Peter Canisius

Life events

1. Born — 1521

   Peter Canisius was born on 8 May 1521 in Nijmegen in the Duchy of Guelders, then part of the Habsburg Netherlands within the Holy Roman Empire. His father Jacob Kanis was a wealthy burgermeister; his mother Ægidia van Houweningen died shortly after his birth.

2. Educated — 1540

   Canisius studied at the University of Cologne, earning a master's degree in 1540 at age nineteen. There he encountered Peter Faber, one of the founders of the Society of Jesus, through whom he joined the newly founded Jesuit order in 1543 — becoming the first Dutchman to do so.

3. Ordained — 1546

   After completing his theology studies, Canisius was ordained to the priesthood in 1546. He subsequently became one of the most influential Catholic voices in the German-speaking lands through preaching and writing.

4. Council — 1547

   In 1547 Canisius attended several sessions of the Council of Trent, engaging the central deliberative body of the Catholic Counter-Reformation at a formative stage of its proceedings.

5. Wrote

   Between 1554 and 1558 Canisius published three catechisms in Latin and German: the Summa Doctrinae Christianae (1554/1555), the Catechismus minor (1556), and the Parvus catechismus catholicorum (1558). These works defined the basic principles of Catholicism in accessible German and were translated into almost every European language during his lifetime.

6. Other — 1562

   In 1562 Canisius founded in Innsbruck what would become the University of Innsbruck, and served as the principal preacher at the Cathedral of Augsburg from 1559 to 1568, preaching on three or four occasions each week.

7. Other — 1577

   Commissioned by Pope Pius V, Canisius published De Maria Virgine Incomparabili et Dei Genitrice Sacrosancta Libri Quinque (1577), a five-volume systematic defence of Catholic Mariology drawing on Scripture, the Church Fathers, and contemporary theology.

8. Died — 1597

   Canisius died on 21 December 1597 in Fribourg, Switzerland, where he had spent the last twenty years of his life founding the Collège Saint-Michel and continuing to write with a secretary's assistance after suffering a partial stroke in 1591. He was initially buried at the Church of St. Nicholas; his remains were later translated to the church of the Jesuit College he had founded.

Relationships

Documented claims

• Canisius was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1864 and then canonized and declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI on 21 May 1925 — one of only 37 saints to hold that formal Catholic title. (certain)
• Canisius added the intercession 'Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners' to the Hail Mary prayer; eleven years later the phrase was incorporated into the Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566). (likely)
• Rather than polemical attacks on reformers, Canisius advocated pastoral dialogue with German Protestants, arguing: 'An honest explanation of the faith would be much more effective than a polemical attack against reformers.' (likely)
• From the mid-nineteenth century, German churchmen including Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber styled Canisius the 'Apostle of Germany', positioning him as a successor to Saint Boniface for his role in sustaining Catholicism in German-speaking lands. (likely)
• Offered the post of Bishop of Vienna in 1554, Canisius declined in order to continue his itinerant preaching and teaching, though he served as administrator of the Diocese of Vienna for one year until a new bishop was appointed. (likely)