Rome, 8 September 2025 – The Society of the Divine Word (SVD) is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year under the theme “Witnessing to the Light: From Everywhere for Everyone.”
Founded in 1875 by St. Arnold Janssen in Steyl, Netherlands, the congregation has grown into one of the largest missionary institutes in the Catholic Church, with nearly 6,000 members serving in 79 countries.
Thanksgiving in the Jubilee Year
The anniversary coincides with the wider Church’s Jubilee Year 2025, Pilgrims of Hope. It is a moment of gratitude for the missionary service, intercultural communion, and Gospel witness that the SVD has carried out since its first mission to China in 1882.
“Our celebration is not an ode to our achievements, but a recognition of what the Lord has done in us and through us,” said Fr. Anselmo Ricardo Ribeiro, SVD, Superior General. “We are workers in the Missio Dei. Our future, like our past, is in God’s hands.”
Main Celebrations in Rome
The Jubilee events are being marked in Rome with several significant gatherings:
- Inauguration of the Permanent Mission Display (7 September 2025) at the Collegio del Verbo Divino. The exhibit highlights the SVD’s identity and charism, history and legacy, and global missionary presence. It features interactive digital panels, photos and videos of mission activities, intercultural communities, significant events, and mission objects such as local crafts, vestments, and liturgical artifacts from around the world.
- Eucharistic Celebration (8 September, 17:00 hrs) at San Benedetto Parish, Via del Gazometro 23, presided over by Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, S.D.B., Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life.
- Felicitation Program (8 September, 19:00 hrs) at the Collegio del Verbo Divino, Via dei Verbiti 1, Rome.
- Dinner (8 September, 20:00 hrs), bringing together confreres, collaborators, and guests in thanksgiving.
Mission in a Wounded World
Today, the Society continues to prioritize evangelization among the poor and marginalized, especially where the Gospel is least known. Its work spans four characteristic dimensions: Mission Animation, Biblical Apostolate, Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC), and Communication.
Equally distinctive is the SVD’s intercultural character—missionaries from different continents living, praying, and working together as a sign of unity in diversity. This witness of fraternity, the Society believes, speaks powerfully to a world often marked by division and conflict.
Looking Forward in Hope
As part of the Jubilee observance, the SVD invites confreres, religious partners, lay collaborators, benefactors, and people of goodwill to join in giving thanks for 150 years of mission and to renew the commitment to proclaim Christ in today’s cultural, ecological, and digital contexts.
“Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory,” the Society echoes its founder, St. Arnold Janssen, as it looks to the future with faith and hope.
