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The Society of the Divine Word, also known as Divine Word Missionaries, Verbites, or the Steyler Missionaries, is a missionary religious congregation in the Latin Church, one of the churches that make up the Catholic Church. Consisting of priests and brothers, the Society of the Divine Word is the largest missionary congregation in the Catholic Church. The Society was founded in 1875, in Steyl, the Netherlands, by Father Arnold Janssen, the diocesan priest who also founded two sister congregations: the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit, and a contemplative branch known as the Sister Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration. Saint Janssen was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2003. The Society was originally made up mostly of German priests and religious exiles in the Netherlands, at the time of a church-state conflict in Germany known as the Kulturkampf, in which several religious groups were expelled from Germany. In 1882, the Society began sending missionaries to the Shandong Province of China, where their aggressive evangelization was part of the events that led to the Boxer Uprising in the 1890s. Missionaries were sent to Togo in 1892, and their work was so successful that an Apostolic prefect was appointed for Togo within fifteen years. Other early mission areas included German New Guinea, Argentina, Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, La Plata, and Paraná, all of which are now archdioceses, further expanding their missionary field during the 20th century. Within the Divine Word Missionaries, mission areas are not the sole responsibility of individual provinces, but of the whole Society, and members are appointed to serve wherever the are needed. Many SVD communities are international in character. Members of the Society of the Divine Word take the three traditional Catholic religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Within the community, all possessions are held in common, and no member may accumulate wealth.

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Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters

Holy Spirit Sisters

 

 

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