“It’s typical that, besides a kernel of men, Jesus also gathered around him a kernel of women. Mathew and Mark say very little about women; Luke and John on the contrary, have various passages which do not occur in either of the other Evangelists and which especially concern women. In his journey, Jesus was preceded by a group of His women-converts, who helped Him with their possessions. To be sure, what we see happening on the day of the Resurrection is especially the doing of this circle of women. This feminine kernel up till now has not been studies nearly half as carefully as the college of the twelve Apostles. We meet them later on the Deaconesses, but during the following centuries they led only a languishing life in the Catechumenate, -until, with the introduction of infant baptism, this institution was completely abolished, and all the women consecrated to God in the Catholic Church were shut up in the cloister.” *)
“Our present day culture is greatly influenced by women and this gives splendid opportunities to a young women’s movement. We should not be slow in perceiving it, and in using its good opportunities.”
“We are living in an elbow of time. Compere our days with those of the liberal period of 50 years ago: nothing could be changed in the world then, nothing could move, but now we have come into a joint, ah, now the world can move in this or in that direction. We are living in an era of tremendous change, a joint of time. The whole construction is swaying on its foundation. And it may cause an unhappy and an uncomfortable feeling to be standing under the falling pieces, but still we are grateful to God, because we are able to help build a new civilization. An immense levelling among the peoples of the world is pushing its way through. All sorts of different nations and cultures are meeting. Each country has become smaller and also the world has become smaller. In this way we do what will become of the world now? That is the question. Who will conquer the world? You should be grateful for living in this period, for you are able to help, you can give your service.”
All the quotation are taken from conferences given by F.v. Ginneken at the Tiltenberg, Holland, in 1932.
“Why is the world not yet converted? Why does she turn her back on Christ’s cross? It is: because the Christians have no fervour. The heart of the Gospel Message, the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount, they leave to monks and saints! In order now to raise a current, a movement towards God, people are needed who give themselves to God in the midst of the World, – who, precisely there, lead a life radically different from what the world expects, who bring the cross of Christ back among men.”
“I was roaming around trees and bushes, small close to the earth; the sun shone warmly, there were birds and butterflies and insects and colours. Suddenly, a litter above my eyes, hanging on a low curving branch, a wonder appeared: velvety soft in hues of red and golden yellow, swaying slightly. I lifted myself on my toes, closed my eyes and hands on back, carefully but firmly put my little teeth fully into that wonder. And oh, the sweet test of perfumed freshness! It permeated my whole little being, through and through, with an indescribable sense of GOODNESS. Yes, I know it was God’s own goodness which I experienced there and then; I experienced Him in whatever since, has remained with me as my unforgettable “apriect eastasy.”
“I still remember that once, -my father had just died, I wanted to have a big piece of chocolate, and I could have had it too. But mother said: ‘My boy, you father has just died and he is on his way to heaven. May be he has to wait still, and now you can help him to go more quickly to heaven. Look, I shall put that bar of chocolate on the shelf here; you can easily get at it. You may take it, but I advise you to leave it lying there for another two hours. And you do that for your father. ’ And of course I left it, and my mother knew quite well that I would, even if I had to leave it from 2 o’clock unto 7. What a benefit my mother conferred on me then I shall discover only in heaven. What riches, what happiness for a child to have the practice of simple self-denial impressed upon him from his early days.”
“Part of my vocation to religious life I owe to the Brothers of Oudenbosch, although at the time I never thought of it. There was a quite peaceful atmosphere and I felt there was charity among the Brothers, and that I found good.”
After having finished primary school, Jacques’ mother placed him in “St. Willibrord College”, a secondary school, run by Jesuits, in Katwyk, a place in the North-Western province of Holland. He was boarding there and followed the commercial section with a view to talking over the management of his late father’s brewer.
It was a hard time for the sensitive, artistic boy, often his rather roguish fellow students made him the butt of their teasing, although they were wont to treat in awe when Jacques started rolling his striking dark shining eyes. In his own evolution of this time, much later, he used to say that the three years in Katwyk had probably made him stronger, and specially that they had taught him to become somewhat indifferent to success and popularity. It was the time that he grew more and more thoughtful and intense. A deepening insight in the truth and beauty of Christianity, a widening view on mankind’s history, the influence especially of one of the teachers, Father Van Oppenraai (“the hero of my boyhood”), the comparison between the restless din found in ordinary life and the atmosphere of respect and fraternal love which he perceptively had observed among the Brothers of St. Louis, caused him to face the question which sooner or later comes up in every sensitive young soul: “shall I not give my life to God”
“I was still very much attached to my wonderful home, to my mother above all. I knew that if I became a Jesuit I would have to overcome many difficulties and that a life of sacrifice awaited me. But on a Thursday evening, praying in a schools chapel, Jesus told me from the Tabernacle, that He called me for Himself.”
The big decision was taken, never to be withdrawn. Jacques did have a strong will. What followed as a consequence were long, painful decisions with his mother who, at first firmly opposed his vocation, but later gave in and generously so.
The Jacques had to move from Katwyk to another type of school, a gymnasium in the Dutch school system, where he would learn Latin and Greek as a preparation for further studies. This gymnasium was too run by the Jesuits, and was in Culemborg, not too far from Oudenbosh. To be thus in the vicinity of his mother was fortunate because after the tension and grief had somewhat passed, it happened, as it would often be the case in his later life: Jacques fell ill. Several months of rest were needed, and a still longer period of relaxation. His mother helped him and very concretely: a camera and a bicycle both quite modern paraphernalia at the time, brought him the hobbies he needed, and fully enjoyed. Many rips were made, even to Germany, his mother, aunts and sisters by train, Jacques happily by bicycle. The train usually went somewhat quicker and it happened once that the ladies stood for hours outside the station of Cologne, anxiously waiting, till the boy drove up, radiantly unaware of the anxiety e had caused.
In that same period Jacques’s older sister had decided to join the Franciscan Sisterhood in Oudenbosh. As a farewell present to both Jacques and Betsy, Mrs.Van Ginneken gave them a journey together to Rome. This was the last of his teen-age recreations and joys. The next journey was to Grave, a small town near Nymegen, where the Society of Jesus had a house for their noviciate.
There Jacques Van Ginneken, the tall thin youth\, 19 years old, entered on September 26th, 1895.
As is the rule in the training method of the Society of Jesus, Jacques, like his fellow-novices, had to go through a long period of spiritual and intellectual formation, 15 years altogether.
First there were the years in the silence and discipline of the noviciate house, which meant dairy hours of meditation and prayer to lay the foundation of interiority, strict rules of conduct to practise the virtues of obedience, poverty and chastity, instructions and guidance from spiritual masters to become fully aware of human capacities and pitfalls, – study of the Rule and Writing of St. Ignatius to capture the spirit in which he wanted his followers to live and work.
“The spiritual education I received as a Jesuit has been for me a privilege for which I cannot be grateful enough. I realize that, without it, it would have been scarcely possible for me, with the diversity of my talents, to keep equilibrium, even though my character is quite a harmonious one. As a result of the “agree contra” of St. Ignatius, have gained an attitude of reserve from within and I learned the benefit of mortification, as a principle of growth and balance.”
“In the year of my noviciate in Grave, I taught myself to smile and that consistently. Just because my temperament inclined to melancholy, – next to the choleric trend in it, – it appeared to me as a kind of heroism to always abide in a “good mod”. If I tell you, it has not always been easy, by gradually the muscles of my face settled, as a sign of the pliability of my soul, smiling under all circumstances. And as a treasure, I have wanted to share this maxim with those on whom I had some influence. ”
Still a novice, the younger “Frater Van Ginneken”, as he was now being addressed, was given the task to study “Dutch Language and Literature” with a view to becoming a teacher at one of the Jesuit collages. He went to the University of Loiden, the oldest in the Netherlands and at that time a bulwark of liberalism and “anti-papism.” The sight of a cassocked young man, who moreover wrote “S.J.”, behind his name in the University’s register, was quite a novelty for a students as well as professors, and many an eyebrow was raised and a conversation fell silent when he entered. What won out however, was the brilliance of his mind which soon showed itself in his studies, and which everyone with a minimum of intellectual honesty had to acknowledge, as well as the simple friendliness and frankness of his manners.
He worked hard, all his life this would be a characteristic of his, and entered fully into the highly scholarly atmosphere of the university, where he soon distinguished himself among other student, in depth of understanding and originality of approach. One of his professors, Prof. Uhlenbeck, a first rate scholar himself and a notorious agnostic, noticed him and publically, during one of his lectures, advised the young man: “go on studying, Mr. Van Ginneken, go on studying; you have to become a professor.” The same Prof. Uhlenbeck was his promoter when the final crowning of his Leiden studies came, on November 7, 1907: the awarding of his doctor’s degree, upon the acceptance of his brilliant dissertation “Grondbeginselen of Psychologische Taalwetenschap. Een synthetische Pproeve” (“Basic Principles of the Psychological Philology. A synthetische proof”)
“If I did not give you the doctorate,” Prof. Uhlenbeck said at the solemn occasion, “then the whole of scholarly Europe would stand up and confer it on you.” The basis was laid for a promising career of learning.
But not without a price to be paid, in the midst of his studies in the Leiden he fell ill again, and this time it was not a matter of a few months to recuperate but of two full years. For the healing of pulmonary tuberculosis he had to take a cure in a health resort and was brought to Hohen-Honeff on the Rhine in German. (Later, in 1914, again after a period of enormous creative work, he would succumb another time to the same illness and again would have to rest for a contracted period)
These months and years of enforced resting must have been in God’s plan: they were the times in which his great ideas matured and took form. Surprisingly so, because in fact, for the patients in the health-resort there were only the hours and hours of boring inertia, in a lounge-chair in the open air, day after day, with as only distraction the trivialities of daily life in a small community of equally bored patients, a routine programme cantered on physical phenomena. Sometimes a real problem would come up: a letter would arrive from the editors of a philology magazine, suggesting changes in the printing of an article he had sent in before, upsetting enough, but the patient was powerless and had just to go on resting.
Frater Van Ginneken tried to find a solution to this tangle of his own thought and feelings and the exterior minor distraction: he searched for a synthesis in which everything could fit and could have meaning, according to God’s purpose.
It was a letter from his younger brother asking for advice in a personal matter which brought his own problem and a possible solution to a greater transparency.
He answered his brother in a letter in which, while writing, his ideas took from, as it were without effort, his thoughts flowing easily, tested and ripened as they were in his sub conscience. He used to think of it later as an inspiration of the Holy Ghost, because while writing, he felt the Lord unusually close to him. “Lamb and Lion”, he called it, “a meditation on the surrender to God’s will.”
In this period too he found his “Psyche Nikai” “The spirit wins”, which motto appeared since on all his publication. His reading at this time besides spiritual books went to the great classics of world Literature, especially the French: Chateau Briand, Boileau, Racine, Corneille, and Rostand. Opposing the tedium and emptiness of is life as a patient, his mind searched for forms of heroism.
Not only from books and in prayer, did he learn: God gave him the opportunity to witness growth-in-heroism in a concrete way, and also to be an instrument in his work. One of his fellow-patients, an intelligent and intense young woman could not reconcile herself with his illness and suffering. Frater Van Ginneken helped her gently to come to surrender. He did this not by sermonizing, but by reading to her the most beautiful fragments from a Corneille, a Rostand, a Musset. He gave her a few lines of poetry or one thought to live on for a couple of days, and she gradually took it in and responded to the new insights. In a moment of sublime understanding she spoke of the Holy Spirit, praising Him as “ the Divine Magician”, – because he not perform two miracles in one: lifting her above her fruitless struggle, to change it into a freely accepted sacrifice, and teaching her mentor the capacity for suffering found in a sensitive woman’s soul? It was an unforgettable lesson for Jacques van Ginneken. She died a saintly death, and later when his foundations began to take shape, he recognized her as the “premice”, the “first fruit” of the harvest of his apostolate.
Healthy in body and enriched in spirit he returned to is studies. After his doctorate Theology was the subject to which he had to commit himself for four years, as a preparation for his ordination as a priest. The Theological school was in Maastricht, in the very South of Holland, and here he had the good.
Luck to be in contact with the missionary-ethnologist Prof. Wilhelm Schmidt, the later director or the Papal Museum for Mission and Ethnology in Roma, a remarkable scholar, whose insights especially in the role of women in matrilineal societies impressed him particularly.
On August 28, 1910, in the chapel of the Jesuits in Maastricht, Jacques Van Ginneken received the ordination to the priesthood, conferred on him by the Apostolic Vicar of Batavia (now Djakarta, Indonesia), Mgr.E.Luypen, S. J. For the souvenir card of this day, meant for family members and friends, he wrote a text combining a verse from Isaiah with one from the Acts of the Apostles; it speaks so clearly of his readiness, his desire to serve his total commitment to Jesus Christ and His work among men.
“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying ‘Whom shall I send? Who will be our messenger?’ and I answered ‘here am I Lord, send me’. And now I am on my way, not knowing what will happen to me, but I feel nothing and I do not put my life above myself. If only I fulfil my task and the service of the word given to me by the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the good news of God’s grace” (Is 6:8 Acts 20:22-24)
TEACHER AND SCHOLAR
From a pale, lean youth Jacques Van Ginneken had grown into a tall, broad shouldered man, well built, with a straight back and a typical way of walking in small steps. The curl dark hair of his childhood was still there, always worn rather long, but most striking were the sparkling dark eyes in the line of his firm mouth.
After his ordination, he was appointed to teach Dutch language and Literature at one of the secondary school for boy run by the Jesuits, the “Canisius College” in Nymegen. His method of involving the teen-age boys in his linguistic experiments, his original approach in letting then taste the beauty of Literature and poetry, and especially the way he treated them: not as children but as persons in their own right who could understand and collaborate in the work he was doing, made every class hour a feast for the pupils.
In 1913, the first volume appeared of his main oeuvre “House de Nederlandche Taal”, – “Manual of Dutch Langiage”… in which he gave the Philology of his time a new direction, the sociological direction. At the same time he worked on another linguistic-psychological study namely; “Gelaats-Gebaar- en Klank Expressies” Expressions in Face, Gesture and Sound. His pupils worked enthusiastically at the experiments needed for this book.
An interruption came when in 1914, where he had this so called “third year”, a year of noviciate again, which every Jesuit has to make before taking his final views. He went for this to Drongen, in Belgium. A serious Ignition retreat of 30 days brought him before the inner decision once more: to follow Christ totally and wholeheartedly, without a touch of worldly ambitions. Friends later told of the remarkable sincerity and readiness with which he opened himself to the programme, his detachment from his studied and work had to be left behind for a year, and the respect he showed to everyone, on whatever level of education or culture, making him into a most pleasant companion. Like others, he had to serve at table in a home for the poor, and was sent out several times to surrounding villages to preach on Sundays and he liked that.
In August of that year, the First World War broke out, suddenly causing an end to this novitiate’s period, and he had to travel back to Nymegen, quickly before the frontiers would close. There as told before, he fell ill and had to make another cure for his lungs, four months of res, this time in “Dekkerswald” a health-resort in Nymegen. It’s in this period – probably God’s ways of preparing him for a new phase in his life, – that the clear serene meditations of Cardinal Newman begin to speak to him
“God has created me to render Him a particular service. He has entrusted me a work which He did not entrust to another. I have my own task; maybe I shall never know it in this life, but then it will be told to me in the next. Whatever, I am needed for His plan; He did not create me for nothing … Therefore I will trust Him. He may keep the future hidden from me; still He Himself knows His will for me. O my God, I am created to serve you, to be your instrument. I do not ask to see, I do not ask to know, I only ask to be used.” (From: Meditation and Devotions)
After his recovery, Fr. Van Ginneken did not return to the Canisius Collage but was appointed to teach Pedagogy, History of Philosophy and Sacred Art in the Collage in Oudenbosch. Thus in 1915, he found himself back in his birth place, where his mother was still living, happy to have her son nearby again.
Now in the years that followed, the Oudenbosch years, he reached a climax in his life. Not may be of his scholarly life, that climax followed later in the years of his professoriate, neither maybe that of his personal religious life, – the deepest intensity comes in riper age, – but certainly the climax of his social activity and his apostolate. It was in this time that he learned the special task given to him, the particular service to be rendered by him to God, namely; to come forward with a speaking new and vigorous ideal in this time,- the sanctification and activation of the laity in the world.
The opening up of his special task came in a very concrete form, through his superior in the Society of Jesus. In the autum of 1917 a conversation took place between the Father Provincial of the Jesuits and a lady who had been a theosophist but who, after a long search, was finding her way to the Catholic Church. Educated, cultured person as she was, spoke her mind clearly. “The Catholic form a closed caste here,” she said, “for us they are understandable. They have the truth and they want to spread it, but whoever longing on is, one cannot succeed in entering their clique. Why don’t they from time to time organize a conference on one or another catholic topic and let a presentable person speak, in a proper hall, for people who are interested? Isn’t that what we do too when we want to bring a message to others?”
This suggestion appeared to the Father provincial, and not long after, he spoke about it with his fellow Jesuits of Father Van Ginneken in the college of Oudenbosch, asking him if he would feel for such a task. With the fine objectivity of a humble man this priest answered: “I am not the right person for this father provincial, you must ask van Ginneken, he is meant and ready for it.”
Ready for it he was, fervent priest in the strength if his years, solidly formed in theology and philosophy, deeply aware of the ethical and sociological currents of his time, of the slowly declining influence of rationalism, materialism, and theosophism, with the gift of the word, successful as a teacher, loved as an educator and spiritual guide, well known in scholarly circles in Holland and abroad, *) appreciated for the originality and scope of his publications, with an optimistic vision and a heart full of love for God and his world.
In 1916, The ROYAL ACADEMY in Amsterdam, the highest institute of scholarship in any longer his outstanding contributions in the field of philology and linguistic. A few years later it became a public scandal that a professorate at the University of Amsterdam was not given to him because of anti-Catholic bias.
When faced with the suggestion, Father Van Ginneken immediately saw the great possibilities of such an endeavour, maybe even more so than the Father Provincial himself, -but also realized what it would mean for him in terms of his “career”: he would have to give up his scholarly work for the combination of the two would be impossible. “It was a real Abraham-sacrifice,” he acknowledged later, “laying all my plans and projects on the pyre, like Isaac on Mount Moriah.”
“Conferencing on Catholicism for non-Catholics,” thus the project was so launched, announced in diverse newspapers through simple advertisements and through a poster here and there on the walls. The first series of lectures was given in The Hugue, in the house of the Jesuits, and then followed other cities, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Groningen, Hilversum, and Breda. He got help from his fellow Jesuits and what we now call a “team” was formed of Father Van Ginneken with four helpers, necessary for the follow up of contacts made at the conferences, and to give further guidance who asked for it. Usually, there were twenty to thirty participants per lecture, and it transpired that many of them had a need for more time and opportunity to reflect. This brought Father Van Ginneken to the idea of arranging closed retreats for non-Catholics. In a convent on a hall near Nymegen, with a lovely garden and a view on the river Waal with its water-meadows, the first retreat took place,- eight days of inwardness, listening to three or four conferences a day, with ample time for prayer and quiet reflection. That same year four more retreats followed, and the next year eight, some only for men, some for women and always for people of all walks of life.
As to the content of the conferences: Father Van Ginneken had to put a great deal of effort in “translating” the conventional Catholic doctrine into modern language, close to the rationalistic and materialistic way of expressing of contemporary man. And “I soon understood that doctrine pure and simple absolutely did not fulfil any need, and that there was more a search for religious inner experience, but what that entailed I had to learn through experience. It did me finally to give a relatively large place to devotion, asceticism, liturgy and mysticism, in so far as these belong to the essence of Catholicism.” *)from the forward of “Credo in Unam Sanctam Catholicam,” a monumental book in which all 24 conferences of Father Van Ginneken for non-Catholics are published.
It was in this first period already that he began to engage the Catholic laity in his work, with a responsibility of their own. Catholic men and women of his acquaintance were present at the retreats and conferences in order to be in unconstrained contact with the participation, giving information when asked, explaining points of Catholic life which had remained unclear, and in general helping all to feel at ease.
But there was a wider perspective to this in his mind, embracing the whole of Catholic Holland. More and more he became convinced that the opening of the hearts of non-Catholic towards faith was dependent on the living of that same faith among Catholics. “Much has to be changed in the social and economic field,” he said, “but before everything else we need new saints. If tomorrow one hundred thousand Catholics out of the two or three million here would begin to live the Gospel, then the whole of Holland would be converted in 50 years.” He started without delay. A “Committee for the conversion of Holland” was formed, consisting of priests and laymen; they made plans for the conferences, publications, retreats, park and street-corner sermons etc. and out of this grew two apostolic-minded groups “Het Gilde van de Klare Waarheid” – “The Guild of Clear Truth,” and the “Ridders of St. Willibrordd”- Knights of St. Willibrord”.
All this was still directly in the line of the task given to him by his Superior. But now a new idea is appeared. Among the converts of Father Van Ginneken there was a young woman who till then had been working as a soldier in the Salvation Army, and she was a fervent one. In the autumn of 1918 she was baptized, a joyful day, but with one shadow over it. “I am very happy to be a Catholic now, but… but am sad that I can never give witness of Jesus any more as before!” this remark gave him no peace. Here was a capable young woman, who had put her heart into witnessing for Christ, being an apostle among the modern masses, and now, after baptism, all that was finished… Certainly, she could enter the convent, but that was not what she wanted; she understood that very well. If a woman did not marry did not go into a convent, was there in the Catholic Church no possibility of an apostolic role? He began search in the sources of Christian life: the first Christian era. And what he found there excited him: “Even when a woman has to be silent in the church, she is allowed to speak to the pagans”. (De Cathechizandibus Eudibus).
At that time in Father Van Ginneken, the idea of feminine lay apostolate was born.
On the feast of St. John The Baptist in 1919 his first foundation for lay-women engaged in apostolic work was formed: the “Women of Bethany”. The members of this society, – mostly young women with whom his conferences had brought him contact, -were to give themselves to the work of christianing the hundreds of children, boys and girls in the working class sections of the modern big cities, children from public schools where they learned nothing about God and His works. These children were attracted, every free afternoon, to a programme of play and story –telling in a pleasant centre right in their neighbourhood. Gradually, they were introduced there to a knowledge of God and Jesus Christ to faith I Him, love for Him, – and the centres became true catechumenates. Many of the children, in The Hague first, later in Amsterdam and other cities, came to the grace of baptism, and their parents often to a more sympathetic attitude towards religion.
However, Father Van Ginneken saw that more was needed. After primary school, these children had to find work, and often the milieu they landed in could not be called Christian, to say the least. After the example of the Dr. Bernardo-Homes of that time in England, he conceived the idea of having the boys learn a simple trade, so that they could earn a living more decently. This technical training had to be in special hands, because it would have to be combined with character training and with the implanting in their hearts of the love of Christ.
For this purpose then, Father Van Ginneken established a new foundation: “De Kruisvaarders van St.Jan”- “Crusaders of St. John”- staring with a group of idealistic young men. They set up a workshop for carpentry and a small printing office. Soon a number of teen-age boys were following this trade catechumenate. *)
But what about the girls? It was clear that they too needed a continued education, but different from the boys, and also different form the school-age children. Therefore still another foundation was needed.
It was a small matter for Father Van Ginneken to combine the idea of a “trade catechumenate for girls” with another plan which he cherished already for some time: to have a permanent retreat house for non-Catholics. The hospitality in convents and Catholic retreat houses had been wonderful so far, but could not be counted on indefinitely, also because it set certain limitation to the number and times of retreats.
After a long search, a house was found and rented, in Ryswyk, a suburb of Hague. It was called “Overvoordee” and stood in a lovely park. It could serve different purposes: retreats for non-Catholics, Trade-Catechumenates for young girls and training centres for the members of a new foundation he had in mind for both these works.
On All Saints Day, November 1st, 1921, het “Gezelschap van de Vrouwen van Nazareth” was found, (“The Society of the Women of Nazareth”). The members were to be lay women who would give their lives in total dedication to Christ for the apostolate among the de-Christianised feminine working -class youth,*) Both his first foundation, Bethany and Crusaders, grew and continued and they exist till up the present time, be it with a different character from that of the beginnings. The women of Bethany became a religious congregation in 1927; the Crusaders of St. John have taken the status of a Secular Institute in 1950. Both have their headquarters near the Tiltenberg and relations are cordial and for the conversion of non-Catholics. Three or four young women already engaged in his work as part time helpers, moved into Overvoorde, and soon they took in a number of young girls, some just baptised, some still catechumens. There they learned to cook and sew and run a household, -a good preparation for future marriage, and somewhat later a workshop was added where they could learn a trade: machine knitting, bookbinding and typesetting, – this last in collaboration with the Crusaders of St. John who had moved into a house in the same suburb; next to their printing and carpentry they cultivated vegetables there.
Often residing in Overvoorde himself to lead the retreat and to guide his little flock, Father Van Ginneken felt happy at that time. His foundation began to flourish. These were the years that saw Miriam Meertens coming, with her apostolic zeal, artistic sensitivity and deep interest in theology, -and Marguerite van Gilse who bicycled from Beerle-Hertog in Belgium, where her father was burgomaster, to Oudenbosch to have a talk with this Father Van Ginneken who had made an appeal in the local newspaper foe people to go to the missions as lay workers: that was just what she wanted. And Deborah Bouman, the warm-hearted, searching protestant young woman from Lichtenvoorde in the Eastern part of Netherlands; she followed one of his retreats and was won through hearing him pray so intensely before the Tabernacle in the evening. *)
But he was not yet satisfied. Concerned with the social conditions of the workers class, caused by a sudden industrialisation alarmed by the threatening introduction of the “Taylor System” in the factories, he founded a “Scientific Bureau for Vocation Guidance”. This he put at the service of the Catholic Labour Union in Holland, together with the treasure of psychological tests which he had devised. He wrote and spoke publically as a psychologist, against the dehumanizing effect of modern working-methods in industry, arousing a great deal of interest, especially as he got his concrete information first hand through interviews with the worker themselves. With the help of few colleagues, he published in this context four series of popular scientific brochure under the general title of “Zielkundige Ontwikkelingen” (Psychological Entanglement), with the sub- title “Wegwijzers voor eening and gemeenschap” (Guide-posts for the individual and the community) The history of the first 9 years of the “Women of Nazareth” is being worked out in a separate booklet
A third field which held his profound interest was the spreading of God’s Kingdom in the “foreign missions” and the methods of evangelization. Here too he launched a, for Catholics at least, completely new idea: the organised involvement of lay people in mission countries, as they were then called. Lay men and women were to work hand in hand with priests and religious missionaries, but bringing their own specific contributions, through their professions and technical stills, and through their exemplary Christian life. In an interesting brochure he published a sweeping historic survey in lay missionary activities in the word, from the apostolic times up to the modern era, ending with the fervent appeal to act no, to go now. This missionary fervour he implanted too in the members of his foundations; later developments would bear this out.
Then in 1923, his life which seemed so definitely set now in the direction, of a deeply Christian social apostolate, received another turn.
To complete the emancipation process of the Catholic part of the nation, the Episcopate of the Netherlands, after long preparation, decided to establish a catholic University, and Father Van Ginneken was offered the professorate in Dutch Language and Literature, Comparative into Germanic Philology and Sanskrit. His Superior in the Society of Jesus wanted him to accept thin invitation, which meant that he had to go back completely to his scholarly work and to give up his retreat work, the trade catechumenate and the guidance of his foundations. Others would have to take this over. Clearly it was a matter of obedience.
Not without great pain, but true to his deep interior conviction that the cross is the hallmark of God’s work, he accepted the will of his Superior as the will of God. To Father van Ryckevorsel S.J. he passed the guidance of the Women of Nazareth and their work, and then he moved from his beloved “Overvoorde” to a booklined study in the Jesuit rectory in Nymegen.
From 1923 till 1943, Father Van Ginneken lectured at the Catholic University of Nymegen. The academic year 1927/28 saw him as Rector Magnificus. The scholarly work which he produced in those years in a great number brought him an ever expanding recognition, and the half-humorous title of “Philology Giant of Europe”. Almost gigantic indeed was his creativity and the vastness of his field of studies. Gigantic too his capacity for work: regularly for ten hours a day, after an early hour of prayer and the offering of his daily mass, with no exercise or recreation in between, expect for a few minutes’ walk to the University.
Aided by a keen intuition which often put him on new trails where others perceived nothing special, he achieved great results, bringing turning points and totally new views in the science of Philology, sometimes shocking his colleagues, nationally and internationally.
To be able to do so however, he had to gather the basic material for his theses in months and years of steady and painstaking work, selecting, comparing, registering it all with enormous patience and unfailing trust. To mention a few of the subjects on which he lectured and wrote: Causes of Language Change: Psychological and sociological, stylistic influence of poetry and literature, language policy.
For years he was chairman of the Board of Editors of a cultural magazine “De Nieuwe Eeuw” (The New Century), in which he wrote man articles, and he himself initiated a scholarly magazine in his own field, called “Onze Taaltuin” (Our Language Garden).
Travelling came sometimes is way, when needed for his research, or for participation in congresses, where he was a most revered speaker.
His foundations did not see much of him during this period. Only once a year did his Superior allow him to visit Overvoorde or De Voorde, a later house to give a retreat, always wonderful for the members. But he did not forget them during the year in his prayers and sacrifices, nor in his plans and hopes for them.
Four of his University students of that time found the way to the “Women of Nazareth”, Mia van der Kallen, Louise Vel thuis , Lydwine van Kersbergen and Luibeth allad. Each individually without knowing it from the others was taken fully by his challenging ideas on the tasks of the laity in the conversion of the world; each of them went on her own to the Voorde to speak with the leader of the group, Marguerite van Gilse, and after being accepted, to make the necessary arrangement for their “entry”. Professor van Ginneken remained their mentor, now in a double aspect. All the four took their doctor’s degree under his supervision, – to be sure, that was much later, after periods of personal religious formation and of intense work in the worldwide apostolate which came from his inspiration.
The year 1928 was a significant one in the life of Father Van Ginneken, a year in which again a great sacrifice had to be made,- but a sacrifice which like often happened before, opened up a new perspective. The members of the Women of Nazareth Society called him, their founder, to the rescue: a great problem had arisen, the needed his help.
What was the problem? – The diocese of Haalem where their work was flourishing had gotten a new Bishop, a noted sociologist himself, and this Bishop Aengenent wanted them to change the aim of their Society and to terminate their work among the factory girls. Instead of that, he wanted them to organize the Catholic feminine youth of his diocese, all the Roman Catholic girls in all the Roman parishes, educate them to meet the changing circumstances of life in the modern times. What were they to do? Could the Bishop really ask that of them? Was it right to give up the centres for factory girls, their work in chocolate -and biscuit-and textile-and cigarette-and jam-factories, where they stood with these girls at the assembly lines? The catechumenate? The retreats for non-Catholics?
For Father Van Ginneken too this episcope request was in the first instance a blow, – again an Abraham Sacrifice was going to be asked of him? Together with the Women of Nazareth, he turned into prayers, to days of penance, to reflection to discussions and to several meetings with Bishop engagement Finally, the conclusion was reached: yes, god wants this from us; we must obey.
It was then that Father Van Ginneken, with the smile around his lips, his shining eyes looking over people’s heads a little into the distance, spoke the almost prophetic words;
“Well, my children, it is hard, – but it is nothing. We shall, as a response to this request, now turn the education of Catholic young girls into a Movement for the conversion of the world.”
And later he added:
“And you, Women of Nazareth, will be the Nucleus members of this Movement, a fiery kernel of women totally dedicated to Christ and His Cross, spreading the message all over the world, keeping this Movement strong and united.”
Thus “The Grail” was born. The inspiration was given; the outline was drawn. Father Van Ginneken did not leave it at just drawing this big outline. From his study room in Nymegen, he closely followed the development, always ready to receive the first leaders, Marguerite van Gilse, Lydwine, Mia, Debora, later Ifis, Martha van Zelst and others, even if it could only be for an hour, to listen to their plans and difficulties, to give advice and support, to open a deeper insight in possibilities, to make them share his own ideas. Much of the growth and activity of the Grail Youth Movement in the Netherlands of those years is due to his inspiration and instigation: the organisation in groups and guilds, the launching out into the rural areas, the great mass plays in the stadium of Amsterdam and Schiedam, the style of the colour-broad, and above all, the depth of the religious spirit permeating all activities, and the scope of the apostolic vision: to conquer the world for Christ.
In the summer of 1932, with the permission of his Superior, he made himself available to the members of the Grail Nucleus for a retreat of eight days, followed by a course on the apostolate of women through the ages, for another eight days. His whole erudition and his warm idealism he put at the disposal of these groups of women, to fire them with love for Christ, insight in His salvation Mystery and commitment to His work in the modern world. There was nothing else than encouragement to use their most beautiful womanly qualities to the full, in the service of God’s plan. And God granted him a certain success. In 1936, when his 60th birthday was celebrated with special homage to him on the part of his friends, colleagues and students, “The Grail” too was present and could show him, as a result of his inspiration, the establishment of a women’s Movement not only in Holland, but also in Germany, England, Scotland and Australia. *)
The “Grail” too was due to his inspiration. The beautiful legend, legacy from a deeply devout Christian era, centred on the Eucharistic Banquet where Christ’s Passion and Resurrection is made present among men as the source of happiness, was a story which he loved to tell. Thus he combined the rich resources of his literature studies with his insight in mankind’s enduring quest for happiness, and with women’s special qualities to help guide this quest. **)
Till 1943 Professor van Ginneken was able to continue his life in Nymegen, even though in May 1940 the German armies had entered Holland, within their wake, the officers of the Nazi Party which would play such havoc among the Dutch population. More and more the whole society got disrupted. In March 1943, an ordinance issued by the Nazi Commissary for the Netherlands to all Universities, and the refusal of the Presidium of the University of Nymegen to comply with its contents, -together with all the other Universities, – caused the closing of the University and the suspension of all lectures and studies.
Suddenly Professor van Ginneken now had a great deal of time at his disposal and he set out without delay, to use it well, by initiating a project which he had already in mind for some time: a study of the dialects of Waterland, a rural district North of Amsterdam. He gathered a number of his students to collaborate for more than five months, till November 1943, they worked in three small towns or rather villages, Volendam, Marken and Monnikendam. They interviewed the population in those places, studied their vocabulary, accent, expressions etc. and in the winter-months which followed, Professor van Ginneken, in his study in Nymegen, worked out the material which had been collected. Then in May 1944, in order to finish the survey, he returned to
*) The history of The Grail in these and other countries is being worked out in separate booklets.
**) Hopefully The Grail legend will once more be re-told in a forthcoming publication in this same series.
Volendam, where he was given hospitality in the Catholic rectory. It was then that he received and alarming message from his Superior:
It had been discovered that the Nazis had his name on top of their list of hostages-to-be-taken. This undoubtedly means that arrest and commitment to a hostage camp was imminent, therefore it was advisable for him, as for a number of other prominent people, to disappear from the public scene, to go into hiding.
But where? In Waterland where everybody knew him by now this was of course impossible. In one of the Grail Centres? They had already been taken by the Sicherheits Polizei in 1942, and the Women of Nazareth were scattered throughout Holland’s eleven provinces. Fortunately, a former student of his heard about his plight and helped find a solution: Father van Ginneken become a simple rector in a sister’s convent, a small Franciscan Community in a village called Wormer, where he could live unnoticed, under the name of Pastor van de Hoop.
The summer of 1944 become thus a quiet one for him: celebrating the Holy Eucharist every morning with the Sisters, hours of prayer and study, a walk in the large walled-in garden, and even sometimes a little tour on a bicycle, like in his youth, along the lanes roundabout the village. But on such occasions, outside the convent, he had to wear a civilian suit and carry yet another name. “”Karel Lodewyk Buenting”, it said on the identity card which the Dutch underground workers had been able to procure for him.
This possibility of going out to the vicinity of Wormer, however risky, proved blessing in the month August of that summer. The Women of Nazareth, who had been dispersed by the measures taken against them by the Nazis because of their involvement in the Grail Youth Movement, took the risk to gather together for a retreat. Sicherheits Polizei or not, dissolved or not, they wanted to remain in contact and to keep the fire burning. A convent in Heemskerk, -as luck would have it, not far from Wormer,- generously lent them hospitality, a faithful fried, Father B.Naaijkes, M.S.C, gave the conferences, and it was good, heart-warming and encouraging. But the climax came on the last afternoon, where the closing conference had been given and the priest had left. Through a little gate at the back of the court yard, the founder arrived, on a bicycle, in a grey suit and a red tie, his hair cut short, his eyes shining brighter than ever. What an applause went up among the retreatants, – quickly hashed however, for safety’s sake. A few happy hours followed, happy for the Grail leaders, who could tell him about their experiences and situations, happy for Father van Ginneken who could once more impress on the Women of Nazareth the theme which had already inspired him in his youth, which had grown in him all through the years, and which he now lived so intensely and consistently, – the theme of redemptive suffering, of the fruitfulness of the Cross. That spirit was to remain the spirit of this foundation of his. “You are the fruit of my Good-Friday meditation”, he was to say, “Christ needs helpers in His work of redemption, and with Our Lady and the Women of Galilee you must stand under the Cross.” The blessing which he gave that afternoon in the garden in Heemskerk, with his voice loud and clear, every word stressed, was the last one which he would give to his Dutch Grail members as a group. But that nobody knew at the time.
Shortly afterwards, he moved to Amsterdam. There he stayed with Mrs. Els Testa, a dear and long-time friend, who had an apartment in a quiet residential suburb of the city. She and other friends looked after him as well as they could, but what followed was the “hunger-winter” in the western part of Holland, during which thousands of people died. Life was hard: no food, no fuel, no electricity or gas, no communication, – only the hope and the waiting for liberation. The hardships of this winter certainly affected his health and lessened his resistance. However, the gentle smile, the sparkle in his eyes, the willingness to accept whatever came his way, remained. Ever more his time and attention went into prayer and an ascetic way of life. The avalanche of human misery descending on Holland and on the whole of Europe hurt him deeply. Still deeper it hurt him that the meaning of this suffering seemed not understood by so man. He himself was filled with the thought that this maximum of sacrifices, asked of human kind in this time, could be expiation, if suffered wit supreme in union with the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. That was the theme he spoke and lived in those days.
In May 1945, the liberation finally came and Professor van Ginneken went back to Nymegen, to a city half in ruins as a result of two bombardments, to a University that had lost three of its Professors and a great number of students through concentration camps or acts of war. This was a great sorrow for him; some of them had been so promising and he had put high hopes on them. With those left who still wanted to continue with their studies, he started again, full of zeal.
But something else kept his attention too. News had come from Lydwine van Kersbergen from the Grail in USA and from Frances Scott, leader of the Grail in Australia; they were on their way to England. A “Newman congress” there had been a good argument for them to obtain a necessary visa. Could they meet him in London? With Women of Nazareth from Holland? For five long years, there had been no communication, they now needed it badly. His superior gave permission, and saw in August 1945 Father van Ginneken flew to England, and a touching reunion found place at Eastcote, near London, where they were received by the English Grail, led by Yvonne Bosch van Drakesteyn. Besides her, Lydwine and Frances, there were Margue rite van Gilse, the international leader if Seybel from Holland, and Josepha Gall from Scotland. They found Father van Ginneken looking much older, thinner, almost gaunt, tiring more easily, his face stamped by the suffering of the war time. Nothing was lost however of his zeal for the conversion of the world, his vision of the role of the woman, his conviction that salvation comes through the Cross. Grateful and appreciative of what he had learned about the development of the Grail in different countries, he showed himself mostly concerned with the depth of the spirit and the fidelity to his original inspiration. Everyday in the Mass which was celebrated in the lovely Chapel with all Grail members who were around, he spoke about this.
“We have to become saintly first. For that have called you together as a kernel. The apostolate has to be carried out by the saintly women. You must not think that you will bring anything to the world without sanctity; then you bring just only yourselves. And do not consider yourselves to be pure. Everyday we must gain our purity of heart through mortification; becoming pure, that is a daily effort. That is part of the spirit of the Cross, and in that we glory. In our first Mass Production in the Stadium in Amsterdam, “The Royal Road of the Holy Cross” we have witness to that: we want to glory in the Cross. That is a spirit, heroism, proper to women. It is women who know the heroism of the Cross. If we indeed keep to the Cross consistently, with enthusiasm, and be an example for others, then it will be true that God will not count our mistakes. He will be with us and give us all we ask for, yes, even the conversion of the world.”
“We may ask with great confidence, but our prayer always has to be accompanied by mortification, by penance, by not counting the difficulties but tackling them courageously. I expect the coming 5 or 10 years to be very difficult indeed. The war has changed so much. But still there is a chance for a turning to God again. You must be grateful that you live in this time. ”
Before the opening of the academic year, September 21st, 1945, Professor van Ginneken was back in Nymegen, starting his scholarly work again. “Brilliant” is the word by which those who met him in that last period describe him. He had plans for the future, – a journey to Valenciennes in France for the study of a manuscript of the “Imitatio Christi”; -he initiated a new series of lectures, on the ancient “Song of Hildebrand”; -he entered again with warm sympathy into the lives of his students, – was full of interest for the concerns of old friends and new acquaintances, -and through it all shone a peacefulness and calm deeper than ever before. On September 26th his fellow Jesuits organized a little feast for him to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of his entry into the Society of Jesus. High-spirited he sat in their midst, straight and strong, enjoying the friendship, acknowledging the congratulation with lively personal remarks to each one who came that day. Nobody imagined that he had only a few more weeks to live.
When on the morning of Monday October 15th he did not appear punctually as usual in the sacristy to prepare for his daily celebrating of the Holy Eucharist, the Brother-Sacristan began to wonder and went to look. He found him unconscious in his room. In the hospital where the doctor wanted him brought immediately, he received the Last Sacraments, barely conscious, and then a brain operation took place. It seemed successful at first, but then there was a relapse, and for four days and nights, the flame of this great life burned irregularly. Often he was unconscious, and when awake, he did not speak, gave only a short answer when a question was asked. He scarcely noticed when there were visitors at his bedside. Only once he seemed to realized his condition somewhat, although hardly believing it himself: “They seem to be talking rather great pains over me. Is it so serious?” in spirit of all the medical care pneumonia set in, and this sapped his last strength.
On Saturday afternoon, October 21st, a few minutes before 2 o’clock, quietly, like a sleeping child; Jacques Van Ginneken was carried over to the Land of the Living. Two days later he was buried in the cemetery of the Jesuits in Grave. Relatives and friends, colleagues, students and members of his foundations were standing under a cloudy sky around the simple grave, hundreds of them, sorrowful and sad because their great friend had left and they would miss him deeply. But the autumn sun broke through the clouds and the golden rays spoke of hope too, and of the strength and brightness of the vision his spirit had imparted to them all that they continue.
Then the priest, the Father Provincial of the Jesuits, for the last time made the sign of the Cross over the grave, and the choir intoned the antiphon with which the church on earth says farewell to each of her members:
“In Paradisum deducant te Angeli: in tuo adventu suscripiant to Martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem. Chorus Angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam pauper aeternam habeas requiem.”
“May the Angels lead you into the Paradise, May the Martyrs take you up into the company, and may they lead you into the Holy City of Jerusalem. May the choirs of Angels welcome you, and with the poor Lazarus of old, may you enjoy eternal rest.”
Back in Nymegen, on the desk in his study, lay the last article he had written, in his own clear handwriting, an article on the meaning of language; he had just finished, – symbolic of his being ready for the Lord? These are the last words he had written in his life:
“In the course of the years the human language has become for me like a mystery in which, as through a mist, as in a mirror, I have learned to adore the eternal triune God. Adoro Te devote, latens Deitas.”
These words of almost mystical depth, this attitude of adoration, throw a last light for us on this man of faith and vision, of dynamism and diligence, of suffering and surrender, of genius and generosity, this man of extreme God centeredness.
THE FOUNDER JACQUES VAN GINNEKEN
Edited by Rachel Donders, June/July 1979 on the basis of material from the Grail Archives at the Tiltenberg, Holland.