ARNOLDI, GIOVANNI. - Jesuit, born in Warburg (Westphalia) on 24 June 1596, died a martyr in Verden on 4 November 1631. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1617; after being ordained a priest, he worked for several years in Emmerich and Bocholt. From 1627 onward, he was assigned to missions in the disputed regions between Catholics and Protestants, in Falkenhagen and Quackenburg, amidst no small dangers. When in 1629 the diocese of Verden was recovered by Catholics, he was called there and entrusted with the care of three parishes. However, the landing in Germany of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1630) made this advanced position almost untenable. Attacked and slaughtered near Verden by fanatical peasants, he was considered a martyr.
BIBL.: J. Metzler, P. Johannes A., S. J., Blutzeuge der norddeutschen Diaspora, Paderborn 1931. Edmondo Lamalle