Societas Verbi Divini (SVD)
Society of the Divine Word
Divine Word Missionaries

The SVD is an international missionary religious congregation of the Catholic Church. With more than 6023 members working in 76 countries of the world. As Divine Word Missionaries we together in multicultural communities.

The ultimate purpose of our mission today is the same as it has been since the time of our founder, “to proclaim the Kingdom of God’s love” as the common destiny of all humanity and the horizon toward which we travel. It is from the internal loving dialogue of the triune God that this mission emerges, a dialogue of love and forgiveness with all humanity. We do not invent our own mission – it is Missio Dei – we are called by the Father, sent by the Word, and led by the Spirit.

Many religious orders and congregations have certain characteristics or traits that make them known. We are recognized by the four characteristic dimensions: the Bible, Mission Animation, Communication, Justice and Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC). With regards to the missions, what makes us unique from many missionary institutes is that mission areas or regions are not the sole responsibility of individual provinces, but the whole Society. Our Generalate may appoint members from any country to any other country with priority given to those places which are most in need. This also explains why many SVD communities are international.

We have two sister congregations, also founded by Saint Arnold Janssen. They are the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSpS), otherwise known as the "Blue Sisters" and a contemplative branch called the Sister Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration (SSpSAP) or better known as the "Pink Sisters", the nicknames allude to the color of the respective religious habits.

HISTORY

Our Society was founded in Steyl in the Netherlands in 1875 by St. Arnold Janssen, a diocesan priest, and drawn mostly from German priests and religious exiles in the Netherlands during the church-state conflict called the Kulturkampf, which had resulted in many religious groups being expelled and seminaries being closed in Germany. In 1882, the Society started sending missionaries into China’s Shandong Province, where their aggressive methods were part of the chain of events that led to the Boxer Uprising in the late 1890s. In 1892, missionaries were sent to Togo a small country in west Africa. The Togo mission was particularly fruitful for by 15 years later the Holy See had appointed an Apostolic prefect. The Society’s third mission was to German New Guinea (the northern half of present-day Papua New Guinea). In 1898 a fourth mission to be opened was in Argentina, a historically Catholic country where the Society quickly assumed responsibility for several parishes, schools, and also seminaries in four dioceses.

In the 20th century the Society further expanded, opening communities in Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada (Quebec and Ontario), South Africa), the United States of America, and Zambia.

Additional European communities were established in Austria, the Netherlands, Rome the United Kingdom, and the Silesian area.