Mission House St. Michael
The Mission House St. Michael in Steyl is the motherhouse of the Society of the Divine Word (Societas Verbi Divini, SVD ), a Catholic missionary order that is popularly called Steyler missionaries after the place of origin .
history
The Münster diocesan priest Arnold Janssen opened the St. Michael mission house on September 9, 1875, in an old inn on the Maas in the Limburg village of Steyl . Arnold Janssen wanted to train Catholic missionaries here so that the Catholics of the German-speaking countries and the Netherlands could also be better involved in the missionary work of the Catholic world church. For this purpose, a Latin school and a philosophical-theological course were set up in the Steyler Mission House . On March 2, 1879, Arnold Janssen was able to send the first two missionaries, Johann B. Anzer and Josef Freinademetz , who were destined for the mission in China . The broadcast celebrations with the awarding of the mission cross were part of the annual ritual of the mission house for decades. The philosophical and theological studies were moved to the newly founded St. Gabriel Mission House near Vienna in 1889 . The internal grammar school existed in the mission house in Steyl until 1961. The Generalate leadership also stayed in Steyl for 53 years, until 1928, and was then transferred to the newly established Collegio del Verbi Divini in Rome .
Mission printing company Steyl
For decades from 1878 onwards, the Small Sacred Heart Messenger , from 1900 Steyler Mission Messenger , the Michael Calendar (from 1880), the City of God (from 1878), the Jesusknabe (from 1926), and later Called Wide World , printed the youth magazine 17 , as well as the small children's magazine Pico . The Steyler Mission Chronicle , published since 1959 by the Steyler Mission Science Institute in Sankt Augustin , as well as the mission science book series Studia Instituti Missiologici Societatis Verbi Divini were also printed in Steyl until the order's own print shop closed in 2001.
The upper and lower church, as well as the cemetery and the Steyl mission museum of the St. Michael mission house are great attractions for visitors.
literature
- Hermann Fischer: Foundation and development of the mission house in Steyl , in: H. Fischer: Arnold Janssen. Founder of the Steyler Missionswerk , Missionsdruckerei Steyl, Post Kaldenkirchen, Rhld. 1919, pp. 95–218.
- On the history of St. Michael in Steyl , contributions by Otto Miss, Henrich Hopster, Johann Kraus, Analecta SVD - 51, Apud Collegium Verbi Divini: Romae 1980, 185 pp.
- Kerken en Oratorie van het St. Michaelsklooster te Steyl , by P. Johann Kraus SVD, Uitgave van de Heemkindige Kring Tegelen, Druckerij Steijl BV, 1984, 62 pp.
- Fritz Bornemann: Arnold Janssen the founder of the Steyler Missionswerk 1837-1909 . A picture of life based on contemporary sources, Steyler Verlag: Nettetal 3rd edition, 1992, ISBN 3-8050-0300-5 .
- Josef Alt SVD: Arnold Janssen. Life path and life's work of the founder of the Steyler order , Studia Instituti Missiologici SVD 70, Steyler Verl .: Nettetal 1999, 1085 S. 1999, ISBN 3-8050-0427-3 .
Web links
- Missionaries - Missionshaus St. Michael (German)
- The motherhouse cemetery. On the history of the Missionshaus St. Michael, Steyl, Vol. 2, 2009 ( PDF )
- Mission Museum Steyl
- Sonja Pfeisinger: 125 years of GOD'S CITY. The success story of a magazine. In: Stadt Gottes Juli 2002, p. 5. ( Online ( Memento from November 30, 2015 in the Internet Archive ))
Coordinates: 51 ° 20 '4 " N , 6 ° 7' 8.5" E