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Two Cardinals, One Spirit: Messages of Hope at the SVD 150th Jubilee
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Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime: The Spirit as Protagonist
At the Closing Mass of the Jubilee celebration in Rome on September 8, 2024, Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, delivered the homily. He placed the focus on the Holy Spirit as the true protagonist of the Jubilee.
Drawing on the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, Cardinal Artime recalled how Mary, St. Arnold Janssen, and the first SVD missionaries each responded to the Spirit’s promptings in their time. He called the congregation to discernment: “The key question is not what we want to do, but what the Spirit is creating in us today.” With urgency and hope, he reminded the SVD family that mission today requires courage, creativity, and trust in the Spirit amid wars, migration, ecological crises, and the search for meaning in modern life.
Click read the full homily of Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime
Homily – Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary & 150th Anniversary of the Divine Word Missionaries
Dearest brothers in the Episcopate, beloved Divine Word family, dear brothers and sisters all,
Today the Church invites us to rejoice in the birth of Mary, the Mother of the Lord and our Mother. This is not only about remembering an event that took place over two thousand years ago, but about contemplating a gift that continues to illuminate our history. The liturgy of the Nativity of Mary shows us how God, with delicacy and wisdom, prepares the great moments of salvation: before coming among us in Jesus, He prepared the one who would be the Mother of the Redeemer. At the same time, we accompany the Society of the Divine Word in a significant moment: the 150th anniversary of its foundation.
Saint Paul reminds us in the Letter to the Romans that “All things work together for good for those who love God” (Rom 8:28). Mary is the first fruit of this truth: conceived by God from the beginning to be the Mother of the Redeemer. Mary is the living proof of this truth: her birth was not by chance but a sign of an eternal plan. She was destined from all eternity to be “full of grace” (Lk 1:28), preserved from sin, so that she might be completely available for God’s gift.
Pope Benedict XVI invited us years ago to contemplate her as the dawn of our salvation—not a distant memory, but a living presence. He expressed it with these words: “Even today, dear brothers and sisters, the Church rejoices in the liturgical celebration of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the All Holy, the dawn of our salvation.” In this way, the Pope invites us to see Mary not as an isolated event of the past, but as the luminous beginning of God’s saving plan, also as a radiant icon of divine goodness, always with us, close and maternal. “From the first moment of life Mary is totally transparent to God; she is like a radiant icon of divine goodness.” The Pope added: this is not an ordinary birthday, because Mary is not simply a character from history. With her complete availability, she unites human time to divine time, becoming always present in our lives.
And in this great Marian feast, we find ourselves with our brothers of the Society of the Divine Word, today witnesses of light in a wounded world, celebrating 150 years since your foundation, on September 8, 1875, in Steyl (the Netherlands), an initiative of the Holy Spirit through the human cooperation of St. Arnold Janssen. The theme of this Jubilee is therefore eloquent: “Witnessing the Light: from every place for all.”
In this beautiful celebration of the 150th anniversary, we can truly say as one family that the birth of Mary, Mother of our Lord, and the history of the Divine Word Missionaries intertwine in the call to illuminate the world with the Word of God. As the “dawn of salvation,” Mary prepared the way for the Messiah with her fiat to the Father. As missionaries in service to the Word, you, the Society of the Divine Word, are called to bring that light to the peripheries of the planet, in so many culturally diverse contexts, embracing the challenge of bringing peace, justice, reconciliation, and the integrity of creation.
Mary does not belong only to an idealized past, nor is she distant from us. With the totality of her being, she is a living message of God for us. She united human time with divine time through her permanent presence. Thus, Mary transcends history and is always present in history—present with us. This continual presence comforts us, accompanies us, and calls us to live with her.
In fact, the Word of God helps us to understand and to open our eyes and hearts to the reality that, as the prophet Micah announced: “But you, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel” (Mic 5:2). In the same way, Mary’s birth took place in obscurity, far from palaces of power. Yet it is precisely from her that God would bring forth the King of Kings. It is always so: God chooses what is humble to accomplish His wonders.
In the Gospel of Matthew, which recounts the genealogy of Jesus (Mt 1:1–16), Mary appears as the culmination of a long history of light and shadow, of saints and sinners. In her, everything finds fulfillment: the promise made to Abraham, the covenant with David, the expectation of the prophets. With her birth, Mary is like the dawn that announces the sun: “A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom” (Is 11:1).
To celebrate today the Nativity of Mary means to celebrate God’s faithfulness. And to celebrate this 150th anniversary of yours also means to celebrate God’s fidelity to you, and your humble response as you strive to remain faithful, because:
- God patiently prepared His plan: Mary is its sign, and the mission of the Divine Word is its historical continuation.
- Greatness is born of humility: Mary and the first missionaries came from simple contexts (Nazareth, and also a tavern in Steyl), yet they made God present in history—just as you, dear brothers, through your dedication and self-giving.
With hope for the present and the future: like Mary, the religious family of the Society of the Divine Word responds to the Missio Dei today—healing, engaging in dialogue, learning from cultures and religions, in order to be creative and faithful witnesses.
Brothers and sisters, let us invoke the Blessed Virgin so that she may help us rediscover the beauty of our birth, of our being children loved by God. Every life is precious, every birth carries within it a new hope. Let us ask Mary to accompany us on the journey of faith, to teach us to say “yes” as she did, and to make us capable of welcoming Christ into our homes and into our hearts. And let us ask for the great gift of fidelity for this beautiful religious family, after 150 years of life inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Today, on the feast of the birth of our Mother, let us turn to her with filial trust:
Holy Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, you who are the dawn of a new day, make us too a light of hope for the world.
Amen.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle: Gratitude and Companionship in Mission
At the Community Dinner at Collegio Verbo Divino in Rome on September 8, 2025, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pro-Prefect for the Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches of the Dicastery for Evangelization, delivered an inspirational message.
Cardinal Tagle expressed deep gratitude for the legacy of St. Arnold Janssen and St. Joseph Freinademetz, praising the courage of generations of missionaries. He extended this gratitude to the Arnoldus Family—especially the Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters (SSpS) and the Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration (SSpSAP)—and recognized the many lay partners who walk alongside the SVD.
One of the striking points of his message was that the poor, migrants, children, and non-Christians are not just recipients of mission but true companions and missionaries themselves. “They give flesh to the Word of God you preach; they show you the human face of the eternal Divine Word,” he told the community, underscoring that the people evangelized also shape the missionaries’ hearts.
Entrusting the congregation’s future to Mary, whose birth coincided with the SVD’s foundation date, Cardinal Tagle called on the community to continue serving with compassion and creativity, guided by the Spirit and inspired by the poor.
Click to read the full Message for the Conclusion of the Jubilee of Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle
Our hearts turn with gratitude and thanksgiving to our Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—at the conclusion of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Society of the Divine Word. We marvel at the generosity of heart and determination with which St. Arnold Janssen and St. Joseph Freinademetz responded to the missionary call inspired by the Holy Spirit, while reading the social and historical context in which that mission was to be carried out. We congratulate the members of the Society of the Divine Word over the past one hundred and fifty years—those who have gone to their eternal home and those who remain with us—for their precious and exceptional contribution to the mission of the Church in different parts of the world and across various periods of history.
We must not forget the vital bond of the Divine Word Fathers and Brothers with the apostolate and prayer of the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit (Blue Sisters) and the Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration (Pink Sisters). They bring richness and vitality to the life of the Divine Word Missionaries. On behalf of the Dicastery for Evangelization, particularly the Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches, I wish to express our deep gratitude to the Society of the Divine Word for our close collaboration in the evangelizing mission of the Church.
On a personal note, I treasure the years I spent teaching at the Divine Word Seminary in Tagaytay. Now, seeing former students—some of whom I ordained as deacons or priests—bearing abundant fruit fills me with joy.
As we look to God, the founders, the pioneers of mission, and our religious collaborators, I exhort you, dear Fathers and Brothers of the Divine Word, to thank God for the people you have served and continue to serve: those languishing in poverty, children in need of education, those who suffer injustice and violence, refugees, the forcibly displaced and the homeless, and non-Christians. But do not let your jubilee pass without recognizing how they have served you even more than you have served them.
It is they who have awakened in you missionary charity, creativity, justice, and compassion. They have given flesh to the Word of God that you preach. They have given you a human face of the eternal Divine Word. They are not merely beneficiaries of your mission. Rather, they are the missionaries sent by the Divine Word to you, to make you authentic missionaries. Their tears and smiles, their sorrows and joys, their frustrations and dreams are your guides for discerning the paths and methods that the Holy Spirit is opening before you. They are your principal companions on the synodal journey.
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the very day on which the Society of the Divine Word was born 150 years ago. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, in whose faith and womb the eternal Word became flesh, inspire and protect you as you move forward into the new frontiers of mission that the Holy Spirit will open for you in the future.
One Jubilee, One Mission
Together, the voices of Cardinal Artime and Cardinal Tagle offered a rich synthesis of the Jubilee’s meaning: thanksgiving for the past, recognition of companions in mission, and renewed trust in the Spirit for the challenges of today and tomorrow.
Their presence at the Jubilee underscored not only the universal mission of the SVD, but also the close communion between the Arnoldus Family and the wider Church
