BUSAEUS (Busaeus). — A Latinized surname, derived from the Dutch Buys, belonging to three brothers, all Jesuits, compatriots and relatives of St. Peter Canisius: PIETER (1540-87), renowned for his great edition of Canisius’s Catechism, enriched with sources (1569, etc.), THEODOOR (1542-1609), and JOHANNES, the best known.
JOHANNES B., born at Nijmegen in 1547, entered the Society (1563) and taught theology at Mainz from 1589 until his death on 30 May 1611. He wrote polemical works against Protestants, translated the annual letters and other reports of the Society’s missions, but his literary output is predominantly ascetical in character.
While German Jesuits were reforming various monasteries, he published the works of the great Benedictine reformer Trithemius (q.v.): Joh. Trihemii Opera pia et spiritualia (Mainz 1604). A great translator (into Latin) of the ascetical works of his fellow Jesuits—Bruno, L. Pinelli, G. Loarte, F. Androzio, F. Arias, B. Ricci—he added his own Enchiridion piarum meditationum (ibid. 1608, many reprints and translations, more or less modified), which enjoyed extraordinary success for its pious and simply sober style; the author follows the method of meditation of Fr. Bartolomeo Ricci (q.v.). Two parallel compilations by B. also met with great favor: Panarium hoc est arca medica... adversus animi morbos (ibid. 1608); Viridarium christianarum virtutum (ibid. 1610), a catalogue of vices and virtues, with means of combating the former and acquiring the latter, according to the texts of the Bible, the Fathers, and theologians.