Saint Peter Canisius
Doctor of the Church(1521-1597)
Feast-April 27
Born at Nimwegen in the Netherlands, on the 8th of May, son of the wealthy burgomaster (mayor, or head magistrate, of a town), Jacob Canisius and Ægidia van Houweningen; she died shortly after St. Peter’s birth.
In 1536 he was sent to Cologne, where he studied arts, civil law, and theology at the university; he spent a part of 1539 at the University of Louvain, and in 1540, at the age of 19, received the degree of Master of Arts at the University of Cologne.
Nicolaus van Esche was his spiritual adviser. He was on terms of friendship with such staunch Catholics as Georg of Skodborg (Archbishop of Lund), Johann Gropper (canon of the cathedral), Eberhard Billick (the Carmelite monk), Justus Lanspergius (Carthusian monk and ascetical writer). Although his father desired him to marry a wealthy young woman, on 25 February 1540 he pledged himself to celibacy.
In 1543 he met Peter Faber (the first disciple of St. Ignatius of Loyola), one of the founders of the Society of Jesus, having made the “Spiritual Exercises” under his direction, was admitted, and became the first Dutchman to join the Society of Jesus at Mainz, on May 8.
At this early age St. Peter Canisius had already taken up a practice he continued throughout his life—a process of study, reflection, prayer, and writing.
With the help of Leonhard Kessel, laboring under great difficulties, he founded at Cologne the first German house of the order; at the same time, he preached in the city and vicinity, and as a licensed Doctor of Civil Law taught at the University of Cologne. After his ordination in 1546, he became widely known for his editions of the writings of Saint Cyril of Alexandria and St. Leo the Great. He was sent by the clergy and university to obtain assistance from Emperor Charles V, the nuncio, and the clergy of Liège against the apostate Archbishop, Hermann von Wied, who had attempted to pervert the diocese. His mission, seconded by the Holy Spirit, succeeded; and the deputy was remarked by a Cardinal, who desired to send him to the Council of Trent as his representative and theologian. St. Peter’s Canisius superior, St. Ignatius of Loyola himself, approved this choice, and the young Jesuit took his place among the Fathers of the Council. He was commissioned to draft a memoir on the exact nature of the errors being propagated in the lands of the reform, in consort with the Pope’s theologian, another Jesuit named Jacques Laynez. Their work was admired; the Council was dissolved soon afterwards, however St. Peter Canisius was recalled to Rome by St. Ignatius, to consult with him concerning the formation of the religious and the future of their Order. Afterwards St. Peter and two other Jesuits founded a college at Ingolstadt, going there with only two books in their baggage, the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius and the famous Ratio Studiorum, or Plan of Studies of their Order. St. Peter Canisius was named Rector of the University by that institution.
He was in demand everywhere; King Ferdinand of Rome obtained his presence for Vienna. Called to Vienna to reform their university. He won peoples’ hearts by ministering to the sick and dying during a plague. A pestilence broke out there, and he was most often found at the bedside of the dying, caring for the bodies and regenerating the souls of the unfortunate citizens. He opened a boarding school for boys, and Vienna soon found itself reborn in the faith. Renowned as a popular preacher, Peter packed churches with those eager to hear his eloquent proclamation of the gospel. He had great diplomatic ability, often serving as a reconciler between disputing factions. He was offered the post of Bishop of Vienna in 1554 but declined in order to continue his traveling and teachings. He did, however, serve as administrator of the Diocese of Vienna for one year, until a new bishop was appointed for it.
For many years during the Reformation, St. Peter Canisius saw the students in his universities swayed by the flashy speeches and the well-written arguments of the Protestants. Following the Jesuit policy that harsh words should not be used, that those listening would see an example of charity in the way Catholics acted and preached, he rejected attacks against reformers: “With words like these, we don’t cure patients, we make them incurable. An honest explanation of the faith would be much more effective than a polemical attack.” St. Peter Canisius was not alone in wishing for a Catholic catechism that would present true Catholic beliefs. He and his friend Lejay were assigned to write it. The first issue of the Catechism appeared in 1555 and was an immediate success. Because of the success and the need, he quickly produced two more versions of Catechisms; one for middle school students and another for young children. The famous Catechism of Saint Peter Canisius, just during his lifetime, appeared in more than 200 editions, in at least twelve languages. It remains a monument of the triumph of the Church over heresy in the time of Luther.
In 1565, shortly after the Council of Trent, the Pope wanted to get the decrees of the Council to all the European bishops. What would be a simple errand in our day, was a dangerous assignment in the sixteenth century. The first envoy who tried to carry the decrees through territory of hostile Protestants and vicious thieves was robbed of the precious documents. Rome needed someone courageous but also someone above suspicion. They chose Peter Canisius. At 43 he was a well-known Jesuit who had founded colleges that even Protestants respected. They gave him a cover as official “visitor” of Jesuit foundations. Peter traveled from Rome and crisscrossed Germany successfully loaded down with the Tridentine tomes, 250 pages each, and the three sacks of books he took along for his own university.
The restoration of the Catholic Church in Germany after the Protestant Reformation is largely attributed to the work there of the Society of Jesus, which he led. Due to his frequent travels between the colleges, a tedious and dangerous occupation at the time, he became known as the Second Apostle of Germany.
St. Peter Canisius taught that, while there are many roads leading to Jesus Christ, for him the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the best. His sermons and letters document a clear preoccupation with Marian veneration. Under the heading “prayer” he explains the Ave Maria (Hail Mary), as the basis for Catholic Marian piety. Canisius published an applied Mariology for preachers. He defended Catholic Mariology, in his 1577 book, De Maria Virgine Incomparabili et Dei Genitrice Sacrosancta Libri Quinque. The book was ordered by Pope Pius V to present a factual presentation of the Catholic Marian teachings in the Bible, the early Christians, the Church Fathers and contemporary theology. He explains and documents Church teachings through the ages regarding the person and character of Mary, about the perpetual virginity of Mary, Her freedom from sin, explains the dogma of the “Mother of God”. He answers the sola scriptura arguments of Protestants by analyzing the biblical basis for Mariology.
By the time he left Germany, the Society of Jesus in Germany had evolved from a small band of priests into a powerful tool of the Counter-Reformation.
St. Peter Canisius spent the last twenty years of his life in Fribourg Switzerland, where he founded the Jesuit Collège Saint-Michel, which trained generations of young men for careers and future university studies.
In 1591, at the age of 70, he suffered a stroke which left him partially paralyzed, but he continued to preach and write with the aid of a secretary until his death on December 21 of 1597.
He was initially buried at the Church of St. Nicholas. His remains were later transferred to the church of the Jesuit College, which he had founded and where he had spent the last year of his life and interred in front of the main altar of the church; the room he occupied during those last months is now a chapel open for the veneration of the faithful.
Canisius was beatified by Pope Pius IX in the year 1864, and later canonized and declared a Doctor of the Church on 21 May 1925 by Pope Pius XI.
References and Excerpts
[1] F. Media, “Saint Peter Canisius,” Franciscan Media, 21-Dec-2015. .
[2] C. Online, “St. Peter Canisius – Saints & Angels,” Catholic Online. [Online]. Available: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=93. [Accessed: 31-Mar-2018].
[3] “Saint Peter Canisius, Doctor of the Church.” [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_peter_canisius.html. [Accessed: 31-Mar-2018].
[4] “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Peter Canisius.” [Online]. Available: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11756c.htm. [Accessed: 31-Mar-2018].
[5] “Peter Canisius,” Wikipedia. 22-Feb-2018.