PETRUS KANIUS
Doctor of the church, Jesuit scholar, and strong opponent of Protestatism who has been called the Second Apostle of Germany.
Educated at the University of Cologne, he became a Jesuit (1543) and taught successively at the universities of Cologne, Ingolstadt and Vienna.
He founded colleges at Munich (1559), Insbruck (1562), Dillingen (1563), Würzburg (1567), Augsburg and Vienna.
Perhaps more than any of his contemporaries, Canisius delayed the advance of Protestantism by his participation in the religious discussion at Worms (1557), at the Council of Trent (shortly after which he was called to Rome by St. Ignatius), and the Diet of Augsburg (1559).
Canisius accepted a frantic call from Duke William I of Bavaria to reform the Catholic Church there.
In 1552 King Ferdinand had requested Canisius to rekindle and repair Catholicism in Vienna.
His German missions won him fast friendship with persons in all walks of life, including the Emperor.
Other important missions followed: to Prague, to southern Germany and Austria, to Bohemia, and to Switzerland, where in 1580 he settled in Fribourg and founded a Jesuit college (now the University of Fribourg).
His most influential work was the Triple Catechism (1555-58), which contained a lucid exposition of Catholic dogma, the most famous catechism of the Counter-Reformation, running through 400 editions in 150 years.
He was canonized in 1925 by Pope XI.
Declare a doctor of the church, his feast is kept on December 21.
J. Brodrick´s "St. Peter Canisius" appeared in 1935.
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