SPEE von LANGENFELD, FRIEDRICH. - Jesuit, poet, and ascetical spiritual writer, b. 25 Feb. 1591 at Kaiserwerth, d. 7 Aug. 1635 at Trier.
He entered the Order on 22 Sept. 1610 and was ordained priest in 1622. He first devoted himself to the ministry with great success, especially during the Thirty Years' War, converting several regions to Catholicism, and then to teaching philosophy and moral theology at Cologne, Paderborn, and Trier. He died while caring for plague victims. SPEE was a poet of the most delicate sentiments and profound spirituality.
His masterpiece is the *Trutznachtigall* (Cologne 1640), which saw many reprints, one edited by C. Brentano (1817); and the *Guldene Tugendbuch*, which Leibniz called “one of the most solid and moving devotional books.” Also of great value was his work *Cautio criminalis* (Rinteln 1631), condemning witch trials.
