FUTURE BLESSED FROM THE BLACK FOREST

FATHER FRANCIS MARY of the CROSS JORDAN, founder of the Salvatorians, will be beatified May 15, 2021, at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. 

The future Blessed was named Johann Baptist Jordan after his birth in 1848 in Gurtweil, a town in the modern-day German state of Baden-Württemberg  at the edge of the Black Forest.  Due to his family’s poverty, he was not at first able to pursue his calling to be a priest, working instead as a laborer and painter-decorator.

But stirred by the anti-Catholic “Kulturkampf,” which attempted to restrict the Church’s activities, he began to study for the priesthood. 

On July 21, 1878 Johann was ordained a priest in Freiburg, Germany. Because he was known to have a gift for languages, he was sent by his bishop to Romefor advanced language studies, becoming fluent in Syrian, Aramaic, Coptic, Arabic, Hebrew and Greek. 

Still, he was sensing that something else was in store for his future. He began thinking about ways to renew spirituality and restore interest in religion. In September 1880, Father Johann met privately with Pope Leo XIII in the Vatican, where he outlined his plan to begin a society devoted to spreading the teachings of the faith. The Pope gave  his blessing to move forward with his plan

He believed that God was calling him to found a new apostolic work in the Church. Following a trip to the Middle East, he sought to establish a community of religious and lay people in Rome, dedicated to proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the only Savior.  

Working several years with Therese von Wüllenweber, now known as Blessed Mary of the Apostles since her 1968 beatification, they founded a community of women in their shared cause. On December 8, 1888, Father Jordan witnessed Therese profess her vows, which marked the beginning of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Divine Savior.  Therese was known in her religious community as Mother Mary. Together, members of the men’s and women’s communities became known as “Salvatorians,” derived from the Latin word salvator, meaning “Savior.”

Father Francis and Mother Mary shared a vision to bring lay women and men into their work and mission as well, but at that time it didn’t fit the vision of the Church. Not until after the Second Vatican Council closed in 1965 was the dream of Father Francis and Mother Mary fully realized. In the early 1970s, the first Lay Salvatorians made their formal commitment. 

Today, more than two thousand Salvatorians around the world continue the mission of Bl. Francis and Bl. Mary: To proclaim the goodness and kindness of Jesus, the Divine Savior, by all ways and means the love of God inspire

In 1915, the First World War forced him to leave Rome for neutral Switzerland, where he died in 1918.

In 2014, two lay members of the Salvatorians in Jundiaí, Brazil, prayed for Father Jordan to intercede for their unborn child, who was believed to be suffering from an incurable bone disease known as skeletal dysplasia.

The child was born in a healthy condition on Sept. 8, 2014, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the anniversary of Jordan’s death.