Devotees will celebrate on Sunday, Jan. 15, the feast day of Saint Arnold Janssen, the revered founder of the Society of the Divine Word, marking his 114th death anniversary.
Commemorative masses will be offered at the St. Arnold Janssen Shrine in Cainta, Rizal, and at the Archdiocesan Shrine of St. Arnold Janssen in Cebu and in parishes dedicated to his honor and memory.
Novena masses will be held from Jan. 6 to 14.
Saint Arnold was the founder of the missionary congregations Society of the Divine Word (1875), the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit, also known as the blue sisters because of the color of their habit (1889), and the Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration, also known as the pink sisters (1896).
The well-venerated saint worked for the unity of Christians, developed the apostolate of the press, and pioneered sending women to foreign missions. A man of prayer, he began his ministry as a teacher and was known as a great devotee of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Born in 1837 in Goch, Germany, he has ordained priest in 1861. He died in 1909 and was canonized by Saint John Paul II on Oct. 5, 2003.
Today, there are more than 6,000 Divine Word missionaries working in at least 63 countries all over the world including the Philippines