Arnold Janssen

Arnold Janssen SVD (5 November 1837 – 15 January 1909), was a German-Dutch Catholic priest and missionary who is venerated as a saint.

Janssen was born 5 November 1837 in Goch in the Rhineland, Germany,[1] not far from the Dutch border, one of eleven siblings.

He devoted some years to pastoral work and the teaching of Christian doctrine, in 1873 becoming chaplain and director at the Ursuline convent of Kempen.

This led to the founding in 1874 of the German-language journal Kleiner Herz-Jesu Bote (Little Messenger of the Sacred Heart), which looked to enlist the faithful in prayer and support for the mission.

[5] The Kulturkampf, however, hampered his efforts, and Janssen purchased land in Steyl, the Netherlands, to begin his seminary, dedicated in 1875 as the "St. Michael the Archangel Mission House".

[6] Janssen and Joseph Freinademetz, along with Daniele Comboni (an important missionary in Africa) were canonised on 5 October 2003 by Pope John Paul II.

Janssen was elevated to sainthood after the healing of Pamela Avellanosa, a Filipina teenager living in Baguio who fell from a bike and was not expected to recover from the resulting head injury.