personal visits to him in summer 1874.
Thus honoured, Father Janssen compiled a report for his readers. “Monsignor Raimondi is a fine missionary figure with a long beard and a face that clearly reflects the signs of hard missionary work. He is an intermediary between Rome and the 28 Catholic bishops of China and was commissioned by the Holy See to visit 13 of the 18 Chinese provinces, each of which has on average the same size population as the whole Kingdom of Prussia. The editor of this magazine [Sacred Heart Messenger], Father Arnold Janssen, accepts donations for the Chinese mission” [quoted from Alt, Journey in Faith, 46].
“Then Raimondi came again to Kempen to try to persuade him to open a German mission house himself. He [Janssen] informed his brother [John Janssen], ‘Tomorrow, Apostolic Prefect Raimondi will drop in to see me on his way from Holland to Italy.’ [Letter Arnold Janssen to John Janssen, 26. July 1874, quoted from Alt, Journey in Faith, p. 46]. Thus, the second visit of Raimondi to Janssen occurred on July 27th 1874 in Kempen.
The very humble, but ultimately successful foundation of the First Mission House of the Divine Word Missionaries [Societas Verbi Divini, SVD] took place in Steyl, the Netherlands on 8 September 1875. This is the foundation day of the Divine Word Missionaries, SVD
Father Janssen was supporting Prefect Raimondi in his mission work during that time:
It seems that Father Janssen also supported, during that time period, Prefect Raimondi of Hong Kong: “Even if Janssen did not publish a longer article about Raimondi, he was nevertheless working for him. On 28th October [1874] he delivered a lecture to the citizens’ organisation ‘Constantia’ in Krefeld [Germany] about the Catholic missions in Indochina and the natural disasters in Raimondi’s territory. The committee spontaneously donated fifty thalers.” [Alt, Journey in Faith, 46-47].
In January 1875, when Raimondi had left Europe and returned to Hong Kong [Raimondi stayed in Europe from 1873-1874], Janssen wrote: “May the advice and suggestions made be him [Raimondi] during his stay in Germany regarding the foundation of a German-Austrian mission house not remain unfulfilled” [quote from Alt, Journey in Faith, 46-47].
The very humble, but ultimately successful foundation of the First Mission House of the Divine Word Missionaries [Societas Verbi Divini, SVD] took place in Steyl, the Netherlands on 8 September 1875. This is the foundation day of the Divine Word Missionaries, SVD. The foundation could not be made in Germany itself due to the “Kulturkampf” there [the government was opposed to the Church].
St. Arnold Janssen told the pope in 1878 about the significant role of Bishop Raimondi of Hong Kong in the founding his first mission house in Steyl:
“On the occasion of his first visit to the pope in 1878, the founder [Father Arnold Janssen] reported the influence Raimondi had exercised on him. He said Raimondi had visited him twice during the summer 1874 and urged him not only to write about the future seminary but also to start it himself. At first he refused, but after Raimondi’s departure it seemed more and more to be the will of God to begin the work” [Alt, Journey in Faith, 46-47].
The first SVD mission departure from Steyl to Hong Kong on 2 March 1879: Father Janssen writes again on the significant role of support by Bishop Raimondi for the foundation of the mission house and of accepting the first two missionaries from Steyl in Hong Kong:
On the occasion of his first visit to the pope in 1878, the founder [Father Arnold Janssen] reported the influence Raimondi had exercised on him. He said Raimondi had visited him twice during the summer 1874 and urged him not only to write about the future seminary but also to start it himself
“The destination was Hong Kong, the gateway to China. ‘The bishop in Hong Kong is vicar-apostolic Monsignor Raimondi, an Italian missionary and an alumnus of the Milan Foreign Mission seminary who twice visited Reverend Father Rector Arnold Janssen in Kempen, then editor of this magazine, and encouraged him to go ahead and found a German mission house himself. […] We can thank Divine Providence that this man who played such a significant role in the founding of the house now has our first two missionaries in his territory” [Alt, Journey in Faith, 177].
The guidance by the Holy Spirit was key for both St. Arnold Janssen and for Bishop Raimondi of Hong Kong. This same Holy Spirit guides the church today on her synodal journey through time and space. It is precious in our own encounters and “visitations’ as faithful, to let us always be guided and led by the Holy Spirit, so that we can bring much fruit in witnessing the Good News today.
