Congregatio Servarum Spiritus Sancti de Adoratione Perpetua
(SSpSAP)

Telling the story or stories of the Arnoldus Family we have to look at the story of Arnold Janssen’s own natural family. Arnold’s parents were Gerhard and Anna Katharina Janssen and on November 5, 1837 Arnold was born as the second of 11 children – three of whom died soon after birth.

Below you see a family photo of Anna Katharina and her eight surviving children. Missing is the father of the family, Gerhard, the reason being that there is no photo of him.

The spirit within the family in which Arnold Janssen grew up will serve us as
mirror to understand his spirituality. (Hermann Fischer SVD)

The Arnoldus Family Story

The Janssen family lived in the Lower Rhine town of Goch, only three kilometers east of the Dutch border. Gerhard Janssen was a farmer; most of the land he farmed with his two horses was rented land. Besides the farm he operated with his horses a freight hauling business between Goch and the Dutch town of Nijmegen (usually once a week) and also between Goch and the neighboring German towns of Geldern and Straelen.

“My father was a plain and simple man, a caring father and a good Christian,” son Arnold recalls. His motto was: “Everything together with the Lord God!” Bro. Juniperus William Janssen describes how Gerhard Janssen practiced this motto: Smuggling was something father could not bring himself to do. He always paid the customs duties conscientiously (Bornemann, Remembering Arnold Janssen, p. 19).

Father could discourse with great eloquence on the beginning of John’s Gospel. He said it was the most efficacious of all prayers and had great power with God. Whenever there was a severe storm, a blessed candle would be lighted and then father would kneel and pray the beginning of John’s Gospel aloud. When one of the cattle fell sick father and mother would pray it together (p. 18).

Father always received the year-book of the Propagation of the Faith. That was like his daily bread. He would read the letters from the missionaries with a warmth and enthusiasm I could never understand. (p. 18).

Arnold Janssen called his mother Anna Katharina “a great lover of prayer”. Bro. Juniperus recalls: When mother prayed so much and for such a prolonged time, we bigger boys would sometimes tell her jokingly: “Mother, you are praying yourself to heaven and out the other side.” – “Children,” she then replied with an expression of deep recollection, “things that should shine forever have to be made perfectly beautiful. And to pray, to speak with our dear Lord, how can anyone become tired? If you have eight children around, then you can and have to pray. Nothing can come about without prayer! I have to implore God and our Lady, that you will be protected from sin; I alone cannot protect my children (in Hermann Fischer S.V.D., Arnold Janssen, p. 19 – transl. J.O.).

Towards his brothers and sisters Arnold Janssen wanted to be a “loving, loyal brother”. As a priest and teacher in Bocholt he had the means to let his youngest brother John study at his own expense. Great was Arnold’s joy when he learned of his brother William’s decision to enter the Capuchin order in Münster. On November 12, 1863 he wrote to his father Gerhard these words which are quite remarkable for a future founder of religious congregations: I must say that for a long time nothing has given me so much joy as this. The vocation to the monastic life is a very great grace, and as much as I feel that I don’t have that vocation, I still envy those who are called by our dear Lord to His exclusive service in the quiet cell of the monastery (Hermann Fischer, Arnold Janssen, p.30 – transl. J.O.).

After the foundation of the mission house in Steyl his brothers and sisters supported Arnold and his work greatly. When in 1904 his brothers expressed their wish to spend Pentecost in St. Wendel’s mission house, Arnold wrote to the Superior there: I am really happy about my good brothers wanting to come there; for they, as much as they were able to, have rendered great services to the Society. Gerhard, who lives in our parental house and has no children, has even transferred the parental house and I think also all his other land to the mission printing press. And Peter, who has children of his own, agreed and helped with it (Werner Prawdzik, 100 Jahre Missionshaus St. Wendel, 1898-1998, p. 44-45 – transl. J.O.). [The mission printing press then was the legal owner of all SVD properties in Europe except for those in the Netherlands.]

For your reflection:
When we joined the Arnoldus Family we joined our personal life story with that of the Arnoldus Family. In doing so our life story received a new orientation; on the other hand each one of us took up the thread of the Arnoldus Family Story in a very special way. And so our life itself has become a piece of that story.

(Adapted from Edward Schillebeeckx OP, “Dominikanische Spiritualität” [Dominican Spirituality])

Courtesy of the publisher:
Jürgen Ommerborn SVD
SECRETARIIAT ARNOLD JANSSEN STEY L
Missionshaus Steyl  D-41311 Nettetal  Germany  March 2007