We are an international community of Catholic missionaries – priests and brothers – founded in 1875 by a German priest, St Arnold Janssen. Across the world today, there are more than 6000 members serving in more than 70 countries. Our community is named after the Divine Word, and so we are known as the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) or Divine Word Missionaries.

Our SVD identity is rooted in a call to witness to God's love precisely in situations where its inclusive embrace is not recognised and where its openness to the rich diversity of peoples is not appreciated.

Along with our sister congregations, The Missionary Sisters, Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSpS) and the Sister-Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration (SSpSAP) we try to listen to the Spirit so we can follow Jesus more courageously in doing the Father's will.

What is our Mission?

God's loving grace has gathered us from various peoples and continents into a religious missionary community dedicated to the Divine Word.
God so loved the world that he sent his only Son. The Word became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth to reveal the Father's name and to proclaim the kingdom of his love.

His life is our life, his mission our mission.