CURRICULUM VITAE
He came from the Dutch city of Nijmegen. He studied at the University of Cologne and, on May 15, 1543, entered the Jesuit order in Mainz. In 1546, he became a priest. He participated in the Council of Trent, worked in Messina, Sicily; took his vows in 1549, and obtained a doctorate in theology and was then sent to Germany, where for thirty years he worked to revive and strengthen the Catholic faith in the face of Protestantism. In 1556, he became provincial of the Jesuits and brought the brothers of the order to Prague. In addition to Germany and our homeland, he also worked in Austria and Switzerland, where he died at the age of 76.
CV FOR MEDITATION
IN PEACE, LOVE, AND PERSEVERANCE
He was born on May 8, 1521, in Nijmegen in the Duchy of Geldern (in present-day Holland), then part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. His father was the local mayor. He lost his mother early on, and his father devotionremarried. He then had 8 more children, among them Theodoric, who later followed Peter into the order.
Peter is said to have longed for the priesthood since childhood, although his father’s plans were different. While studying at the University of Cologne, he visited the monks of the Charterhouse of St. Barbara and other religious men who combined Dutch humanism with German mysticism and devoted themselves to a spirituality called devotio moderna – modern piety, which was about spiritual renewal.
In 1540, Peter obtained the title of Master of Liberal Arts and then, while studying theology, he also devoted himself to scientific work, from which he published two volumes concerning the church fathers Cyril of Alexandria and Leo the Great. At that time, he met Peter Favre (d. 1 August) and held 30-day retreats under his devotion, and on 8 May 1543, he entered the Society of Jesus in Mainz.
When Archbishop Hermann began to lean towards Protestantism in Cologne, he became the spokesman for those who wanted to remain faithful to the church, and in 1545, he met Emperor Charles V three times and spoke to him about the seriousness of the situation.
He was ordained a priest on June 12, 1546, and by 1562 he had become known as a preacher in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Bohemia.
From February to June 1547, as theologian to the Bishop of Augsburg, Cardinal Otto Truchsess, he attended the Council of Trent, where he collaborated with Diego Lainez and Alfonso Salmerón. The cardinal selected him at the Diet of Worms, where they both met with Emperor Charles V.
Peter Canisius was then called to Rome by the founder of the order, Ignatius of Loyola (b. 31 July). There he completed his formation and in the spring of 1548 was sent to the seminarians in Messina, Sicily, to teach them rhetoric, Latin and Italian. From Messina he was recalled to Rome, where on 7 September 1549 he took solemn religious vows and received a blessing from Pope Paul III. Then on 4 October he received a doctorate in theology in Bologna and was sent to Germany, where he worked for thirty years to revive and restore the Catholic faith.
Canisius’ spirituality recalls his ascetic life and loving devotion not only to Jesus, with whom he experienced a deep personal friendship, but also to the Virgin Mary, with whose help he carried out his apostolic mission. At the very beginning of his life, already in Rome on September 4, three days before his vows, he had, according to his spiritual diary, a vision of the Divine Heart. He wrote: “Then it was as if your most sacred body opened its heart to me – it seemed to me that I was looking directly into it – and you commanded me to drink from this spring, because you, my Savior, never cease to invite me to draw from your springs the water of my salvation.” He also recounts a vision in which the Savior gave him a garment sewn from three parts, which are peace, love and perseverance—the virtues necessary for the apostolate that Peter was sent to carry out in Germany.
His activity in German territory began in the Duchy of Bavaria. In 1556 he was appointed provincial of the order, under whose jurisdiction Austria, Bohemia, Poland, and Switzerland also belonged. He founded Jesuit colleges that helped implement reforms according to the Council of Trent. He opened the Clementinum in Prague and brought 12 Jesuits to an abandoned monastery. Protestants showed their hatred towards him by throwing stones at his services and calling him a “dog”, after Kanijs (from the Latin “canisius”).
His successful work did the most to preserve Catholicism in southern Germany, and his most widely distributed work was the three Catechisms, which he wrote around 1556-57. In the first, he explained basic theological concepts to students, in the second, he presented the basics of religious education for young people, and in the third, he wrote for high school and university students. He used the question-and-answer format briefly and very clearly. With the Catechism, which was published 200 times during his lifetime and was published until the end of the 20th century, he shaped the faith of the people.
He also prepared the publication of prayer books in various languages, texts of homilies and biographies of Swiss saints. In Worms in 1557, he participated in discussions with Protestant representatives. He always faithfully adhered to every dogmatic truth and at the same time showed respect for every person. As he sent a message to Rome, he recognized that the majority of Germans had converted to Protestantism through no fault of their own and distinguished between conscious apostasy from the faith and its innocent loss. He wrote three volumes to refute Protestantism: On the Incarnate Word, On the Virgin Mary, and On the Papacy.
He was offered the rank of Bishop of Vienna three times and always refused it. In 1558 he served as papal nuncio to Poland. The following year, in 1565, he attended two provincial assemblies in Augsburg. At the final session of the Council of Trent in 1562, he spoke on the question of communion under both kinds and on the Index of Forbidden Books.
From 1580, he preached and wrote in Freiburg, Switzerland, where he also died at the age of 76.
He was beatified in 1864 by Pius IX and declared the second apostle of Germany by Pope Leo XIII in 1897. In 1925, Pope Pius XI canonized him and declared him a Doctor of the Church.
RESOLUTION, PRAYER
