The Society of the Divine Word (SVD) brought its 150th Jubilee to a close in Rome with a series of events that wove together memory, gratitude, intercultural fraternity, and a renewed commitment to mission and creation.
Founded in 1875 by St. Arnold Janssen in Steyl, Netherlands, the SVD has grown into one of the largest Catholic missionary congregations, with nearly 6,000 members serving in 79 countries.
Marked by the theme “Witnessing to the Light: From Everywhere for Everyone,” the Jubilee year coincided with the Church’s wider Jubilee 2025, Pilgrims of Hope.
Remembering the Journey: Mission Display
On the eve of the closing, September 7, the Collegio Verbo Divino community inaugurated a Mission Display narrating the story of the SVD’s journey from its humble beginnings to its worldwide missionary presence.
Through artifacts, paintings, liturgical vessels, and testimonies, the exhibit showed how Divine Word Missionaries responded to the spiritual, educational, and social needs of people across cultures.
Superior General Fr. Anselmo Ribeiro, SVD, who blessed and opened the exhibition, emphasized its purpose: “This display bridges generations, deepens our sense of identity, inspires renewed commitment, and projects a vision for tomorrow. For the Society of the Divine Word, such a witness renews our call to embody the Incarnate Word in our midst.”
Prayers were also offered for missionaries past and present, the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSpS), the Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration (SSpSAP), lay partners, benefactors, and vocation promoters.
Designed as both memory and inspiration, the display remains open to visitors as an invitation for future generations to embrace the missionary call.
Planting for the Future: A Jubilee Commitment to Creation
The following day, September 8, the SVD community gathered in the gardens of Collegio Verbo Divino for a tree-planting ceremony symbolizing rootedness in Christ and ecological conversion. Oak saplings, blessed and planted into the soil, stood as enduring signs of resilience and hope.
The gesture carried particular weight in the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’s encyclical on care for creation. Fr. Richard Quadros, SVD, coordinator of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC), reflected: “Like a seed that must fall and die to bear fruit, our past, rich with hopes, wounds, and challenges, becomes the fertile ground for new life. Today, as we plant oak saplings, we symbolize this legacy: a tree of faith with branches spreading across nations, cultures, and languages.”
Former Superior General Fr. Antonio Pernia, SVD, blessed the soil and the first saplings, praying that they would grow as signs of strength, stability, and openness to new beginnings.
Thanksgiving and Renewal: Eucharist and Cultural Celebration
The Jubilee reached its climax with a solemn Eucharistic celebration at the Parish of San Benedetto, presided over by Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
Preaching on the feast of the Nativity of Mary, celebrated on the same day St. Arnold Janssen founded the Society in 1875, the Cardinal reminded the faithful that Mary’s humble yes opened the way for salvation. In the same spirit, he urged the Verbites to keep saying yes to mission in today’s wounded world.
At the close of the Mass, Fr. Ribeiro underscored the heart of the celebration: “Our Jubilee is not an ode to human achievements, but a recognition of what the Lord has done in us and through us. We are workers in the Missio Dei. Our future, like our past, is in God’s hands.”
Festivities continued with a community dinner at Collegio Verbo Divino, enriched by cultural performances from Myanmar, Indonesia, and Portugal, alongside messages of solidarity from Church leaders and religious congregations.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, presented the newly released Mission Conference Book and reminded missionaries that while they give much to the poor, they have also received immeasurable gifts of faith and resilience from them.
Looking Forward with Hope
The conclusion of the Jubilee year was more than a commemoration, it was a call to renewal. For the Society of the Divine Word, 150 years of missionary service is a milestone that looks back with gratitude while opening paths forward with passion and hope.
Inviting all, especially young people, to embrace the missionary vocation, the SVD recommits itself to proclaiming the Gospel in today’s spiritual, digital, cultural, and ecological realities.
As their founder, St. Arnold Janssen, once said: “Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory.”
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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