SCHRIJVERS, JOSEPH

Redemptorist ascetical writer; b. Zutendel (Limburg) Belgium, Dec. 19, 1876; d. Rome, March 4, 1945. He completed his secondary studies at the College of St. Joseph, Hasselt. After joining the Redemptorists in 1894 and completing his novitiate at Saint-Trond, he made final vows in 1895. He was ordained Oct. 2, 1900, after completing his philosophy and theology at Beauplateau, Belgium. Here he later was professor of philosophy and spiritual prefect of the scholastics (1902–13). In 1913 at Uniw in Ukrainian Galicia, which was then Russian territory, he established the first Redemptorist house of the Ukrainian rite. He remained in the Ukraine until 1933 as vice provincial of the province of Lvov. During this time, he was also engaged in the direction of two institutes of religious sisters and was apostolic visitator for sisters of the oriental rite in the Ukraine, Canada, the United States, and, in 1932, Brazil. In 1933 he was appointed provincial of the Belgian Redemptorists and in 1936, consultor general to the rector major. Schrijvers' writings were for the most part works on ascetical subjects: Les Principes de la vie spirituelle (1912), La Bonne volonté (1913), Le Don de soi (1918), Le Divin ami (1922), Ma mère (1925), Les Âmes confiantes (1930), Le Message de Jésus à son Prêtre (1932), and Notre Père qui êtes aux cieux (1942). Translated into ten languages, including English, his works counted 150 editions, 600,000 copies. The spirituality of Schijvers is based upon God's fatherhood. He placed great stress upon abandonment to the divine will, but there is no foundation for the accusation of quietism leveled against his works. Schrijvers closely approached the Little Flower's Little Way of spiritual childhood.

Bibliography: m. de meulemeester et al., Bibliographie générale des écrivains rédemptoristes, 3 v. (Louvain 1933–39) 2:391–394; 3:383–384. La Voix du Rédempteur 54 (1947) 45–51. Vita cristiana 16 (1947) 54–63. Analecta C.SS.R. 20 (1948) 34–38.

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