PETER CANISIUS. - B. at Nijmegen (Holland) on 8 May 1521, d. at Fribourg on 21 Dec. 1597. Son of the burgomaster Jakob Kanis, P. was sent at the age of 15 to Cologne to study law there. Having obtained the degree of bachelor of arts and doctor of philosophy (1540), he turned to theology and in 1543 entered the Society of Jesus, the first among the Germans, after having made the Spiritual Exercises under the guidance of the Bl. Faber at Mainz. In 1546 he was ordained priest. In the meantime he had published the writings of St. Cyril of Alexandria (1546), followed by those of St. Leo the Great (1547). From 1547 to 1580 C. held offices, missions and important legations, fruitful for the strengthening of the Catholic Church attacked by the Protestant revolution. Having taken part as theologian of the bishop of Augsburg in the Council of Trent in 1547, he remained there until its suspension and transfer to Bologna, then betaking himself to Rome, where he received from St. Ignatius his final formation in the spirit.
He was at Messina for the founding of that University (1549) and was recalled from there by the will of Paul III, who, assenting to the desire of Duke William IV of Bavaria, had decided that the Jesuits should take over the teaching of theology at the University of Ingolstadt. Before leaving, C. made his solemn religious profession at Rome (4 Sept. 1549). At the University of Bologna he obtained his doctorate in theology. Having reached Germany, he found himself involved in the most burning questions of the age, carrying on for many years a many-sided activity as preacher, catechist, writer, diplomat, mediator and pontifical delegate. On 26 Nov. 1549 he began his lectures on the Sacraments. On 18 Oct. 1550 he was unanimously elected rector of the University of Ingolstadt. In 1552 he moved to Vienna. The conditions of the Church in Austria were even more mournful than in Bavaria. Among the clergy and in the monasteries discipline had declined, and the nobility imposed apostate pastors on the population. Soon C., with his companions, brought about a profound change in this state of affairs. Meanwhile, invited to contribute to the founding of the German College, which St. Ignatius had conceived at Rome, C. sent there the first 22 young men in Apr. 1544. In 1556 the Saint moved to Bohemia and founded at Prague the Jesuit college and a house for poor students. Having become provincial of Upper Germany in the following years, he founded colleges at Munich (1559), Innsbruck (1562), Dillingen (1563) and Würzburg (1567). He was no less tireless in the ministry of the word. In the four years he spent at Vienna, besides teaching from the university chair, he also taught from the pulpit. More than 260 parishes of Lower Austria lacked a pastor; the Saint sought to make up for this and in Lent of 1553 he journeyed over the ice, preaching, from one church to another. In 1558 he was at Augsburg, with immense fruit of conversions to the faith and many vocations of young men, receiving then a brief of praise from Pius IV. In 1563 he returned there, giving, in 21 months, about 240 sermons. On 20 June 1571 he was relieved, after 13 years, of the office of provincial and assigned to Innsbruck, as permanent court preacher. More than 100 sermons which he gave there until 1573 are preserved in manuscript. C.'s apostolate as an orator was considerable; he traveled through Bavaria, Fran-
(from W. Schaman, Das wahre Gesicht der Heiligen, Munich 1561, p. 189) PIETRO CANISIO, saint, Doctor of the Church - Engraving by D. Custos.
conia, Alsace, the Rhineland, Westphalia, Bohemia, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and Italy, and gave there about 2000 sermons. Twice he appeared before Charles V to prevent the archbishop of Cologne, Hermann of Wied, from drawing the faithful to Protestantism. In 1556 he was among the theologians summoned by the emperor Ferdinand to the Diet of Regensburg to settle the religious discords, in 1557 and 1559 at Worms and Augsburg. When the Council of Trent reopened in 1562, he was recalled there by Card. Hosius; in 1566 he betook himself to Augsburg with Card. Commendone, legate of Pius V, and in 1576, by order of Gregory XIII, he accompanied the legate Morone to the Diet of Regensburg. Much was owed to him if the outcome of those negotiations was favorable. Pius V chose him as a counselor in important questions and decided to create him cardinal. But the Saint's death prevented this. C. spent his last years in Switzerland (1580-97) and founded the college of St. Michael at Fribourg. Struck in 1591 by a violent attack that deprived him of the free use of his limbs, he lived ever more retired. Pius XI canonized him on 21 May 1925, proclaiming him also a Doctor of the universal Church. Feast on 27 Apr.
Of the 38 works written by him, the most widespread is the Catechism (1555) in Latin, in three different versions: Summa doctrinae christianae (1555) for educated people. In 211 questions and answers (later 222) it sets out the whole Catholic doctrine, with exactness and lucidity, giving prominence to the Catholic truths and customs most opposed and fought against. In 1566 the emperor Ferdinand imposed it throughout his dominions, and Philip II did the same for the Netherlands. Soon it was translated into all the languages of the Catholic world and adopted in very many dioceses; Cathechismus parvus catholicorum (1558) for students, with 122 questions and answers; Cathechismus minor (1556) for children and the common people in 59 questions and answers. At the author's death the editions had risen to more than 200 and translations had been made into 12 languages. In 1571 the first volume of his confutations of the Magdeburg Centuries appeared: Commentaria de verbi Dei corruptelis I. De Johanne Baptista (Dillingen 1571); then the II. De Maria virgine incomparabili (Ingolstadt 1577) in five books, which won the praise of the scholars of the time. Among the minor works should be remembered: Notae in evangelicas lectiones, 2 vols., 1591-93, his book of prayers for students, and the first printing of the Litaniae Lauretanae (Dillingen 1558).
Among the foundations and works that arose in honor of the Saint, important are the Canisianum of Innsbruck (v.); and the Canisiuswerk, an Austrian society for the cultural formation of priests and for vocations, founded in 1918 by Joseph Moser, with its headquarters in Vienna and its own review « Volkseele ».
Bibliography10 works
Arnaldo M. Lanz