Johann Baptist Jordan

Upon returning to Rome, strengthened by the encouragement of Pope Leo XIII whom he met in a private audience in September 1880, Johann Baptist Jordan brought his foundation project to fruition. On December 8, 1881, in the chapel of the house of Saint Bridget in Rome, he founded the "Apostolic Teaching Society" (which would later take the name of Catholic Teaching Society, then Society of the Divine Savior). On March 11, 1883, he pronounced his religious vows and took the name Father Francis Mary of the Cross. The institute, commonly called the Salvatorians, has the mission of proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the only Savior and of propagating the faith by all possible means (teaching, publications, missions). From the beginning, Father Jordan conceived a universal movement associating priests, religious, and laypeople. For the female branch, he collaborated with Baroness Therese von Wüllenweber (beatified under the name Mary of the Apostles). Together, they founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Divine Savior (the Salvatorians) on December 8, 1888, in Tivoli, Italy. Under his leadership, the Salvatorian work experienced rapid expansion. In 1893, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith entrusted the Apostolic Prefecture of Assam, in India, to the Society, marking the beginning of its major international missions. In 1902, during the first General Chapter of the Society of the Divine Savior, Father Jordan was elected Superior General for life. At the outbreak of the First World War, due to political tensions in Rome (Italy and Germany being in opposing camps), Father Jordan, a German national, had to go into exile in Switzerland. He settled in Fribourg in 1915. It was in the small Swiss village of Tafers that he passed away on September 8, 1918.

The cause for the beatification of Johann Baptist Jordan officially opened in 1942. In 1956, his mortal remains were transferred from Tafers to Rome, where they are now venerated in the chapel of the Motherhouse of the Society of the Divine Savior (via della Conciliazione). On January 14, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI signed the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thereby declaring him Venerable.

On June 19, 2020, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of Father Jordan. This miracle concerns the unexplained healing of an unborn child in 2014 in Jundiaí, Brazil. Doctors had diagnosed the fetus with an incurable bone disease, skeletal dysplasia. The parents, members of a group of Salvatorian laypeople, prayed intensely through the intercession of the founder. The child was born in perfect health on September 8, 2014, the anniversary of Father Jordan's death.

The beatification ceremony was celebrated on May 15, 2021, at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome. It was presided over by Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, Vicar General of Rome, representing Pope Francis.

The spirituality of Blessed Francis Mary of the Cross rests on an absolute trust in Divine Providence and on boundless apostolic zeal. His life and work are guided by the words of the Gospel of John: "Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ" (Jn 17:3). He bequeathed to the Church the Salvatorian Family, structured today into three branches united by the same charism: the Society of the Divine Savior (priests and brothers), the Congregation of the Sisters of the Divine Savior, and the International Community of the Divine Savior (Salvatorian laypeople). Present on all continents, its members strive to make Christ the Savior known by all the means that love inspires.