SURIO (SAUER), LAURENTIUS. - Carthusian writer, b. at Lübeck in 1522, d. May 23, 1578, at Cologne.
A student at Frankfurt an der Oder, he returned to Catholicism at Cologne through the efforts of Peter Canisius, his fellow student. Having obtained the degree of Magister Artium in 1539, he entered the Carthusian Order at Cologne on February 23, 1540, under the direction of Justus Lanspergius. Ordained priest in 1543, he scarcely left the Carthusian monastery at Cologne, always engaged in writing for the benefit of the faith. He translated into Latin the works of Suso, Tauler, Ruusbroec (v.), Gropper, and other German mystics and apologists. In Sleidanus (v.), he published the *Commentarius brevis rerum in orbe gestarum*, 1500-64 (Louvain 1566), translated into German by Heinrich Fabricius (Cologne 1568) and into French, which aroused the ire of Protestants and was continued by others until 1673. Then in 1567 he published
in 4 vols. at Cologne a *Conciliorum collectio*; an edition of the works of St. Leo I (1568); and a volume of *Homiliae sive Conciones* drawn from the Church Fathers, arranged according to the ecclesiastical year. More well-known and widespread is the collection *De probatis sanctorum historiis*, which he took from the work of Alvise Lipomano and enriched with his own research; it appeared in 6 vols., and then in 7 vols. in 1576-81, followed by a German translation by E. Fabricius. Since Surius had revised the original text to improve its Latinity, a new edition in 12 vols. in 1618, with a biography of the author, restored the lives to their original form. An edition with notes in 12 vols. appeared at Turin in 1875-80. It may be said that this work of Surius paved the way for the work of the Bollandists. Some of his letters are included among those of Sirleto and Canisius.