St. Theodore Roman Catholic Church

The Salvatorian Fathers (Father Zenek's order), whose mission compels them to share their call to be apostles with people from all walks of life, are engaged in apostolic activities in 33 countries - in all the continents of the world. They serve in many of the Diocese of Metuchen churches including, as you know, ours. If you appreciate all the work the fathers do in our churches, you can show it by making a donation to the Salvatorian Fathers Mission to keep their work unending. Please be as generous as possible and help the Salvatorians  Fathers, who are so willing to help us to keep our churches from closing.

God our Father, you called Father Francis Mary of the Cross Jordan to be your apostle, to make you known and loved by all people everywhere, using all the ways and means your love inspires.

You filled him with universal apostolic zeal, with the goodness and the kindness of the Divine Savior, with a deep trust in God's loving providence, with a profound spirit of prayer, with a sincere devotion to Mary, Mother of the Savior, and with the courage to follow you, even into the mystery of the Cross.

Grant us, by his intercession, and according to your will, the graces we ask you..., hoping that he will soon be numbered among your saints.

Amen.

Pray this prayer when you pray through his intercession:

Jesus, Savior of the World, You have given your servant Francis the gift of deep and strong faith, unwavering hope and heroic love for God and neighbor and a strong desire for the salvation of souls. Count him already here on earth among your blessed ones and through his intercession grant us what we humble ask for. Who lives and reigns forever and ever.

Amen.

Mission Statement of the Society of the Divine Saviour

We Salvatorians are called to follow Jesus Christ, the Divine Saviour, by living as community within the universal Church for apostolic service.

As with our Founder, Fr Francis Mary of the Cross Jordan, we proclaim to all people the salvation which has appeared in Jesus Christ, so that by the lives we live and in our apostolic activities, all may come "to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3), and have life in all its fullness.

The mission compels us to share our call to be apostles with people from all walks of life. We are ready to serve all people everywhere, by all ways and means which the love of Christ inspires. We trust in God's loving providence in discerning and courageously responding to the particular signs of the times in each place and age.

Today, these signs urge us to be a prophetic voice for the renewal of Church and world, by conveying in a contemporary way the values of the Gospel in dialogue with each culture; by animating lay people to live their baptismal commitment for Christian leadership, ministry, and service; by joining the poor in challenging contemporary evils which frustrate a fully human life, particularly social injustice, poverty and violence in all their forms. Salvatorians seek to fulfil their mission by being one with those we serve, manifesting to the world the goodness and kindness of God our Saviour.

Fr. Francis Jordan & The Salvatorian Order

Father Francis Jordan. 1848-1918. Founder of the Salvatorians

Father Francis Jordan was born in the village of Gurtweil, in the Black Forest, on 16th June 1848, and baptised the following day with the name of John Baptist.

Due to his family's great poverty he had to go to work straight after elementary school. Jordan served in the army and worked on the construction of the railways and as a painter and decorator. During this period he saw the great spiritual needs of the ordinary people who were flocking to the cities to find work in the increasingly industrialised society of his day and he realised that God was calling him to do something to meet this spiritual hunger. He resolved to study for the priesthood but having been out of school for eight years it was not easy to go back to the classroom. He turned out to be a gifted student with a particular facility for languages.

John Baptist was eventually ordained a priest on 21st July 1878 but due to a long struggle between the Church and Bismarck's Germany he was forbidden by law to take up a parish appointment and so his Bishop sent him to Rome for further linguistic studies. After his studies Father Jordan managed to take a trip to Egypt and Palestine to carry diplomatic messages for the Church authorities and took an extended break there to further his study of Middle Eastern languages. All during his studies the idea had grown within him that he must do something special for God. He realised that he was being drawn to found some special work, an organisation within the Church that would advance the work of evangelisation. During his journey to Palestine these ideas crystallised and he began to draft a rule for his new institute. As he visited the holy places, his inner call became unmistakable and sure--he was to found an apostolic work, totally dedicated to the spreading and deepening of the faith. A Gospel passage that moved, inspired and motivated him was "Eternal life is this: that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (John 17,3)

After much prayer and planning and after receiving the encouragement of many Bishops and Cardinals, and with Pope Leo XIII's personal blessing, Father Jordan founded the "Apostolic Teaching Society" on 8th December 1881, in Rome. Although by birth a German, Jordan was most insistent that his Society should be based in Rome at the heart of the Church. The actual foundation took place at Santa Brigida in the Piazza Farnese, near the English College, but not long after he moved to what is now the Motherhouse of the Society in Via della Conciliazione just in front of St Peter's Basilica. After some difficulties in 1888, also on 8th December he was able to found the Sisters' branch of the Society at Tivoli near Rome.

Blessed Mary of the Apostles (Baroness Therese von Wuellenweber), who totally shared his apostolic and missionary ideals became the leader of the new community of Sisters. The Church authorities had some difficulties with the name of the new Society and in 1894, the men's branch became known as the Society of the Divine Saviour and the women's as the Sisters of the Divine Saviour. However, both are simply called Salvatorians from the Latin word "Salvator" meaning Saviour. Jordan was soon joined by other like-minded men and women and his two Societies quickly flourished and spread throughout the world and between them they are active now in about forty countries and together number nearly three thousand members with many lay collaborators.

Father Jordan founded his communities on confidence in God and Gospel poverty. He had a deep devotion to the Blessed Lady under various titles, Queen of the Apostles, Sorrowful Mother, Mother of the Saviour, and others. On his desk stood a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. Into her folded and praying hands he often placed his most urgent written petitions concerning personnel, spiritual and material needs of his young communities. Nearby were his many books and dictionaries, aids in learning and perfecting the more than forty languages that he had mastered; also in his room there was a globe of the world. Both of these are witness to his worldwide vision. Images of the Crucified Saviour and his sorrowing Mother could also be found in his room and in the community chapel. From such an environment one can begin to understand how his heart could be so filled with love for God, for His Christ, for His mother and for the whole world. When Father Jordan could not be found in his room or in the house he could nearly always be found in the quiet and prayerful Blessed Sacrament Chapel in the nearby St. Peter's Basilica. Ever prayerful, he inspired his communities with a deep apostolic zeal and simple, humble service, urging them to be ready to use at all times and everywhere all the means which love for Christ inspires.

He gave personal example of courageous acceptance of hardships and the Cross, for as he told his first missionaries to Assam, India, "The works of God flourish only in the shadow of the Cross." Father Jordan inspired in the members of his Society a deep love of the Divine Saviour and urged them to imitate his "goodness and kindness" (Titus 3,4). Father Jordan's strength was already consumed by his relentless commitment to the Salvatorian cause, when the First World War forced him into exile at Fribourg, Switzerland. He died peacefully on Mary's birthday, 8th September 1918, in a home for the poor in nearby Tafers, after a long life profoundly consecrated to God. The nativity of Mary, whom he venerated with deep and sincere devotion, thus became his birthday into heaven. To have died on this special Marian feast is rightly regarded as a confirmation of his life and mission. His remains are now interred in a special chapel in the Motherhouse of the Society of the Divine Saviour in Rome.