._Geestelijke_en_schrijver_te_Nijmegen%2C_SK-A-4423.jpg)
Portret van Petrus Canisius (1521-97). Geestelijke en schrijver te Nijmegen. Buste op voetstuk, naar links. Onderdeel van de collectie portretminiaturen.
Portret
van Petrus Canisius (1521-97). Geestelijke en schrijver te Nijmegen. Buste op
voetstuk, naar links. Onderdeel van de collectie portretminiaturen.
Saint Pierre Canisius
Docteur de l'Église (+ 1597)
Au temps où la Réforme s'étendait sur l'Europe, secouant fortement l'Occident chrétien, les familles catholiques confirmaient leur foi en l'Église romaine par un attachement résolu et déterminé. Pierre Kanijs est né à Nimègue aux Pays Bas dans l'une de ces familles. Les solides études qu'il fit à Cologne affermissent davantage encore ses convictions et lorsqu'il rencontre Pierre Favre, compagnon de saint Ignace de Loyola dès la première heure, il se décide à entrer dans la Compagnie de Jésus. Il passera désormais toute sa vie à lutter contre l'influence de Luther. Il prêche dans son pays, puis en Allemagne et en Suisse, partout où l'envoient ses supérieurs. Il traduit les Pères de l'Église trop oubliés à l'époque et auxquels Luther ne veut se référer à aucun prix. Il rédige un catéchisme qui connaîtra un succès fabuleux. Tout de suite les Pères du Concile de Trente font appel à ses compétences. S'il combat la Réforme, il est douceur et tendresse pour les réformateurs protestants. Conscient des faiblesses de l'Église catholique, il est convaincu que le renouvellement de l'Église, terme qu'il préfère à réforme, doit passer par la lutte contre l'ignorance du clergé et des fidèles. A l'époque où l'imprimerie n'engendre que la méfiance, puisqu'elle fut l'un des instruments de la contestation, il en use abondamment: "Le progrès doit être mis au service de Dieu." Il rendra son dernier souffle à Dieu, en Suisse, à Fribourg. Il a été proclamé "Docteur de l'Église."
Le 9 février 2011, Benoît XVI a consacré sa catéchèse à saint Pierre Canisius (1521 - 1597), proclamé par Léon XIII Second Apôtre de l'Allemagne, canonisé en 1925 par Pie XI et proclamé Docteur de l'Église. Saint Pierre Kanis, Canisius, forme latinisée de son nom de famille, figure très importante du XVIe siècle catholique (site du Vatican)
Après avoir tracé sa biographie, le Saint-Père a dit qu'une "des caractéristiques de saint Pierre Canisius fut sa capacité à présenter de manière harmonieuse la fidélité aux principes dogmatiques et le respect de toute personne... A une époque de forts contrastes religieux, il évita la dureté de propos et la rhétorique de la violence, chose alors rare entre chrétiens, dans la présentation des racines chrétiennes et du renouveau de la foi en l'Église". Ses écrits de formation spirituelle du peuple "insistent sur l'importance de la liturgie..., sur la messe et les sacrements. Mais il se préoccupait aussi de prouver l'importance de la beauté et de la prière personnelle quotidienne, allant de pair avec le culte et la prière publique de l'Église... La valeur de ses méthodes et recommandations demeure intacte, notamment avec leur reproposition par le concile Vatican II". Pierre Canisius, a conclu Benoît XVI, "a clairement enseigné que le ministère apostolique ne porte des fruits que si le prédicateur est un témoin réel de Jésus, sachant être son instrument dans l'union à l'Évangile et à l'Église, vivant de manière moralement cohérente, dans la prière et l'amour". (source: VIS 20110209 490)
- vidéo: la miséricorde chez Pierre Canisius, conférence, webTV de la CEF.
Mémoire de saint Pierre Canisius, prêtre et docteur de l'Église. Originaire de Nimègue, il entra dans la toute nouvelle Compagnie de Jésus sous influence du bienheureux Pierre Favre. Envoyé en Allemagne, il travailla avec énergie pendant de longues années à défendre la foi catholique et à l'affermir par ses prédications et ses écrits, parmi lesquels son grand et son petit Catéchismes eurent une importance considérable. Il se repose enfin de ses travaux à Fribourg en Suisse en 1597. (En Suisse, sa mémoire est reportée au 27 avril).
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/294/Saint-Pierre-Canisius.html
Katholische Pfarrkirche de:Basilika St. Peter (Dillingen) in Dillingen an der Donau (Bayern), Gemälde mit der Darstellung von Petrus Canisius
SAINT PIERRE CANISIUS
Docteur de l'Église
(1521-1597)
Pierre Kanijs, dont on a
fait "Canisius", naquit le 8 mai 1521 à Nimègue, de parents qui
étaient fervents catholiques, et qui surent pénétrer l'âme de leurs enfants de
leur foi et de leur piété. Aussi Louis Veuillot a pu dire que "le premier
jouet de Pierre fut un livre, son premier mot une prière, et depuis il alla
toujours étudiant et priant". Envoyé à Cologne pour y compléter ses
études, il en sortit maître-ès-art (1540). Trois ans plus tard, le 8 mai 1543,
il entrait dans la Compagnie de Jésus, et, en juin 1546, il était élevé au
sacerdoce.
Dès avant sa prêtrise,
Canisius avait commencé à donner des cours publics d'Écriture Sainte et à se
livrer à la prédication. Il n'avait que vingt-quatre ans, lorsque la confiance
des habitants de Cologne l'envoya auprès de l'empereur Charles-Quint, pour
obtenir qu'il les délivrât de leur archevêque infecté de protestantisme.
Après une courte
apparition au Concile de Trente, il revint en Allemagne, y travailler à réparer
les ruines amoncelées par l'hérésie. Il le fit par une prédication inlassable,
par son enseignement théologique, et par la diffusion de ses écrits. Ce fut
alors qu'il composa son chef-d'oeuvre connu sous le nom de "Catéchisme de
Canisius", qui lui a valu d'être élevé à la dignité de Docteur de
l'Église.
Nommé Provincial de son
Ordre, il exerça cette charge pendant quatorze ans durant lesquels il fonda en
Allemagne neuf collèges qui contribuèrent beaucoup à répandre l'instruction
chrétienne parmi la jeunesse. Il coopéra aussi très efficacement à la réforme
du clergé par l'érection de séminaires ecclésiastiques.
Ces divers travaux
n'empêchaient point le Père Canisius d'entretenir de fréquents rapports avec
les princes catholiques allemands, et de soutenir leur courage dans leurs
luttes avec les protestants. Son influence le fit choisir, en 1557, pour
défendre les dogmes catholiques à la diète de Worms, contre les principaux
coryphées du protestantisme. Il réussit à les opposer les uns aux autres, au
point qu'ils ne purent arriver à s'entendre entre eux.
Ayant été déchargé de
toute supériorité, le Père Canisius se retira à Dillingen et y travailla à la
réfutation des erreurs des "Centuries de Magdebourg". Il alla ensuite
fonder le collège de Fribourg (1580), qu'il ne devait plus quitter. La
vénération des Fribourgeois pour lui était telle, qu'ayant eu vent d'une
décision qui devait le leur ravir, ils écrivirent au Provincial: "Les
sanctuaires de Fribourg ne possèdent aucun corps de Saint; nous voulons donc
retenir chez nous ce Saint vivant, et ne pas permettre qu'il ait ailleurs son
tombeau." Leur voeu fut exaucé: Le Père Canisius mourut à Fribourg le 21
décembre 1597. Il avait soixante-seize ans.
D'après: J.M.
Planchet, Vies des Saints, édition 1946 et Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des
Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950.
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_pierre_canisius.html
_door_Willem_van_der_Winkel.jpg)
Buste van Petrus Canisius door Willem van der Winkel, 1925
Saint Pierre Canisius
Docteur de l'Église
(1521-1597)
Saint Pierre Canisius
était issu d'une famille de Nimègue, située dans les Pays-Bas actuels. Pierre
était l'aîné ; il naquit le jour où Luther fut mis au ban de l'empire et le
mois même où saint Ignace fut blessé au siège de la citadelle de Pampelune (blessure
qui valut à saint Ignace de longues semaines d'immobilisation et de
souffrances, mises à profit pour lire des vies de saints et prendre la décision
de les imiter).
Pierre étudia à Cologne
(Allemagne) la philosophie, et c'est alors qu'il mûrit la décision de devenir
prêtre. Il orienta ses études de théologie vers l'Écriture Sainte et les Pères
de l'Église et rencontra Pierre Favre, le premier compagnon d'Ignace de Loyola,
qui, chargé d'une mission papale, séjournait à Mayence. Au printemps 1543, saint
Pierre Canisius fit sous la direction de Pierre Favre, les exercices spirituels
de saint Ignace durant trente jours ; puis il décida d'entrer dans la Compagnie
et scella son choix par un vœu. En 1546, il fut ordonné prêtre. Il quitta
bientôt Cologne pour l'Italie où il fut envoyé au concile de Trente comme
théologien de l'évêque d'Augsbourg. Après l'ajournement du concile, Ignace
l'appela à Rome et lui fit accomplir son noviciat sous sa propre direction.
Au printemps 1548, saint
Pierre Canisius fut envoyé avec un groupe de dix jésuites sous la direction de
Jérôme Nadal pour fonder à Messine le premier collège jésuite ; Pierre y
enseigna le latin. Mais bientôt, sur l'ordre du pape Paul III, il fut envoyé en
1549 avec Claude Jay et Alonso Salmeron en Bavière. C'est de cette base que
pendant trente ans, notre saint va déployer dans l'empire son activité et ses
talents en faveur de l'Église alors menacée par sa propre décadence et par la
puissante poussée de la réforme protestante.
Quatre points essentiels
marquent l'action de saint Pierre Canisius
1°/ D'abord la lutte
contre l'ignorance religieuse et contre la dépravation morale qui en était la
conséquence.
En d'innombrables
prédications, souvent préparées de nuit (plus de 12.000 pages in-4° de sermons
manuscrits sont conservés), saint Pierre Canisius exposait la doctrine de
l'Église et amenait ses auditeurs à vivre chrétiennement. Pour la réforme du
clergé, il employait surtout les exercices ignaciens. Plus étendue encore et
plus durable, son action s'exerça par l'imprimé, principalement par les trois
Catéchismes et les divers livres de prières qu'il écrivit.
2°/ Le second point
capital concernait l'éducation et la formation du clergé.
Saint Pierre Canisius
commença par la réforme de l'université d'Ingolstadt, dont le pape lui avait
fait l'immédiate obligation ; puis il travailla à la réforme de l'université de
Vienne tombée dans un état de langueur désespérant. Appréciant de manière
réaliste la situation, il porta sur le domaine de l'éducation le principal de
ses efforts en érigeant des collèges. Ceux-ci devaient former une nouvelle
génération chrétienne pour servir dans l'Église et dans le monde. Les
commencements furent laborieux. Cependant à la mort du saint, on comptait dans
l'Empire cent fondations dont beaucoup étaient directement ou indirectement son
œuvre.
3°/ Le troisième point
était la situation interne des jésuites.
Saint Pierre Canisius fut
le maître d'œuvre spirituel et l'organisateur de la Compagnie de Jésus dans
l'Empire. Lorsqu'en 1556, Ignace érigea deux provinces allemandes de l'ordre,
il nomma Pierre au gouvernement de la Germania Superior qui, jusqu'en 1563,
engloba aussi l'Autriche. Pendant plus de treize ans, outre le reste de son
travail, saint Pierre Canisius eut à diriger et à superviser le nombre toujours
croissant des compagnons, leurs communautés et leurs travaux apostoliques.
4°/ Le quatrième point
consistait à conseiller évêques et princes dans les questions touchant la
réforme de l'Église et ses conséquences pour l'État.
Saint Pierre Canisius eut
à intervenir six fois comme théologien des légats pontificaux ou du roi, aux
assemblées d'Empire. Sur mandat du pape et pour ses propres supérieurs, il
rédigea toute une série de mémorandums concernant la réforme de l'Église.
Durant l'hiver 1565-1566, par commission papale, il eut à remettre et à
commenter les décrets du concile de Trente aux évêques et aux princes
catholiques de l'Empire.
De son temps, Pierre fut
le plus puissant agent de la réforme intérieure de l'Église catholique dans
l'Empire. Il a fortement contribué à contenir les progrès et la pression de la
réforme protestante et à ramener à l'Église des régions perdues, surtout dans
l'Allemagne méridionale et en Autriche. Extrêmement ferme sur ses positions,
notre saint était, en face des protestants, tout disposé aux attitudes
iréniques, et celles-ci se manifestaient aussi dans ses jugements.
Il passa ses dernières
années (1580-1597) à Fribourg, en Suisse où il avait été envoyé pour fonder un
collège. Autant que le permettait ses forces usées par une activité de trente
ans, saint Pierre Canisius y continua son action pour réformer l'Église et
affermir la foi. Il y mourut le 21 décembre 1597.
Il fut béatifié en 1864
et déclaré docteur de l'Église en 1925.
Les Œuvres de saint
Pierre Canisius
1°/ Son premier travail
fut l'édition allemande, à Cologne, en 1546, des œuvres de Jean Tauler
(mystique). Il publia également :
- trois volumes de
sermons et d'autres ouvrages de Saint Cyrille d'Alexandrie (Cologne 1546)
- un volume d'homélies de
saint Léon le Grand (1546, 1548, 1566)
- puis les lettres de
saint Jérôme (1562).
Ces éditions furent le
fruit de ses études patristiques.
2°/ L'œuvre la plus
importante de saint Pierre Canisius, qui étendra son action durant des siècles
et à travers de nombreux pays, est constituée par ses catéchismes.
- La première rédaction
connue sous le nom de « Grand Catéchisme » parut en 1555 : Summa
doctrina christianae. La traduction française parut à Liège en 1588.
- Également en 1556,
Saint Pierre Canisius publia un catéchisme pour les gens simples et pour les
enfants des écoles : Summa doctrina christianae ad captum rudiorum
accomodata (Ingolstadt, 1556).
- Pour les classes
moyennes, il composa enfin Parvus Catechismus Catholicorum que l'on
tient pour sa meilleure œuvre. Il travailla tout le reste de sa vie à améliorer
et à compléter ses catéchismes.
À sa mort, quinze
traductions et plus de deux cents éditions avaient été faites. Par son
catéchisme, saint Pierre Canisius donnait à la jeunesse de son temps un traité
de foi et aussi une introduction à la vie chrétienne.
3°/ Autres ouvrages
destinés à soutenir la prière et à enseigner la doctrine chrétienne.
4°/ Sermons
Saint Pierre Canisius n'a
publié qu'un Avent réduit aux quatre dimanches. Il existe de nombreux sermons
manuscrits aux archives de la province jésuite de Germanie Supérieure.
5°/ Saint Pierre Canisius
entreprit par obéissance la réfutation des Centuries de Magdebourg,
réfutation de cette histoire de l'Église violemment antipapiste éditée par
Flacius Illyricus (8 vol., Bâle, 1559-1574). Notre saint n'était pas un
historien et le résultat de son patient travail est une apologie de la foi
catholique romaine dans sa lecture de la Bible, avec des aspects de controverse
antiprotestante.
6°/ À Fribourg, il publie
des biographies populaires de plusieurs saints de la Suisse : Nicolas de Flue,
Meinrad, Ida, Fridolin, etc.
7°/ Exhortationes
domesticae
8°/ 1.310 Lettres
cf. J.F. Gilmont, Les écrits spirituels des premiers jésuites, Rome, 1961, p. 209-31
SOURCE : http://nouvl.evangelisation.free.fr/pierre_canisius.htm
Dominicus Custos (1560–1612), Petrus
Canisius, circa 1600
L’infatigable Pierre
Canisius
Aliénor
Goudet - publié le 20/12/21
Réputé pour sa détermination
et son incroyable énergie, le jésuite Pierre Canisius (1521-1597) était un
défenseur des mœurs chrétiennes et de la connaissance. Il a également
révolutionné l’enseignement catholique à travers l’Europe.
Suisse, 1580. Quelle
agitation à Fribourg en cette journée nuageuse. Les murmures parcourent les
rues et plusieurs habitants se hâtent vers l’entrée de la ville. La foule se
bouscule pour tenter d’apercevoir le carrosse qui leur amène le père Pierre
Canisius.
Sa réputation le précède
sans effort. Impossible d’évoquer les grands sages de l’époque sans mentionner
ce jésuite au tempérament de feu. On dit qu’il a refusé d’être évêque pour se
consacrer à l’enseignement catholique. Quel honneur que Fribourg soit le lieu
de sa nouvelle mission !
Une vie au service du
savoir
Originaire des Pays-Bas,
c’est sa rencontre avec Pierre Favre qui convainc Pierre d’entrer chez les
jésuites. Amoureux du Christ et de l’Écriture sainte, ses études à Cologne ne
font que conforter sa soif de savoir. Sa droiture et son éloquence sont vite
remarquées. On l’envoie prêcher en Allemagne, en Autriche, en Suisse…
Son adversaire le plus
tenace est Luther. La réforme protestante est pour Pierre un outrage sans nom.
Il se fait traducteur de textes anciens pour que les catholiques aient accès
aux savoir des pères de l’Église. Mais s’il reste immuable dans ses
convictions, Pierre demeure d’une douceur infinie envers les protestants.
– Que jamais la petitesse
et l’arrogance ne viennent salir le discours de celui qui se dit aimer Dieu
!
C’est par les mots, les
lettres et le débat que Pierre souhaite gagner les cœurs et les esprits. Une
autre grande préoccupation du futur saint est l’ignorance de la plupart des
catholiques. Prenant exemple sur les méthodes des protestants, il écrit le
catéchisme de Canisius. Même de son vivant, cette œuvre connaît un succès
incroyable.
Lire aussi :Cet
ouvrage est un best-seller depuis le XVIe siècle, mais ce n’est pas la Bible
Les princes et les
évêques lui demandent souvent conseils. Et il n’hésite pas à dénoncer les
écarts du clergé. Le jour, Pierre enseigne. La nuit, Pierre écrit. Il va là où
on l’appelle, et s’acharne à accomplir sa mission.
La dernière mission
Après avoir fondé 18
collèges et révolutionné l’enseignement chrétien, voici Pierre à Fribourg. Un
petit rire le secoue lorsqu’il descend du carrosse et aperçoit la foule.
Sont-ils déçus de voir que le fameux Pierre Canisius n’est qu’un vieillard
fatigué ? Malgré son âge avancé, le jésuite ne compte pas ralentir. Au
contraire, il est ici dans un but précis.
Le pape Grégoire XIII l’a
envoyé ici pour fonder le nouveau collège Saint-Michel. S’il y a bien quelques
soucis financiers, les travaux sont lancés et les cours commencent dès 1582.
Comme à son habitude, Pierre met en place un enseignement qui privilégie le
savoir et la vérité. Il défend beaucoup la lecture des œuvres païennes.
– Comment pourrions-nous
enseigner sans connaître les écrits des autres ? Autant fermer nos collèges
pour de bon !
Il conjure également ses
élèves d’avoir de l’empathie pour leurs adversaires. Qu’aucun ne s’abaisse à
humilier ses ennemis ou n’ait peur d’apprendre d’eux. La sagesse vient avec le
débat et la quête de vérité.
– Si vous n’êtes pas
d’accord avec moi, venez me voir, dit-il. Nous discuterons.
Le collège Saint-Michel
est la dernière œuvre de Pierre Canisius. Celui-ci s’éteint le 21 décembre
1597. Il est canonisé et nommé docteur de l’Église en 1925 par Pie IX. Ainsi
prend fin la mission de l’infatigable jésuite qui agissait pour le Christ. Cette
année 2021 marque le 500e anniversaire de sa naissance.
BENOÎT XVI
AUDIENCE GÉNÉRALE
Salle Paul VI
Mercredi 9 février 2011
Saint Pierre Canisius
Chers frères et sœurs,
Je voudrais vous parler
aujourd’hui de saint Pierre Kanis, Canisius, forme latinisée de son nom de
famille, une figure très importante du XVIe siècle catholique. Il était né le 8
mai 1521 à Nimègue, en Hollande. Son père était bourgmestre de la ville. Alors
qu’il était étudiant à l’université de Cologne, il fréquenta les moines
chartreux de Sainte Barbara, un centre dynamique de vie catholique, ainsi que
d’autres hommes pieux qui cultivaient la spiritualité dite devotio moderna. Il
entra dans la Compagnie de Jésus le 8 mai 1543 à Mayence (Rhénanie-Palatinat),
après avoir suivi un cours d’exercices spirituels sous la direction du
bienheureux Pierre Favre, Petrus Faber, l’un des premiers compagnons de saint
Ignace de Loyola. Ordonné prêtre en juin 1546 à Cologne, dès l’année suivante,
comme théologien de l’évêque d’Augsburg, le cardinal Otto Truchsess von
Waldburg, il participa au Concile de Trente, où il collabora avec deux
confrères, Diego Laínez et Alfonso Salmerón.
En 1548, saint Ignace lui
fit terminer sa formation spirituelle à Rome et l’envoya ensuite au Collège de
Messine pour accomplir d’humbles travaux domestiques. Ayant obtenu à Bologne un
doctorat en théologie le 4 octobre 1549, il fut destiné par saint Ignace à
l’apostolat en Allemagne. Le 2 septembre de cette même année, 1549, il rendit
visite au Pape Paul III à Castel Gandolfo, puis se rendit dans la basilique
Saint-Pierre pour prier. Là, il implora l’aide des grands saints apôtres Pierre
et Paul, afin qu’ils accordent une efficacité permanente à la Bénédiction
apostolique pour son grand destin, pour sa nouvelle mission. Dans son journal,
il note certaines phrases de cette prière. Il dit: «J’ai alors ressenti qu’un
grand réconfort et que la présence de la grâce m’étaient accordés au moyen de
ces intercesseurs [Pierre et Paul]. Ils confirmaient ma mission en Allemagne et
semblaient me transmettre, comme apôtre de l’Allemagne, le soutien de leur
bienveillance. Tu sais, Seigneur, de combien de façons et combien de fois en ce
même jour tu m’as confié l’Allemagne pour laquelle, par la suite, je
continuerais à être sollicité, pour laquelle je désirerais vivre et mourir».
Nous devons tenir compte
du fait que nous nous trouvons à l’époque de la Réforme luthérienne, au moment
où la foi catholique dans les pays de langue germanique, face à l’attraction de
la Réforme, semblait s’éteindre. Le devoir de Pierre Canisius, chargé de
revitaliser, de renouveler la foi catholique dans les pays germaniques, était
presque impossible. Il n’était possible que par la force de la prière. Il
n’était possible qu’à partir du centre, c’est-à-dire d’une profonde amitié
personnelle avec Jésus Christ; une amitié avec le Christ dans son Corps,
l’Eglise, qui doit être nourrie dans l’Eucharistie, Sa présence réelle.
En suivant la mission
reçue par Ignace et par le Pape Paul III, Pierre Canisius partit pour
l’Allemagne et se rendit avant tout dans le duché de Bavière, qui pendant de
nombreuses années, fut le lieu de son ministère. En tant que doyen, recteur et
vice-chancelier de l’université d’Ingolstadt, il s’occupa de la vie académique
de l’Institut et de la réforme religieuse et morale du peuple. A Vienne, où,
pendant une brève période, il fut administrateur du diocèse, il accomplit son
ministère pastoral dans les hôpitaux et dans les prisons, tant en ville que
dans les campagnes, et prépara la publication de son Catéchisme. En 1556, il
fonda le Collège de Prague et, jusqu’en 1569, il fut le premier supérieur de la
province jésuite de l’Allemagne supérieure.
Dans le cadre de cette
charge, il établit dans les pays germaniques un réseau étroit de communautés de
son Ordre, en particulier de collèges, qui devinrent des points de départ pour
la réforme catholique, pour le renouveau de la foi catholique. A cette époque,
il participa également au colloque de Worms avec les dirigeants protestants,
parmi lesquels Philip Mélanchthon (1557); il exerça la fonction de nonce
pontifical en Pologne (1558); il participa aux deux Diètes d’Augsbourg (1559 et
1565); il accompagna le cardinal Stanislas Hozjusz, légat du Pape Pie IV auprès
de l’empereur Ferdinand (1560); il intervint à la session finale du Concile de
Trente, où il parla de la question de la Communion sous les deux espèces et de
l’index des livres interdits (1562).
En 1580, il se retira à
Fribourg en Suisse, en se consacrant totalement à la prédication et à la
composition de ses œuvres, et c'est là qu'il mourut le 21 décembre 1597.
Béatifié par le bienheureux Pie IX en 1864, il fut proclamé en 1897 le deuxième
Apôtre de l'Allemagne par le Pape Léon XIII, et canonisé et proclamé Docteur de
l'Eglise par le Pape Pie XI en 1925.
Saint Pierre Canisius
passa une bonne partie de sa vie au contact des personnes les plus importantes
socialement de son époque et exerça une influence particulière par ses écrits.
Il fut l'éditeur des œuvres complètes de saint Cyril d'Alexandrie et de saint
Léon le Grand, des Lettres de saint Jérôme et des Oraisons de saint Nicolas de
Flue. Il publia des livres de dévotion en plusieurs langues, les biographies de
plusieurs saints suisses et de nombreux textes d’homilétique. Mais ses écrits
les plus répandus furent les trois Catéchismes composés entre 1555 et 1558. Le
premier Catéchisme était destiné aux étudiants en mesure de comprendre des
notions élémentaires de théologie; le deuxième aux jeunes du peuple pour une
première instruction religieuse; le troisième aux jeunes ayant une formation
scolaire de niveau secondaire et supérieur. La doctrine catholique était
exposée sous forme de questions et réponses, brièvement, dans des termes
bibliques, avec une grande clarté et sans accents polémiques. Rien que de son
vivant, on dénombrait déjà 200 éditions de ce Catéchisme! Et des centaines
d'éditions se sont succédé jusqu'au XXe siècle. Ainsi en Allemagne, les
personnes de la génération de mon père appelaient encore le Catéchisme
simplement le Canisius: il est réellement le catéchiste à travers les siècles,
il a formé la foi de personnes pendant des siècles.
C'est bien une
caractéristique de saint Pierre Canisius: savoir composer harmonieusement la
fidélité aux principes dogmatiques avec le respect dû à chaque personne. Saint
Canisius a fait la distinction entre l'apostasie consciente, coupable, de la
foi, et la perte de la foi non coupable, du fait des circonstances. Et il a
déclaré, à l'égard de Rome, que la plupart des Allemands passés au
protestantisme étaient sans faute. A un moment historique de fortes oppositions
confessionnelles, il évitait — c'est quelque chose d'extraordinaire — l'âpreté
et la rhétorique de la colère — quelque chose de rare comme je l'ai dit en ces
temps de débats entre chrétiens, — et il visait uniquement à la présentation
des racines spirituelles et à la revitalisation de la foi dans l'Eglise. C'est
à cela que servit la connaissance vaste et profonde qu'il avait des Ecritures
Saintes et des Pères de l'Eglise: cette même connaissance sur laquelle s'appuya
sa relation personnelle avec Dieu et l'austère spiritualité qui lui venait de
la devotio moderna et de la mystique rhénane.
La spiritualité de saint
Canisius se caractérise par une profonde amitié personnelle avec Jésus. Il
écrit, par exemple, le 4 septembre 1549 dans son journal, parlant avec le
Seigneur: «Toi, à la fin, comme si tu m'ouvrais le cœur du Très Saint Corps,
qu'il me semblait voir devant moi, tu m'as commandé de boire à cette source, en
m'invitant pour ainsi dire à puiser les eaux de mon salut à tes sources, ô mon
Sauveur». Puis il voit que le Sauveur lui donne un vêtement en trois parties
qui s'appellent paix, amour et persévérance. Et avec ce vêtement composé de
paix, d’amour et de persévérance, Canisius a mené son œuvre de renouveau du
catholicisme. Son amitié avec Jésus — qui est au centre de sa personnalité —
nourrie par l'amour de la Bible, par l'amour du Sacrement, par l'amour des
Pères, cette amitié était clairement unie avec la conscience d'être dans
l'Eglise un continuateur de la mission des Apôtres. Et cela nous rappelle que
chaque évangélisateur authentique est toujours un instrument uni — et cela même
le rend fécond — avec Jésus et avec son Eglise.
Saint Pierre Canisius
s’était formé à l’amitié avec Jésus dans le milieu spirituel de la Chartreuse
de Cologne, dans laquelle il était en contact étroit avec deux mystiques
chartreux: Johann Lansperger, latinisé en Lanspergius, et Nicolas van Hesche,
latinisé en Eschius. Il approfondit par la suite l’expérience de cette amitié,
familiaritas stupenda nimis, avec la contemplation des mystères de la vie de
Jésus, qui occupent une grande partie des Exercices spirituels de saint Ignace.
Son intense dévotion au Cœur du Seigneur, qui atteint son sommet dans la
consécration au ministère apostolique dans la Basilique vaticane, trouve ici
son fondement.
Dans la spiritualité
christocentrique de saint Pierre Canisius s’enracine une conviction profonde:
il n’y a pas d’âme soucieuse de sa propre perfection qui ne pratique chaque
jour la prière, l’oraison mentale, moyen ordinaire qui permet au disciple de
Jésus de vivre dans l’intimité du Maître divin. C’est pourquoi, dans les écrits
destinés à l’éducation spirituelle du peuple, notre saint insiste sur
l’importance de la liturgie avec ses commentaires des Évangiles, des fêtes, du
rite de la Messe et des autres sacrements, mais, dans le même temps, il a soin
de montrer aux fidèles la nécessité et la beauté de la prière personnelle qui
accompagne et imprègne la participation au culte public de l’Eglise.
Il s’agit d’une
exhortation et d’une méthode qui conservent leur valeur intacte, en particulier
après qu’elles aient été reproposées de manière faisant autorité par le Concile
Vatican II dans la constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium: la vie chrétienne ne
croît pas si elle n’est pas nourrie par la participation à la liturgie, de
manière particulière à la Messe dominicale, et par la prière personnelle
quotidienne, par le contact personnel avec Dieu. Parmi les mille activités et
les multiples stimulations qui nous entourent, il est nécessaire de trouver
chaque jour des moments de recueillement devant le Seigneur pour l’écouter et
parler avec Lui.
Dans le même temps,
l’exemple que saint Pierre Canisius nous a laissé, non seulement dans ses œuvres,
mais surtout à travers sa vie, est toujours actuel et d’une valeur permanente.
Il enseigne avec clarté que le ministère apostolique n’est incisif et ne
produit des fruits de salut dans les cœurs que si le prédicateur est un témoin
personnel de Jésus et sait être un instrument à sa disposition, étroitement uni
à Lui par la foi dans son Évangile et dans son Eglise, par une vie moralement
cohérente et par une prière incessante comme l’amour. Et cela vaut pour chaque
chrétien qui veut vivre avec engagement et fidélité son adhésion au Christ.
Merci.
* * *
Je salue les francophones
présents à cette audience, spécialement les étudiants des différents collèges
et lycées de Paris et d’Aix-en-Provence. Je vous invite à venir à Madrid pour
les Journées mondiales de la jeunesse en août prochain. A bientôt donc!
N’oubliez pas de garder un contact quotidien avec Dieu. Avec ma Bénédiction
apostolique.
SOURCE : http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110209_fr.html
Stich. Die
Firmung (La Confirmation), Gravure, le Catéchisme de Canisius, édition de 1679
PRIÈRE
Votre infinie bonté a
voulu, Pontife éternel, que je confie avec empressement l’effet et la
confirmation de cette bénédiction apostolique à vos apôtres que l’on va visiter
au Vatican et qui, sous votre conduite, accomplissent des merveilles. Là, j’ai
ressenti une grande consolation et la présence de votre grâce qui m’était
obtenue par de tels intercesseurs. Eux-mêmes, en effet, bénissaient et
confirmaient la mission envoyée en Allemagne ; il paraissaient promettre
de m’accorder leur bienveillance comme à l’apôtre de l’Allemagne. Seigneur,
vous savez à quel degré et combien de fois, en ce même jour, vous m’avez confié
l’Allemagne dont j’ai continué ensuite à me préoccuper, pour laquelle je désire
vivre et mourir.
C’est vous,
enfin, qui m’avez ordonné de boire à la source de votre cœur ouvert, dans votre
corps sacré qu’il me semblait voir de mes yeux ; oui, vous m’invitiez à
puiser les eaux de mon salut à vos sources, ô mon Sauveur. Pour moi, je désirais
intensément en voir jaillir vers moi des flots de foi, d’espérance, de charité.
J’avais soif de pauvreté, de chasteté, d’obéissance ; je demandais à être
tout entier lavé, vêtu, embelli par vous. Aussi, après que j’eus osé toucher
votre cœur très doux et y plonger ma soif, vous me promettiez un vêtement tissé
en trois parties qui pourraient recouvrir la nudité de mon âme et qui se
rattachaient tout à fait à mon engagement : c’étaient la paix, l’amour et
la persévérance. Muni de ce vêtement pour mon salut, j’avais confiance que rien
ne me manquerait mais que tout me réussirait pour votre gloire.
Saint Pierre Canisius
(1521-1597)
SOURCE : http://missel.free.fr/Sanctoral/12/21.php
FLEURS D'ORAISON de Saint Pierre Canisius
Seigneur, Dieu des vertus, convertissez-nous et montrez-nous votre Visage ; nous serons sauvés ! Vous êtes bon et miséricordieux, vous êtes patient et plus fort que notre malice.
La foi est comme la porte de notre salut. sans elle, personne dans cette vie ne peut trouver Dieu, ni par conséquent l'invoquer, le servir et lui plaire.
Je veux que les mérites, non seulement du Christ notre chef qui est le saint des saints, mais aussi de ses membres d'honneur et de tout son corps qui est l'Église, me soient un soutien et une protection.
Que ceux qui vous honorent, ô Père, vous honorent aussi pour moi ; qu'ils intercèdent pour moi ; et que pour moi ils adorent, ils aiment et glorifient votre Nom, même dans les plus petites de vos créatures.
L'héritage, la gloire des élus et des amis de Dieu, c'est de suivre sans murmurer le Christ sur la route qu'Il a lui-même parcourue le premier.
Ne vous laissez pas abattre. Les fautes passées ne doivent plus nous inquiéter quand nous en avons fait pénitence ; la contrition efface et purifie tout.
Apprenons à devenir doux et humbles de coeur ; imitons ce parfait modèle de simplicité et d'obéissance, en sorte que Jésus, notre salut, devienne aussi toute notre joie.
La foi est un don de Dieu et une lumière, grâce auxquels l'homme est éclairé et adhère à tout ce que Dieu a révélé et nous propose à croire par son Église.
L'espérance est une vertu divinement infuse par laquelle nous attendons avec une ferme confiance les biens du salut et de la vie éternelle.
La charité est la vertu infusée par Dieu, par laquelle nous aimons Dieu pour Lui-même et le prochain pour l'amour de Dieu.
Il est permis d'honore les saints, non pas de la manière dont nous devons honorer et invoquer Dieu créateur, rédempteur et dispensateur de tous les biens, mais comme ses amis intimes, nos intercesseurs.
Il faut distinguer dans le sacrement ce que nous voyons de ce que nous recevons. Nous voyons le signe extérieur mais nous recevons en même temps une grâce cachée et spirituelle.
L'aumône est un bienfait par lequel, touchés de compassion, nous soulageons la misère d'autrui. Nos prières er nos jeûnes seraient sans vertu, s'ils n'étaient accompagnés de l'aumône.
St Pierre Canisius,
confesseur et docteur
Mort à Fribourg le 21
décembre 1597. Canonisé en 1925 par Pie XI et proclamé docteur de l’Église.
La fête fut instituée en
1926 comme fête double.
Leçons des Matines avant
1960
Au deuxième nocturne.
Pierre Canisius naquit à Nimègue en Gueldre, l’année même où, en Allemagne,
Luther brisait avec l’Église par une révolte ouverte, tandis qu’en Espagne,
Ignace de Loyola abandonnait la milice terrestre et se consacrait à soutenir
les combats du Seigneur : Dieu voulant sans doute annoncer par cette double
coïncidence quels seraient dans la suite ses adversaires et sous quel chef il
s’enrôlerait dans la sainte milice. A Cologne où l’avaient amené ses études,
Pierre se lia à Dieu par le vœu de chasteté perpétuelle et s’enrôla, peu après,
dans la Compagnie de Jésus. Revêtu du sacerdoce, il entreprit aussitôt, par ses
missions, ses sermons et ses écrits, de défendre la foi catholique contre les
attaques perfides des novateurs. Par deux fois il prit part au Concile de
Trente où le désiraient vivement, à cause de sa rare sagesse et de son
expérience des affaires, le Cardinal d’Augsbourg et les Pontifes Légats. De
plus, sur l’autorité du Souverain Pontife Pie IV, il s’employa à en faire
publier et appliquer comme il convenait les décrets en Allemagne. Envoyé par
Paul IV au synode de Petrikan et chargé d’autres missions par Grégoire XIII, il
y traita des plus graves affaires de la Religion avec un courage toujours
ardent qu’aucune difficulté ne put abattre, et, à travers toutes les
circonstances critiques de l’époque, les conduisit à une heureuse fin.
Quatrième leçon. On peut
à peine exprimer combien, durant plus de quarante ans, embrasé du feu de la
divine charité que jadis, dans la basilique vaticane, il avait abondamment
puisé au plus profond du Cœur de Jésus, et uniquement voué à l’augmentation de
la gloire divine, le Bienheureux accomplit de travaux et endura de souffrances,
soit pour préserver un grand nombre de villes et provinces d’Allemagne de la
contagion de l’hérésie, soit pour les ramener à la foi lorsqu’elles s’en
trouvaient infectées. Aux diètes de Ratisbonne et d’Augsbourg il sut animer les
chefs de l’Empire à la défense des droits de l’Église et à la correction des
mœurs populaires. En celle de Worms il réduisit au silence l’orgueil et
l’impiété des magistrats de cette ville. Préposé par saint Ignace à la Province
d’Allemagne il fonda en beaucoup de lieux des résidences ; et des collèges de
la Compagnie, apporta tous ses soins à promouvoir et développer le Collège
germanique fondé à Rome, remit en honneur ; dans les académies l’étude des
sciences sacrées et des humanités regrettablement négligées ; écrivit deux
livres admirables contre les Centuriateurs de Magdebourg, enfin composa une
somme de doctrine chrétienne universellement et hautement approuvée tant par le
jugement des théologiens que par l’usage public de trois siècles, et publia en
langue vulgaire pour l’instruction du peuple de nombreux et très utiles
ouvrages. Tant de services, qui valurent au Bienheureux-le nom de marteau des
hérétiques et de nouvel apôtre de la Germanie, le firent à juste titre regarder
comme suscité par Dieu pour être le défenseur de la religion en Allemagne.
Cinquième leçon. Au
milieu de tant de travaux Pierre Canisius entretenait avec Dieu une union
habituelle par de fréquentes prières, et la méditation assidue des choses
surnaturelles, souvent inondé de larmes et parfois ravi en extase. Tenu en
grande estime par les personnages les plus importants ou les plus renommés pour
leur piété, grandement honoré par quatre Souverains Pontifes, il avait de si
bas sentiments de lui-même qu’il se disait et se croyait le dernier de tous. Il
refusa à trois reprises l’évêché de Vienne. D’une obéissance admirable envers
ses supérieurs, on le voyait prêt, au moindre signe de leur part, à tout
abandonner ou entreprendre, même au péril de sa santé et de sa vie. Les
rigueurs volontaires qu’il exerçait contre lui-même furent sans cesse les
protectrices de sa chasteté. Enfin le Bienheureux, âgé de soixante dix-sept ans
et se trouvant à Fribourg en Suisse où il avait passé les dernières années de
sa vie à s’épuiser pour la gloire divine et le salut des âmes, s’en alla vers
Dieu le onze décembre quinze cent quatre-vingt dix-sept. Le Pape Pie IX a élevé
aux honneurs de la béatification ce vaillant champion de la vérité catholique ;
et, de nouveaux miracles l’ayant rendu illustre, le Souverain Pontife Pie XI,
en l’année jubilaire, l’inscrivit au nombre des Saints en même temps qu’il le
déclarait Docteur de l’Église universelle.
Sixième leçon.
Au troisième nocturne.
Lecture du saint Évangile
selon saint Matthieu. Cap. 5, 13-19.
En ce temps-là : Jésus
dit à ses disciples : « Vous êtes le sel de ia terre : si le sel s’affadit, avec
quoi le salera-t-on ? ». Et le reste.
Homélie de saint Pierre
Canisius, Prêtre.
Septième leçon. J’aime et
vénère les Apôtres envoyés par le Christ et leurs successeurs, si zélés à
répandre la semence de l’Évangile, infatigables propagateurs et coopérateurs de
la divine Parole, qui peuvent à juste titre se rendre ce témoignage : Les
hommes nous doivent estimer ministres du Christ et dispensateurs des mystères
de Dieu. C’est que le Christ, en Père de famille très vigilant et très fidèle,
a voulu que, par de tels ministres et de tels envoyés, fût allumé ici-bas au
feu venu du ciel, le flambeau évangélique et qu’allumé il ne fût pas placé sous
le boisseau mais sur le chandelier, d’où cette lumière répandrait de tous côtés
sa splendeur, et triompherait à jamais de toutes les ténèbres et erreurs
régnant tant parmi les Juifs que parmi les Gentils.
Huitième leçon. En effet,
il ne suffit pas au docteur évangélique d’éclairer les peuples par sa parole,
de faire entendre une voix criant dans le désert, d’aider de ses discours
beaucoup d’âmes à progresser dans la piété, de peur que s’il omettait la
prédication, devoir de son ministère, il ne soit de ces chiens muets incapables
d’aboyer que stigmatisa le Prophète. Mais il doit encore être plein de ferveur
lui-même, afin que, riche en œuvres et en charité, il fasse honneur à son
ministère évangélique et suive les traces de Paul son Maître. Celui-ci, en
effet, non content d’adresser à l’évêque d’Éphèse cette recommandation :
Avertis et instruis, combats comme un bon soldat du Christ Jésus, évangélisa
lui-même constamment amis et ennemis et pouvait dire en bonne conscience aux
évêques assemblés à Éphèse : Vous le savez, il n’y a rien d’utile que j’aie
négligé de vous annoncer et de vous enseigner tant en public que dans vos
maisons, affirmant devant les Juifs et les Gentils la nécessité de la pénitence
vis-à-vis de Dieu, et de la foi en notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ.
Neuvième leçon. Tel en
effet doit être le Pasteur de l’Église : à l’exemple de saint Paul, qu’il se
fasse tout à tous, afin qu’en lui le malade trouve le remède ; l’affligé, la
joie ; le désespéré, la confiance ; l’ignorant, l’instruction ; l’indécis, le
conseil ; le pécheur repentant, pardon et consolation ; chacun enfin, tout ce
qui est nécessaire à son salut. Aussi le Christ lorsqu’il voulut constituer les
Chefs de la terre et les Docteurs de l’Église, dans sa sagesse ne se contenta
pas de dire à ses disciples : Vous êtes la lumière du monde ; mais ajouta ceci
encore : Une ville fondée sur la montagne ne peut demeurer cachée et on
n’allume pas une lampe pour la mettre sous le boisseau mais sur le chandelier,
afin qu’elle éclaire tous ceux qui sont dans la maison. Ils se trompent en
effet, les ecclésiastiques qui pensent pouvoir satisfaire aux obligations de
leur charge, plus par l’éclat de leur science que par la pureté de leur vie et
l’ardeur de leur charité.
Friedrichshafen,
Pfarrkirche St. Petrus Canisius
Bhx Cardinal
Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum
L’histoire de ce glorieux
disciple de saint Ignace est intimement liée à celle de la contre-réforme catholique
en Allemagne en face des novateurs protestants ; cela est si vrai que Canisius
fut salué comme le nouvel apôtre de l’Allemagne et le marteau de l’hérésie. De
fait, incroyable est l’énergie déployée par le Saint pour la défense de la foi
durant les quarante années de son apostolat, où il n’épargna ni travaux ni
souffrances pour le bien de l’Église. Deux fois il prit part au Concile de
Trente ; il fit un nombre incroyable de prédications et de missions, non
seulement devant les simples fidèles mais aussi dans les diverses cours
princières ; il écrivit maints ouvrages de caractère théologique, polémique et
catéchétique, ce qui lui valut de recevoir de Pie XI le titre de docteur de
l’Église qui lui fut conféré — et c’est en cela qu’il fut l’objet d’un privilège
— au moment même de sa canonisation à Saint-Pierre.
Il écrivit, en réponse
aux Centuries de Magdebourg, deux excellents volumes, qui plus tard, grâce à
l’intervention de saint Philippe, furent suivis de ceux de Baronius sur les
Annales Ecclésiastiques. Le catéchisme de Canisius, adopté par saint Charles
pour son diocèse, demeura pendant de longues années le manuel officiel pour
l’enseignement de la doctrine chrétienne, et sa popularité en Italie fut à
peine surpassée par le catéchisme de Bellarmin.
Saint Pierre Canisius
mourut le 21 décembre 1597, et Pie XI a introduit sa fête dans le Missel
romain.
La messe est celle du
Commun des Docteurs, mais la première collecte est propre.
L’Église loue, en saint
Pierre Canisius, non seulement la sagesse, mais aussi la force héroïque pour
soutenu le dogme catholique contre les violences et les embûches des
protestants. A cet égard, Canisius peut être comparé à saint Jean Chrysostome,
à saint Jean Damascène, à ceux des anciens Docteurs qui non seulement ont
enseigné, mais aussi beaucoup souffert pour la foi. En effet, les fatigues et
les épreuves supportées par notre saint apôtre pour conserver à l’Allemagne ce
trésor de foi catholique que saint Boniface avait jadis consacré de son sang,
sont incroyables. Que le laurier du docteur ceigne donc le front de saint
Pierre Canisius ; mais qu’à ce laurier la liturgie ajoute aussi le mérite, le
martyre, d’une vie missionnaire de près de huit lustres dans un pays hostile à
la foi catholique, action missionnaire qui justifie pour Canisius le glorieux
surnom de marteau du Luthéranisme.
_147.jpg)
Dom Pius Parsch, le Guide dans l’année liturgique
Veillons à l’enseignement
catholique de nos enfants.
Saint Pierre. — Jour de
mort : 21 décembre 1597. Tombeau : dans l’église du collège Saint-Michel à
Fribourg, en Suisse. Image : On le représente en Jésuite, avec son catéchisme à
la main. Vie : Ce saint est considéré comme le second apôtre de l’Allemagne. Il
fut le premier Jésuite allemand (il naquit à Nimègue). Il travailla sans
relâche, par ses prédications, ses écrits et ses lettres, au rétablissement et
à l’affermissement de la foi catholique en Allemagne, en Suisse, en Autriche.
Il est surtout célèbre par son catéchisme qui, aujourd’hui encore, est à la
base de tous les catéchismes scolaires allemands. C’est à cause de ce
catéchisme que saint Pierre Canisius a été élevé à la dignité de docteur de
l’Église.
Pratique : Le catéchisme
que le saint nous présente nous suggère deux résolutions : celle d’approfondir
de plus en plus la doctrine chrétienne (il ne serait pas superflu, même pour
des grandes personnes, d’étudier le catéchisme), et puis celle d’enseigner le
catéchisme aux autres.
La messe (In medio). — La
messe, dans son ensemble, est empruntée au Commun des docteurs (In medio) avec
quelques changements. Dans l’oraison, nous demandons le retour des hérétiques à
la foi : « Faites que, par ses exemples et ses leçons, les cœurs des hérétiques
viennent à de meilleurs sentiments et au salut ». Le plan pastoral de saint
Paul fut aussi celui de saint Pierre Canisius : « Je me suis fait tout à tous
pour les sauver tous » (All.). Son enseignement catéchistique trouve un écho
dans ces paroles : « Venez, enfants, écoutez-moi, c’est la crainte du Seigneur
que je veux vous enseigner » (Off.). A la communion, l’Église chante : « Vous
puiserez de l’eau avec joie aux sources du Sauveur ». Saint Pierre Canisius
nous a souvent ouvert ces sources et elles coulent abondamment dans la Sainte
Eucharistie.
SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/27-04-St-Pierre-Canisius-confesser
Also
known as
Hammer of Protestantism
Peter Kanis
Peter Kannees
Peter Kanys
Petrus Canisius
Petrus Kanis
Second Apostle of Germany
formerly 27 April
15 December (Ambrosian
Rite)
Profile
Son of Jacob Canisius, a
wealthy burgomeister, and Ægidia van Houweningen, who died shortly
after Peter’s birth. Educated in Cologne, Germany,
studying art, civil
law and theology.
He was an excellent student,
and received a master’s degree by age 19; his closest friends at university were monks and clerics.
Joined in the Jesuits on 8 May 1543 after
attending a retreat conducted by Blessed Peter
Faber. Taught at
the University of Cologne, and helped found the first Jesuit house
in the city. Ordained in 1546. Theologian of Cardinal Otto
Truchsess von Waldburg, Bishop of Augsburg in 1547.
He travelled and
worked with Saint Ignatius
of Loyola who was his spiritual director in Rome, Italy. Taught rhetoric
in Messina, Sicily in 1548, preaching in Italian and
Latin. Doctor of theology in 1549.
Began teaching theology and preaching at
Ingolstadt, Germany in 1549.
Rector of the university in 1550.
Began teaching theology, preaching in
the Cathedral of Saint Stephen
in Vienna, Austria in 1552;
the royal court confessor,
he continued to worked in hospitals and prisons,
and during Lent in 1553 he travelled to preach in
abandoned parishes in Lower
Austria. During Mass one
day he received a vision of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus, and ever after offered his work to the Sacred
Heart. He led the Counter-Reformation in Germany, Austria, Bohemia,
and Switzerland,
and his work led to the return of Catholicism to Germany.
His catechism went
through 200 editions during his life, and was translated into
12 languages; in some places catechisms were
referred to as Canisi. Attended the Diet of Augsburg in 1555.
Founded Jesuit colleges in
Ingolstadt, Prague,
Dillingen, and Fribourg. Jesuit provincial
superior. Attended the Diet of Ratisbon in 1556 and 1557.
Everywhere he worked he became a noted preacher,
and often worked with children, teaching them
and hearing their
confessions. Represented Pope Paul IV at
the imperial Diet of Pieternow. Addressed the Council
of Trent on the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Recommended Saint Stanislaus
Kostka for reception as a Jesuit. Court preacher to Archduke Ferdinand
II of Austria.
While in Fribourg, Switzerland,
he received a message from the city’s patron saint, Nicholas
of Myra, that he should stop travelling;
Canisius spent the rest of his life there. He taught, preached, edited books, and
worked to support the Catholic
press and printers in
many cities; his advice was sought by Saint Francis
de Sales, and by his friend Saint Charles
Borromeo. Proclaimed a Doctor
of the Church in 1925 by Pope Pius XI.
Born
8 May 1521 at
Niemguen, Netherlands
21 December 1597 at Fribourg, Switzerland of
natural causes
interred before the
high altar of
the Church of Saint Nicholas in Fribourg
relics translated
to the Church of Saint Michael at
the Jesuit College in Fribourg in 1625
23 November 1864 by Pope Pius
IX at Saint
Peter’s Basilica, Rome, Italy
in Germany
with his catechism and
other books
Additional
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Book
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George Lovasik, S.V.D.
Book
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Militantis
Ecclesiae, by Pope Leo XIII
Pope
Benedict XVI, General Audience, 9 February 2011
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
Saints
of the Society of Jesus
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Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
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Readings
If you have too much to
do, with God’s help you will find time to do it all. – Saint Peter
Canisius
Before he set out
for Germany, Saint Peter
Canisius received the apostolic
blessing, and underwent a profound spiritual experience. He describes it:
“It was as if you opened
to me the heart in your most sacred body. I seemed to see it directly before my
eyes. You told me to drink from this fountain, inviting me, that is, to draw
the waters of my salvation from your wellsprings, my Savior. I was most eager
that streams of faith, hope, and love should flow into me from that source. I
was thirsting for poverty, chastity, obedience. I asked to be made wholly clean
by you, to be clothed by you, to be made resplendent by you. “So, after daring
to approach your most loving heart, and to plunge my thirst into it, I received
a promise from you of a garment made of three parts: these were to cover my
soul in its nakedness, and to belong especially to my religious profession.
They were peace, love, and perseverance. Protected by this garment of
salvation, I was confident that I would lack nothing but all would succeed and
give you glory.”
– from the writings
of Saint Peter
Canisius
MLA
Citation
“Saint Peter
Canisius“. CatholicSaints.Info. 4 February 2024. Web. 16 March 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-peter-canisius/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-peter-canisius/
Bust
of Peter Canisius at Ruhmeshalle ("Hall
of fame"), München, Germany.
Picture
taken by myself: Dominik Hundhammer, München, 27
March 2006.
Blessed Peter
Canisius (Kannees, Kanys, probably also De Hondt).
Born at Nimwegen in
the Netherlands,
8 May, 1521; died in Fribourg, 21 November, 1597. His father was
the wealthy burgomaster, Jacob Canisius; his mother, Ægidia van
Houweningen, died shortly after Peter's birth. In
1536 Peter 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 received the degree of Master of
Arts at Cologne. Nicolaus van Esche was his spiritual
adviser, and he was on terms of friendship with such staunch Catholics as
Georg of Skodborg (the expelled Archbishop of Lund), Johann
Gropper (canon of the cathedral), Eberhard
Billick (the Carmelite monk), Justus Lanspergius,
and other Carthusian monks.
Although his father desired
him to marry a wealthy young woman,
on 25 February, 1540 he pledged himself to celibacy.
In 1543 he visited Peter Faber and, having made the "Spiritual
Exercises" under his direction, was admitted into the Society
of Jesus at Mainz,
on 8 May. With the help of Leonhard Kessel and others, Canisius,
labouring under great difficulties, founded at Cologne the
first German house of the order; at the same time he preached in the
city and vicinity, and debated and taught in the university.
In 1546 he was admitted to the priesthood,
and soon afterwards 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. In 1547, as the theologian of Cardinal Otto Truchsess von Waldburg, Bishop of Augsburg,
he participated in the general
ecclesiastical council (which sat first at Trent and
then at Bologna), and spoke twice in the congregation of the theologians.
After this he spent several months under the direction
of Ignatius in Rome.
In 1548 he taught rhetoric at Messina, Sicily,
preaching in Italian and Latin. At this
time Duke William IV of Bavaria requested Paul
III to send him some professors from the Society
of Jesus for the University
of Ingolstadt; Canisius was among those selected.
On 7 September, 1549, he made his solemn profession as Jesuit at Rome,
in the presence of the founder of the order. On his journey northward he
received, at Bologna, the degree of doctor of theology.
On 13 November, accompanied by Fathers Jaius and Salmeron, he
reached Ingolstadt, where he taught theology, catechized,
and preached. In 1550 he was elected rector of
the university,
and in 1552 was sent by Ignatius to the
new college in Vienna;
there he also taught theology in
the university,
preached at the Cathedral of St.
Stephen, and at the court of Ferdinand I, and
was confessor at the hospital and prison.
During Lent,
1553 he visited many abandoned parishes in Lower Austria,
preaching and administering the sacraments.
The king's eldest son (later Maximilian II) had appointed to the
office of court preacher, Phauser, a married priest,
who preached the Lutheran doctrine. Canisius warned Ferdinand I,
verbally and in writing, and opposed Phauser in public
disputations. Maximilian was obliged to
dismiss Phauser and, on this account, the rest of his life he
harboured a grudge against Canisius. Ferdinand three
times offered him the Bishopric of Vienna,
but he refused. In 1557 Julius
III appointed him administrator of the bishopric for
one year, but Canisius succeeded in ridding himself of this burden
(cf. N. Paulus in "Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie",
XXII, 742-8). In 1555 he was present at the Diet
of Augsburg with Ferdinand, and in 1555-56 he preached in
the cathedral of Prague.
After long negotiations and preparations he was able to open Jesuit colleges at Ingolstadt and Prague.
In the same year Ignatius appointed him first provincial superior of
Upper Germany (Swabia, Bavaria, Bohemia, Hungary, Lower and
Upper Austria).
During the winter of 1556-57 he acted as adviser to the King of
the Romans at the Diet of Ratisbon and
delivered many sermons in the cathedral.
By the appointment of the Catholic princes
and the order of the pope he
took part in the religious discussions at Worms. As champion of
the Catholics he
repeatedly spoke in opposition to Melanchthon.
The fact that the Protestants disagreed
among themselves and were obliged to
leave the field was due in a great measure to Canisius. He also preached
in the cathedral of
Worms.
During Advent and Christmas he
visited the Bishop of Strasburg at Zabern,
started negotiations for the building of a Jesuit college there,
preached, explained the catechism to
the children, and heard their confessions. He also preached in the cathedral of Strasburg and
strengthened the Catholics of Alsace and Freiburg in
their faith. Ferdinand,
on his way to Frankfort to be proclaimed emperor, met him
at Nuremburg and confided his troubles to him.
Then Duke Albert V of Bavaria secured
his services; at Straubing the pastors and
preachers had fled, after having persuaded the people to turn from the Catholic faith. Canisius remained
in the town for six weeks, preaching three or four times a day, and by his
gentleness he undid much harm. From Straubing he was called to Rome to
be present at the First General Congregation of his order, but
before its close Paul
IV sent him with the nuncio Mentuati
to Poland to
the imperial Diet of Pieterkow; at Cracow he addressed the clergy and
members of the university.
In the year 1559 he was summoned by the emperor to be present at the Diet
of Augsburg. There, at the urgent request of the chapter, he became
preacher at the cathedral and
held this position until 1566. His manuscripts show
the care with which he wrote his sermons.
In a series of sermons he treats of the end of man, of the Decalogue,
the Mass, the prophecies of Jonas; at the same time he
rarely omitted to expound the Gospel of the day; he spoke in keeping
with the spirit of the age, explained
the justification of man, Christian liberty,
the proper way of interpreting the Scriptures, defended
the worship of saints,
the ceremonies of the Church, religious vows, indulgences.
urged obedience to the Church authorities, confession, communion, fasting,
and almsgiving;
he censured the faults of the clergy,
at times perhaps too sharply, as he felt that they were public and that he must
avoid demanding reformation from the laity only.
Against the influence of evil
spirits he recommended the means of defence which had been in use in
the Church during
the first centuries—lively faith, prayer, ecclesiastical benedictions,
and acts of penance. From 1561-62 he preached about two hundred
and ten sermons, besides giving retreats and teaching catechism.
In the cathedral,
his confessional and the altar at which he said Mass were
surrounded by crowds, and alms were
placed on the altar. The envy of
some of the cathedral clergy was
aroused, and Canisius and his companions were accused of usurping
the parochial rights.
The pope and bishop favoured
the Jesuits,
but the majority of the chapter opposed
them. Canisius was obliged to
sign an agreement according to which he retained the pulpit but
gave up the right of administering the sacraments in
the cathedral.
In 1559 he opened a college in Munich;
in 1562 he appeared at Trent as papal theologian.
The council was discussing the question
whether communion should be administered under
both forms to those of the laity who
asked for it. Lainez, the general of the Society
of Jesus, opposed it unconditionally. Canisius held that the cup
might be administered to the Bohemians and
to some Catholics whose faith was
not very firm. After one month he departed from Trent,
but he continued to support the work of the Fathers by urging
the bishops to
appear at the council, by giving expert opinion regarding
the Index and other matters, by reports on the state of public
opinion, and on newly-published books. In the spring of 1563 he rendered a
specially important service to the Church;
the emperor had come to Innsbruck (near Trent),
and had summoned thither several scholars, including Canisius, as advisers.
Some of these men fomented the displeasure of the emperor with
the pope and
the cardinals who
presided over the council. For months Canisius strove to
reconcile him with the Curia.
He has been blamed unjustly for
communicating to his general and to the pope's representatives
some of Ferdinand's plans, which otherwise might have ended contrary to
the intention of all concerned in the dissolution of
the council and in a new national apostasy. The emperor finally
granted all the pope's demands
and the council was able to proceed and to end peacefully. All Rome praised Canisius,
but soon after he lost favour with Ferdinand and
was denounced as disloyal; at this time he also changed his views
regarding the giving of the cup to the laity (in
which the emperor saw a means of relieving all his difficulties), saying that
such a concession would only tend to confuse faithful Catholics and
to encourage the disobedience of the recalcitrant.
In 1562 the College of Innsbruck was opened by Canisius, and at that time
he acted as confessor to the
"Queen" Magdalena (declared Venerable in 1906 by Pius
X; daughter of Ferdinand I, who lived with her four sisters
at Innsbruck),
and as spiritual
adviser to her sisters. At their request he sent them
a confessor from the society,
and, when Magdalena presided over the convent,
which she had founded at Hall, he sent her complete directions for
attaining Christian
perfection. In 1563 he preached at many monasteries in
Swabia; in 1564 he sent the first missionaries to Lower Bavaria,
and recommended the provincial synod of Salzburg not
to allow the cup to the laity,
as it had authority to do; his advice, however, was not accepted. In this
year Canisius opened a college at Dillingen and assumed,
in the name of the order, the administration of the university which
had been founded there by Cardinal Truchsess. In 1565 he took part in
the Second General Congregation of the order in Rome.
While in Rome he
visited Philip, son of the Protestant philologist Joachim Camerarius,
at that time a prisoner of
the Inquisition,
and instructed and consoled him. Pius
IV sent him as his secret nuncio to
deliver the decrees of the Council
of Trent to Germany;
the pope also
commissioned him to urge their enforcement, to ask the Catholic princes
to defend the Church at
the coming diet, and to negotiate for the founding
of colleges and seminaries. Canisius negotiated
more or less successfully with the Electors of Mainz and Trier,
with the bishops of Augsburg, Würzburg, Osnabrück, Münster,
and Paderborn,
with the Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, and with the City and University
of Cologne; he also visited Nimwegen, preaching there and at other places;
his mission, however, was interrupted by the death of the pope. Pius
V desired its continuation, but Canisius requested to be
relieved; he said that it aroused suspicions of espionage, of arrogance,
and of interference in politics (for a detailed account of his mission see
"Stimmen aus Maria-Laach", LXXI, 58, 164, 301).
At the Diet of Augsburg (1566), Canisius and other theologians,
by order of the pope,
gave their services to the cardinal legate Commendone;
with the help of his friends he succeeded, although with great difficulty, in
persuading the legate not
to issue his protest against the religious peace, and thus prevented
a new fratricidal war.
The Catholic members
of the diet accepted the decrees of the council, the designs of
the Protestants were
frustrated, and from that time a new and vigorous life began for
the Catholics in Germany.
In the same year Canisius went to Wiesensteig, where he visited and
brought back to the Church the Lutheran Count
of Helfenstein and his entire countship, and where he prepared
for death two witches who
had been abandoned by the Lutheran preachers.
In 1567 he preached the Lenten sermons in
the cathedral of Würzburg,
gave instruction in the Franciscan church twice
a week to the children and domestics of the town, and discussed
the foundling of a Jesuit college at Würzburg with
the bishop.
Then followed the diocesan synod of Dillingen (at
which Canisius was principal adviser of the Bishop of Augsburg),
journeys to Würzburg, Mainz, Speyer,
and a visit to the Bishop of Strasburg,
whom he advised, though unsuccessfully, to take a coadjutor.
At Dillingen he received the application
of Stanislaus Kostka to enter the Society af Jesus,
and sent him with hearty recommendations to the general of the order at Rome.
At this time he successfully settled a dispute in the philosophical faculty
of the University
of Ingolstadt. In 1567 and 1568 he went several times to Innsbruck,
where in the name of the general he consulted with
the Archduke Ferdinand II and his sisters about
the confessors of the archduchesses and about the
establishment of a Jesuit house
at Hall. In 1569 the general decided to accept the college at Hall.
During Lent of
1568 Canisius preached at Ellwangen,
in Würtemberg;
from there he went with Cardinal Truchsess to Rome.
The Upper German province of the order had elected the
provincial as its representative at the meeting of the procurators;
this election was illegal, but Canisius was admitted. For
months he collected in the libraries of Rome material
for a great work which he was preparing. In 1569 he returned
to Augsburg and preached Lenten sermons in
the Church of St. Mauritius. Having been a provincial for thirteen
years (an unusually long time) he was relieved of the office at his own
request, and went to Dillingen, where he wrote, catechized, and
heard confessions, his respite, however, was short; in 1570 he was obliged again
to go to Augsburg. A year latter he was compelled to move
to Innsbruck and to accept the office of court preacher
to Archduke Ferdinand II. In 1575 Gregory
XIII sent him with papal messages
to the archduke and to the Duke of Bavaria.
When he arrived in Rome to
make his report, the Third General Congregation of the order was
assembled and, by special favour, Canisius was invited to be present.
From this time he was preacher in the parish church of Innsbruck until
the Diet of Ratisbon (1576),
which he attended as theologian of
the cardinal legate Morone.
In the following year he supervised at Ingolstadt the
printing of an important work, and induced the students of the university to
found a sodality of the Blessed Virgin. During Lent,
1578, he preached at the court of Duke William of Bavaria at
Landshut. The nuncio Bonhomini desired
to have a college of
the society at Fribourg;
the order at first refused on account of the lack of men, but the pope intervened
and, at the end of 1580, Canisius laid the foundation stone. In 1581
he founded a sodality of the Blessed Virgin among the citizens and,
soon afterwards, sodalities for women and
students; in 1582 schools were
opened, and he preached in the parish church and
in other places until 1589.
The canton had not been left uninfluenced by the Protestant movement. Canisius worked
indefatigably with the provost Peter
Schnewly, the Franciscan Johannes Michel,
and others, for the revival of religious sentiments amongst the
people; since then Fribourg has remained a stronghold of the Catholic Church.
In 1584, while on the way to take part in another meeting of the order at Augsburg,
he preached at Lucerne and
made a pilgrimage to
the miraculous image
of the Blessed Virgin at Einsiedeln.
According to his own account, it was then that St.
Nicholas, the patron
saint of Fribourg, made known to him his desire
that Canisius should not leave Fribourg again. Many times
the superiors of the order planned to transfer him to another house, but
the nuncio,
the city council, and the citizens themselves opposed the measure; they
would not consent to lose this celebrated and saintly man.
The last years of his life he devoted to the instruction of converts, to
making spiritual addresses to the brothers of the order, to writing
and re-editing books. The city authorities ordered his body to
be buried before the high
altar of the principal church, the Church of St.
Nicolaus, from which they were translated in 1625 to that of St. Michael,
the church of the Jesuit College.
Canisius held that to defend the Catholic truths with
the pen was just as important as to convert the Hindus.
At Rome and Trent he
strongly urged the appointment at the council, at the papal court,
and in other parts of Italy,
of able theologians to
write in defence of the Catholic faith.
He begged Pius
V to send yearly subsidies to the Catholic printers
of Germany,
and to permit German scholars to edit Roman manuscripts;
he induced the city council of Fribourg to erect a printing
establishment, and he secured special privileges for printers. He
also kept in touch with the chief Catholic printers
of his time — Plantin of Antwerp, Cholin of Cologne,
and Mayer of Dillingen — and had foreign works of
importance reprinted in Germany,
for example, the works of Andrada,
Fontidonio, and Villalpando in defence of the Council
of Trent.
Canisius advised the generals of the order to create a college of
authors; urged scholars like Bartholomæus Latomus, Friedrich
Staphylus, and Hieronymus Torensis to publish their works; assisted Onofrio
Panvinio and the polemic Stanislaus
Hosius, reading their manuscripts and
correcting proofs;
and contributed to the work of his friend Surius on
the councils. At his solicitation the "Briefe aus
Indien", the first relations of Catholic missioners,
were published (Dillingen, 1563-71); "Canisius", wrote the Protestant preacher, Witz,
"by this activity gave an impulse which deserves our undivided
recognition, indeed which arouses our admiration" ("Petrus
Canisius", Vienna,
1897, p. 12).
The latest bibliography of the Society
of Jesus devotes thirty-eight quarto pages to a list of the works
published by Canisius and their different editions, and it must be
added that this list is incomplete. The most important of his works are
described below; the asterisk signifies that the work bears the
name of Canisius neither on the title page nor in the preface. His
chief work is his triple "Catechism". In 1551
King Ferdinand I asked the University
of Vienna to write a compendium of Christian
doctrine, and Canisius wrote (Vienna, 1555), at first for
advanced students, his "Summa doctrinæ christianæ . . . in usum Christianæ
pueritiæ", two hundred and eleven questions in
five chapters (the first edition appeared without the name of the
author, but later all three catechisms bore his name); then a short
extract for school children,
"Summa . . . ad captum rudiorum accommodata" (Ingolstadt, 1556), was
published as an appendix to the "Principia Grammatices"; his catechism for
students of the lower and middle grades, "Parvus Catechismus
Catholicorum" (later known as "Institutiones christianæ
pietatis" or "Catechismus catholicus"), is an extract from the
larger catechism,
written in the winter of 1557-58. Of the first Latin edition
(Cologne, 1558), no copy is known to exist; the German edition
appeared at Dillingen,
1560. The "Summa" only received its definite form in
the Cologne edition of 1556; it contains two hundred and twenty-two
questions, and two thousand quotations from the Scriptures, and about
twelve hundred quotations from the Fathers
of the Church are inscribed on the margins; later all these
quotations were compiled in the original by Peter
Busæus, S.J., and appeared in four quarto volumes under the title
"Authoritates Sacræ Scripturæ et Sanctorum patrum" etc. (Cologne,
1569-70); in 1557 Johannes Hasius, S.J., published the same work in
one large folio volume, entitled "Opus catechisticum", for
which Canisius wrote an introduction. The catechism of Canisius is
remarkable for its ecclesiastically correct teachings, its clear,
positive sentences, its mild and dignified form. It is today
recognized as a masterpiece even by non-Catholics, e.g.,
the historians Ranke, Menzel, Philippson, and the theologians Kawerau,
Rouffet, Zerschwitz.
Pius
V entrusted Canisius with the confutation of the Centuriators
of Magdeburg. Canisius undertook to prove the
dishonesty of the centuriators by exposing their treatment of the
principal persons in
the Gospel — John
the Baptist, the Mother
of God, the Apostle St. Peter—and published (Dillingen, 1571) his
next most important work, "Commentariorum de Verbi Dei corruptelis liber
primus: in quo de Sanctissimi Præcursoris Domini
Joannis Baptistæ Historia Evangelica . . . pertractatur". Here
the confutation of the principal errors of Protestantism is exegetical and historical rather
than scholastical; in 1577 "De Maria Virgine incomparabili, et
Dei Genitrice sacrosancta, libri quinque" was published at Ingolstadt.
Later he united these two works into one book of two volumes,
"Commentariorum de Verbi corruptelis" (Ingolstadt, 1583, and
later Paris and Lyons);
the treatise on St. Peter and his primacy was only begun;
the work on the Virgin
Mary contains some quotations from the Fathers
of the Church that had not been printed previously, and treats of
the worship of Mary by
the Church.
A celebrated theologian of
the present day called this work a classic defence of the whole Catholic
doctrine about the Blessed Virgin (Scheeben,
"Dogmatik", III, 478); in 1543 he published (under the name of Petrus
Nouiomagus) "Des erleuchten D. Johannis Tauleri, von eym
waren Euangelischen leben, Göttliche Predig. Leren" etc., in
which several writings of the Dominican mystic appear
in print for the first time. This was the first book published by a Jesuit.
"Divi Cyrilli archiepiscopi Alexandrini Opera" (Latin
translation, 2 fol. vols., Cologne, 1546); "D. Leonis Papæ huius nominis
primi . . . Opera" (Cologne, 1546, later reprinted at Venice, Louvain,
and Cologne), Leo is brought forward as a witness for
the Catholic teachings
and the discipline
of the Church against the innovators; "De consolandis
ægrotis" (Vienna, 1554), exhortations (Latin, German,
and Italian) and prayers,
with a preface by Canisius; "Lectiones et Precationes
Ecclesiasticæ" (Ingolstadt, 1556), a prayerbook for
students, reprinted more than thirty times under the titles of "Epistolæ
et Evangelia" etc.; *"Principia grammatices" (Ingolstadt, 1556);
Hannibal Codrett's Latin Grammar, adapted
for German students by Canisius, reprinted in 1561, 1564 and
1568; *"Ordnung der Letaney von vnser lieben Frawen"
[Dillingen (1558)], the first known printing of the Litany of Loreto,
the second (Macerata, 1576) was most probably arranged by Canisius;
*"Vom abschiedt des Coloquij zu Wormbs" (s. l. a., 1558?).
*"Ain Christlicher Bericht, was die
hailige Christliche Kirch . . . sey" (Dillingen, 1559),
translation and preface by Canisius (cf. N. Paulus in
"Historischpolit. Blätter", CXXI, 765); "Epistolæ
B. Hieronymi . . . selectæ" (Dillingen, 1562), a school edition
arranged and prefaced by, Canisius and later reprinted about forty
times; "Hortulus
Animæ", a German prayer-book arranged
by Canisius (Dillingen, 1563), reprinted later, probably published
also in Latin by him. The "Hortuli" were placed later on
the Index nisi corrigantur; *"Von der Gesellschaft Jesu Durch.
Joannem Albertum Wimpinensem" (Ingolstadt, 1563), a defence of
the order against Chemnitz and Zanger, the greater part of which was
written by Canisius; "Institutiones, et Exercitamentas Christianæ
Pietatis" (Antwerp, 1566), many times reprinted, in which Canisius combined
the catechism for
the middle grades and the "Lectiones et Precationes ecclesiasticæ"
(revised in Rome);
"Beicht und Communionbüchlein" [Dillingen, 1567 (?), 1575, 1579,
1582, 1603; Ingolstadt, 1594, etc.]; "Christenliche . .
. Predig von den vier Sontagen im Aduent, auch vonn dem heiligen
Christag" (Dillingen, 1570).
At the request of Ferdinand II of
Tyrol, Canisius supervised the publishing of *"Von dem hoch und
weitberhümpten Wunderzeichen, so sich . . . auf dem Seefeld . . .
zugetragen" (Dillingen, 1580), and wrote a long preface for it; then
appeared "Zwey vnd neuntzig Betrachtung vnd Gebett, dess .
. . Bruders Clausen von Vnterwalden" (Fribourg, 1586);
"Manuale Catholicorum. In usum pie precandi" (Fribourg, 1587);
"Zwo . . . Historien . . . Die erste von . . .
S. Beato, ersten Prediger in Schweitzerland. Die andere von . .
. S. Fridolino, ersten Prediger zu Glaris vnd Seckingen"
(Fribourg, 1590): in this, the first of the popular biographies of the saints especially worshipped in Switzerland, Canisius does
not give a scholarly essay, but endeavours to strengthen the Catholic Swiss in
their faith and
arouse their piety;
"Notæ in Evangelicas lectiones, quæ per totum
annum Dominicis diebus . . . recitantur (Fribourg, 1591), a large
quarto volume valuable for sermons and meditations for
the clergy;
"Miserere, das ist: Der 50. Psalm Davids . .
. Gebettsweiss . . . aussgelegt" (Munich, 1594, Ingolstadt, 1594);
"Warhafte Histori . . . Von Sanct Moritzen . . . vnd seiner Thebaischen
Legion . . . Auch insonderheit von Sanct Vrso" (Fribourg, 1594);
*"Catholische Kirchengesäng zum theil vor vnd nach dem
Catechismo zum teil sonst durchs Jahr . . . zusingen" (Fribourg,
1596); "Enchiridion Pietatis quo ad precandum Deum instruitur
Princeps" (s. l., 1751), dedicated by Canisius in 1592
to the future emperor Ferdinand II (Zeitschrift für katholische
Theologie; XIV, 741); "Beati Petri Canisii Exhortationes domesticæ",
mostly short sketches, collected and edited by G. Schlosser, S.J.
(Roermond, 1876); "Beati Petri Canisii Epistulæ et Acta":
1541-65, edited by O. Braunsberger, S.J. (4 vols., Freiburg im
Br., 1896-1905). There still remain unpublished four or five volumes containing
eleven hundred and ninety-five letters and regesta written to or
by Canisius, and six hundred and twenty-five documents dealing with his
labours.
"Peter Canisius", says the Protestant professor
of theology,
Krüger, "was a noble Jesuit;
no blemish stains his character" ("Petrus Canisius" in
"Geschichte u. Legende", Giessen, 1898, 10). The principal trait
of his character was love for Christ and
for his work; he devoted his life to defend, propagate, and strengthen
the Church.
Hence his devotion to the pope.
He did not deny the abuses which existed in Rome;
he demanded speedy remedies; but the supreme and full power of the pope over
the whole Church, and the infallibility of
his teaching as Head of the Church, Canisius championed
as vigorously as the Italian and Spanish brothers of the
order. He cannot be called an "Episcopalian" or
"Semi-Gallican"; his motto was "whoever adheres to
the Chair of St. Peter is my man. With Ambrose I
desire to follow the Church of Rome in
every respect". Pius V wished to make him cardinal.
The bishops, Brendel of
Mains, Brus of Prague, Pflug of
Naumburg, Blarer of Basle, Cromer of Ermland,
and Spaur of Brixen,
held him in great esteem. St. Francis of Sales sought his
advice by letter. He enjoyed the friendship of the most distinguished members
of the College
of Cardinals — Borromeo, Hosius, Truchsess, Commendone, Morone, Sirlet;
of the nuncios Delfino, Portia, Bonhomini and
others; of many leading exponents of ecclesiastical learning;
and of such prominent men as the Chancellor of the University
of Louvain, Ruard Tapper, the provost Martin
Eisengrein, Friedrich Staphylus, Franz
Sonnius, Martin Rithovius, Wilhelm Lindanus, the
imperial vice-chancellors Jacob Jonas and
Georg Sigismund Seld, the Bavarian chancellor Simon Thaddaeus Eck,
and the Fuggers and Welsers of Augsburg.
"Canisius's whole life", writes the Swiss Protestant theologian Gautier,
"is animated by the desire to form a generation of devout clerics capable
of serving the Church worthily"
("Etude sur la correspondance de Pierre Canisius", Geneva,
1905, p. 46). At Ingolstadt he held disputations
and homiletic exercises among the young clerics,
and endeavoured to raise
the religious and scientific standard of the Georgianum. He
collected for and sent pupils to the German College at Rome and
provided for pupils who had returned home. He also urged Gregory
XIII to make donations and to found similar institutions
in Germany;
soon papal seminaries were
built at Prague, Fulda,
Braunsberg, and Dillingen. At Ingolstadt, Innsbruck, Munich,
and Vienna schools were
built under the guidance of Canisius for the nobility and the poor,
the former to educate the clergy of
the cathedrals,
the latter for the clergy of
the lower grades. The reformed ordinances published at that time for
the Universities of Cologne, Ingolstadt, and Vienna must
be credited in the main to his suggestions.
With apostolic
zeal he loved the Society
of Jesus; the day of his admission to the order he called his second
birthday. Obedience to his superiors was his first rule. As a
superior he cared with parental love for
the necessities of his subordinates. Shortly before his death he declared that
he had never regretted becoming a Jesuit,
and recalled the abuses which the opponents of the Church had
heaped upon his order and his person. Johann Wigand wrote
a vile pamphlet against his "Catechism"; Flacius Illyricus, Johann
Gnypheus, and Paul Scheidlich wrote books against it; Melanchthon declared
that he defended errors wilfully;
Chemnitz called him a cynic; the satirist Fischart scoffed at
him; Andreæ Dathen, Gallus, Hesshusen, Osiander, Platzius, Roding, Vergerio,
and others wrote vigorous attacks against him; at Prague the Hussites threw stones into
the church where he was saying Mass;
at Berne he
was derided by a Protestant mob.
At Easter,
1568, he was obliged to
preach in the Cathedral of Würzburg in
order to disprove the rumour that he had become a Protestant. Unembittered
by all this, he said, "the more our opponents calumniate us,
the more we must love them".
He requested Catholic authors
to advocate the truth with
modesty and dignity without scoffing or ridicule. The names of Luther and Melanchthon were
never mentioned in his "Catechism". His love for
the German people is characteristic; he urged the brothers of the
order to practise German diligently, and he liked to hear
the German national hymns sung.
At his desire St. Ignatius decreed that all the members of the
order should offer monthly Masses and prayers for
the welfare of Germany and
the North. Ever the faithful advocate of the Germans at
the Holy
See, he obtained clemency for them in questions of ecclesiastical censures,
and permission to give extraordinary absolutions and to dispense from
the law of fasting.
He also wished the Index to be modified
that German confessors might be authorized to permit the reading
of some books, but in his sermons he
warned the faithful to abstain from
reading such books without permission. While he was rector of
the University
of Ingolstadt, a resolution was passed forbidding the use of Protestant textbooks
and, at his request, the Duke of Bavaria forbade
the importation of books opposed to religion and morals.
At Cologne he requested the town council to forbid the
printing or sale of books hostile to the Faith or immoral, and in the
Tyrol had Archduke Ferdinand II suppress such books. He also
advised Bishop Urban of Gurk,
the court preacher of Ferdinand I, not to read so many Protestant books,
but to study instead the Scriptures and the writings of
the Fathers. At Nimwegen he searched the libraries of
his friends, and burned all heretical books.
In the midst of all these
cares Canisius remained essentially a man of prayer;
he was an ardent advocate of the Rosary and
its sodalities. He was also one of the precursors of the
modern devotion of the Sacred Heart.
During his lifetime his "Catechism" appeared in more than 200
editions in at least twelve languages. It was one of the works which
influenced St.
Aloysius Gonzaga to enter the Society
of Jesus; it converted, among others,
Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm of Neuburg; and as late as
the eighteenth century in many places the words "Canisi" and catechism were
synonymous. It remained the foundation and pattern for
the catechisms printed later. His preaching also had great influence;
in 1560 the clergy of
the cathedral of Augsburg testified
that by his sermons nine
hundred persons had
been brought back to the Church,
and in May, 1562, it was reported the Easter communicants
numbered one thousand more than in former years. Canisius induced
some of the prominent Fuggers to return to the Church,
and converted the leader of the Augsburg Anabaptists.
In 1537 the Catholic clergy had
been banished from Augsburg by
the city council; but after the preaching
of Canisius public processions were held, monasteries gained novices,
people crowded to the jubilee indulgence, pilgrimages were
revived, and frequent Communion again became the rule. After
the elections of 1562 there were eighteen Protestants and
twenty-seven Catholics on
the city council. He received the approbation of Pius
IV by a special Brief in
1561. Great services were rendered by Canisius to the Church through
the extension of the Society
of Jesus; the difficulties were great: lack of novices,
insufficient education of
some of the younger members, poverty, plague, animosity of the Protestants, jealousy on
the part of fellow-Catholics, the interference of princes and
city councils. Notwithstanding all this, Canisius introduced the
order into Bavaria, Bohemia,
Swabia, the Tyrol, and Hungary,
and prepared the way in Alsace, the Palatinate, Hesse,
and Poland.
Even opponents admit that to the Jesuits principally
is due the credit of saving a large part of Germany from religious innovation.
In this work Canisius was the leader. In many
respects Canisius was the product of an age
which believed in strange miracles,
put witches to
death, and had recourse to force against the adherents of another faith;
but notwithstanding all this, Johannes
Janssen does not hesitate to declare that Canisius was the
most prominent and most influential Catholic reformer of
the sixteenth century (Geschichte des deutschen Volkes, 15th and 16th editions,
IV, p. 406). "Canisius more than any other man", writes A.
Chroust, "saved for the Church of Rome the Catholic Germany of
today" (Deutsche Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, new series, II,
106). It has often been declared that Canisius in many ways
resembles St.
Boniface, and he is therefore called the second Apostle of Germany.
The Protestant professor
of theology, Paul Drews,
says: "It must be admitted that, from the standpoint of Rome,
he deserves the title of Apostle of Germany"
("Petrus Canisius", Halle, 1892, p. 103).
Soon after his death reports spread of the miraculous help
obtained by invoking his name. His tomb was
visited by pilgrims.
The Society
of Jesus decided to urge his beatification.
The ecclesiastical investigations
of his virtues and miracles were
at first conducted by the Bishops of Fribourg, Dillingen,
and Freising (1625-90); the apostolic proceedings began in
1734, but were interrupted by political and religions disorders. Gregory
XVI resumed them about 1833; Pius
IX on 17 April, 1864, approved of four of the miracles submitted,
and on 20 November, 1869, the solemn beatification took
place in St. Peter's at Rome.
In connection with this, there appeared between 1864-66 more than thirty
different biographies. On the occasion of the tercentenary of his death, Leo
XIII issued to the bishops of Austria, Germany,
and Switzerland his
much-discussed "Epistola Encyclica de memoria sæculari B.
Petri Canisii"; the bishops of Switzerland issued
a collective pastoral; in numerous places of Europe and
in some places in the United
States this tercentenary was celebrated and about fifty pamphlets were
published. In order to encourage
the veneration of Canisius there is published at Fribourg, Switzerland,
monthly since 1896, the "Canisius-Stimmen"
(in German and French). The infirmary of the College of St.
Michael, in which Canisius died, is now a chapel. Vestments and
other objects which he used are kept in different houses of the order. The
Canisius College at Buffalo possesses precious relics.
In the house of Canisius in the Broersstraat at Nimwegen the
room is still shown where he was born. Other memorials are:
the Canisius statue in
one of the public squares of Fribourg, the statue in
the cathedral of Augsburg,
the Church of
the Holy Saviour and the Mother of Sorrows,
recently built in his memory in Vienna,
and the new Canisius College at Nimwegen. At the twenty-sixth general meeting
of German Catholics held
at Aachen,
1879, a Canisius society for
the religious education of
the young was founded. The general prayer,
said every Sunday in
the churches originated by Canisius, is still in use in the
greater part of Germany,
and also in many places in Austria and Switzerland.
Various portraits of Canisius exist: in
the Churches of St. Nicolaus and St.
Michael in Fribourg; in the vestry of
the Augsburg Cathedral; in the Church of St. Michael
at Munich;
in the town hall at Nimwegen; in the town hall at Ingolstadt;
in the Cistercian monastery at Stams.
The woodcut in Pantaleo, "Prosopographia", III (Basle,
1566), is worthless. Copper-plates were produced by Wierx
(1619), Custos (1612), Sadeler (1628), Hainzelmann
(1693), etc. In the nineteenth century are: Fracassini's painting in
the Vatican; Jeckel's steel engraving; Leo Samberger's painting; Steinle's engraving
(1886). In most of these pictures Canisius is represented with
his catechism and
other books, or surrounded by children whom he is instructing. (See CHRISTIAN
DOCTRINE; COUNTER-REFORMATION; SOCIETY
OF JESUS.)
Sources
B.P. Canisii Epist. et Acta, ed. BRAUNSBERGER, (5 vols., Freiburg im Br.,
1896-1905) s.v. Confessions and Testamentum; the Beatification
Acts (some printed as manuscripts in only a few copies, the others
unprinted); Mon. Hist. Societatis Jesu: Chronicon Polanci, Epistola
quadrimestres mittæ etc., so far about thirty volumes (Madrid. 1894--). Of the
complete biographies, the following are the most important: RADERUS, De
Vita Canisii (Munich, 1614); SACCHINUS, De vita et rebus gestis P.
Petri Canisii (Ingolstadt, 1616); BOERO, Vita del Beato Pietro
Canisio (Rome, 1864); RIESS, Der selige Petrus
Canisius (Freiburg, 1865); LE BACHELET in Dict. de Théol.
Cath. (Paris, 1905), s.v. Canisius. Biographies, in German: by PRATISS
(Vienna, 1865), MARCOUR (Freiburg, 1881), PFÜLF (Einsiedeln, 1897), MEHLER
(Ratisbon, 1897); in Latin by PYTHON (Munich, 1710); in French by DORIGNY
(Paris, 1707), SÉGUIN (Paris, 1864), BOVET (Fribourg, 1865, 1881), DE BERTIGNY
(Fribourg, 1865), MICHEL (Lille, 1897); in Dutch by DE SMIDT (Antwerp, 1652),
SÉGUIN-ALLARD (Nimwegen, 1897); in Italian by FULIGIATTI (Rome, 1649), ODDI
(Naples, 1755); in Spanish by NIEREMBERG (Madrid, 1633), GARCIA (Madrid, 1865).
Cf. also KROSS, Der selige Petrus Canisius in Oesterreich (Vienna,
1898), from manuscript sources; REISER, B. Petrus Canisius als
Katechet (Mainz, 1882); ALLARD, Canisiana, from the Dutch
Studien (Utrecht, 1898-99); BRAUNSBERGER, Entstehung u. erste Entwicklung
d. Katechismen d. seligen Petrus Canisius (Freiburg, 1893);
SOMMERVOGEL, Bibliothèque de la C. de J. (new ed., Brussels and
Paris, 1890-1900), II, 617-88; VIII, 1974-83; DUHR, Gesch. d. Jesuiten in
den Länden deutscher Zunge, I (Freiburg, 1907); various Nuntiature Reports of
Germany and Switzerland published by STEINHERZ, SCHELLHASS, HANSEN,
STEFFENS-REINHARDT, etc.
Braunsberger,
Otto. "Blessed Peter Canisius." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton
Company, 1911. 21 Dec. 2019 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11756c.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Gary A. Mros.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin
Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11756c.htm
Der
Kirchenlehrer Petrus Canisius, von 1554 bis 1555 Administrator der Diözese
Wien, Patron der Diözese Innsbruck, Skulptur gegenüber der Kanzel im
Innsbrucker Dom
St. Peter Canisius
In 1565, the Vatican was
looking for a secret agent. It was shortly after the Council of Trent and 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. But Peter couldn’t hide the decrees like our modern fictional
spies with their microfilmed messages in collar buttons or cans of shaving
cream. Peter traveled from Rome and crisscrossed Germany successfully loaded
down with the Tridentine tomes — 250 pages each — not to mention the three
sacks of books he took along for his own university!
Why did the Vatican
choose Peter Canisius for this delicate task? Born in Holland in 1521,
Peter had edited and written several volumes on Church history and theology,
been a delegate to the Council of Trent, and reformed the German universities
from heresy. Called to Vienna to reform their university, he couldn’t win the
people with preaching or fancy words spoken in his German accent. He won their
hearts by ministering to the sick and dying during a plague. The people, the
king, and the pope all wanted to make Peter bishop of Vienna, but Peter
declined vigorously and administered the diocese for a year.
For many years during the
Reformation, Peter saw the students in his universities swayed by the flashy
speeches and the well-written arguments of the Protestants. Peter was not alone
in wishing for a Catholic catechism that would present true Catholic beliefs
undistorted by fanatics. Finally King Ferdinand himself ordered Peter and his
companions to write a catechism. This hot potato got tossed from person to
person until Peter and his friend Lejay were assigned to write it. Lejay was
obviously the logical choice, being a better writer than Peter. So Peter
relaxed and sat back to offer any help he could.
When Father Lejay died,
King Ferdinand would wait no longer. Peter said of writing: “I have never
learned to be elegant as a writer, but I cannot remain dumb on that account.”
The first issue of the Catechism appeared in 1555 and was an immediate success.
Peter approached Christian doctrine in two parts: wisdom — including faith,
hope, and charity — and justice — avoiding evil and doing good, linked by a
section on sacraments.
Because of the success
and the need, Peter quickly produced two more versions: a Shorter Catechism for
middle school students which concentrated on helping this age group choose good
over evil by concentrating on a different virtue each day of the week; and a
Shortest Catechism for young children which included prayers for morning and
evening, for mealtimes, and so forth to get them used to praying.
As intent as Peter was on
keeping people true to the Catholic faith, he followed 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. However, his companions were
not always as willing. He showed great patience and insight with one man,
Father Couvillon.
Couvillon was so sharp
and hostile that he was alienating his companions and students. Anyone who
confronted him became the subject of abuse. It became obvious that Couvillon
suffered from emotional illness. But Peter did not let that knowledge blind him
to the fact that Couvillon was still a brilliant and talented man.
Instead of asking
Couvillon to resign he begged him to stay on as a teacher and then appointed
him as his secretary. Peter thought that Couvillon needed to worry less about
himself and pray more and work harder. He didn’t coddle him but gave Couvillon
blunt advice about his pride. Coming from Peter this seemed to help Couvillon.
Peter consulted Couvillon often on business of the Province and asked him to
translate Jesuit letters from India. Thanks to Peter , even though Couvillon
continued to suffer depression for years, he also accomplished much good.
Peter died in December
21, 1597. He is known as the Second Apostle of Germany and was named a Doctor
of the Church.
SOURCE : http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/saint-peter-canisius/
Militantis
Ecclesiae – On Saint Peter Canisius, by Pope Leo XIII, 1 August 1897
To the Archbishops and
Bishops of Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.
1. The interest as well
as the honor of the church militant demands that We celebrate frequently with
solemn ceremonies the memory of those whose eminent virtue and piety have
elevated them to a glorious rank in the church triumphant. These public honors
recall their holiness, and this ever-salutary recollection is particularly
beneficial in periods of hostility to virtue and faith. This year, by the favor
of divine providence, We are permitted to celebrate the third centenary of the
death of the great Saint Peter Canisius. Our only desire is to see good men
inspired by the same qualities which this man devoted with so much success to
the service of Christian society.
2. There exist, in effect,
certain analogies between our age and the period in which Canisius lived: a
period when the spirit of revolution and looseness of doctrine resulted in a
great loss of faith and decline in morals. To deliver youth especially from
this double scourge was the goal of this man who, after Boniface, is the second
apostle of Germany. He achieved this purpose principally by establishing
schools and publishing good books as well as by effective sermons and
penetrating debates.
3. Following his example,
many of you have energetically used these same weapons against your educated
enemies by continually studying all the finest sciences and enthusiastically
cultivating the liberal arts in order to defend the honor of religion. You were
sustained in this by the desire and approval of the popes whose constant
preoccupation has always been to preserve the ancient majesty of the arts and
to promote the constant progress of culture. You are aware that Our greatest
desire has been to see to the proper education of youth. We have everywhere
made all possible provisions to ensure it.
4. We now gladly take
advantage of this occasion to present the vigorous leader Peter Canisius as a
model to all who fight for Christ in the Church’s army. By realizing that they
must ally the weapons of knowledge with the weapons of justice, they will be
able to defend the faith more vigorously and effectively.
5. We will easily
understand how great was the task undertaken by this strong defender of the
Catholic faith in the interest of the Church and of society if We consider the
situation in Germany at the beginning of the Lutheran revolt. Moral standards
had changed and as they continued to worsen, it was easy to fall into error—but
this very error hastened the final collapse of morals. The number of those
leaving the Catholic faith gradually increased. Soon the poison spread to most
of the provinces and infected all classes. Many considered the cause of
religion in that realm to be desperate and doubted that any remedy remained to
be tried. Indeed it is clear that all would have been lost if God had not
intervened with powerful aid.
6. In Germany there still
were men of solid faith, remarkable for their knowledge and love of the faith.
There were still the leaders of the house of Bavaria and Austria and, at their head, the
King of the Romans, Ferdinand I. These men were resolved to preserve and to
defend the Catholic faith with all their might. But the greatest new help which
God sent to Germany in this period was the Society of Loyola which was formed
during this troubled period. Peter Canisius was the first German to enter this
society.
7. This is not the place
to recall in detail the life of this man, so eminent in sanctity, the zeal with
which he labored to restore harmony and union to his country torn by dissension
and revolt, the ardor of his public debates with the teachers of error, his
inspiring sermons, the persecutions he suffered, the many countries he traveled
through, and the difficult missions he undertook in the interest of the faith.
However, to return to the weapons of knowledge which we have mentioned: how
constantly, readily, wisely, and fitly he employed them! Upon his return from
Messana where he went as a teacher of rhetoric, he committed himself to the
teaching of the sacred sciences in the academies of Cologne, Ingolstadt, and Vienna. Here
he followed the royal road of the most approved learned men of the Christian
school and revealed to the Germans the treasures of scholastic philosophy. As
this philosophy was shunned at that time by the enemies of the faith because it
was a great support of Catholic truth, he had it taught publicly in the schools
and colleges of the Society of Jesus for whose establishment he had worked so
hard.
8. He did not hesitate to
descend from the heights of wisdom to the basics of writing. He undertook the
instruction of children and even composed elementary writing books and grammars
for their use. Indeed just as he often came back from preaching to the courts
of kings to address the people, so, after learned writings on dogma or morals,
he used to compose pamphlets destined either to strengthen the faith of the
people or to arouse and nourish their piety. He had wonderful success in
preventing the inexperienced from getting caught in the nets of error. The
Summa which he published for this purpose is a compact and tightly-knit work,
written in beautiful Latin and not unworthy of the Fathers of the Church. This
remarkable work was enthusiastically received by learned men in almost all the
countries of Europe. Less voluminous but no less useful were the two famous
catechisms which this blessed man wrote for less cultivated minds: one for the
religious instruction of children, the other for young men already involved in
the study of the arts. These two works had such a great success among Catholics
immediately upon publication that almost all professors charged with teaching
the basics of the faith had them in hand. They were used not only in the
schools as a spiritual milk for the children, but they were also explained
publicly in the churches to the benefit of all. Thus, during three centuries
Canisius has been regarded as the teacher of Catholics in Germany. In popular
speech “knowing Canisius” was synonymous with “preserving the Christian faith.”
9. These details from the
life of this great saint indicate clearly enough to all good people the way
which they must follow. We know that your nation is particularly famous for the
wise and fruitful way in which you dedicate your talent and activity to
promoting the greatness of your country and ensuring both public and individual
prosperity. But, above all, the wise and virtuous among you should make
vigorous efforts for the faith, and they should dedicate all their insight and
expressive energy to its glory and defense. For the same purpose they should
understand and utilize at once every advance made in the arts and sciences.
10. If there ever existed
a period which demanded abundant science and knowledge to defend the Catholic
faith, it is assuredly ours in which the rapid progress in all branches of
study often furnishes the enemies of the Christian faith with an occasion for
attacking it. We must therefore commit the same forces to repel their attack.
We must occupy the position first and snatch from their hands the weapons with
which they are trying to destroy all links between God and man.
11. Catholics, thus
fortified and fittingly instructed, will clearly be able to show that the
faith, far from being hostile to human culture, constitutes in fact its apex
and summit; that even on points where there is seeming opposition or
contradiction, it can be so closely harmonized with philosophy that each
enlightens the other; that nature is not the enemy but the companion and helper
of religion; finally that the inspiration of religion not only enriches all
types of knowledge but also gives literature and the other arts new strength
and new life. The splendor and dignity which the sacred sciences draw from the
profane sciences derive from the fact that human nature is more affected by
teaching which is pleasingly presented. For this reason among nations with a
more refined civilization, hardly any confidence is placed in a coarse wisdom, and
learned men especially leave aside all that is not imprinted with a certain
beauty and charm. “We are indebted to the wise men” no less than “the
ignorant,” so we should stand in the battle line with the wise and if the
ignorant falter, we should lift them up and strengthen them.
12. This area of activity
in the Church has indeed been very wide. As soon as the long slaughter ceased
and the Church regained its strength, wise men devoted their talent and their
learning to glorifying the faith which had been sealed in the blood of its
heroes. First the Fathers worked together at this task with their mighty
strength. And in general their learned speech was worthy of the attention of
the Greeks and the Romans.
13. Aroused by their
teaching and their eloquence, many dedicated all their zeal to sacred studies
and amassed such a rich patrimony of Christian wisdom that in every age
Catholics have been able to draw weapons from it to destroy ancient errors or
to annihilate new myths invented by heresy. No age has dissipated these
treasures amassed by learned man, not even the age which was exposed to the
ravages of the barbarians, when all lovely things were uncared for and
forgotten. Consequently if the ancient wonders produced by human mind and hand,
if the things which were once held in great esteem by the Greeks and the Romans
have not entirely perished, it must be attributed entirely to the zeal and
effort of the Church.
14. Even though the study
of the arts and learning sheds so much glory on religion, those who dedicate
themselves to these studies should use all their intellectual power and all
their efforts to ensure that their knowledge not be selfish and sterile.
Learned men should direct their studies to the profit of the Christian
community and dedicate their own free time to common pursuits so that their
knowledge may not seem an enterprise undertaken haphazardly but one which has
practical application. Now such an obligation is especially clear in the
instruction of youth, a work which is so important that it requires the
greatest part of one’s cares and effort.
15. That is why We
strongly encourage you to keep the schools in the fullness of the faith or to
restore this fullness if necessary, and to bestow your cares on old as well as
new schools, not only on primary schools but also on secondary schools and on
colleges. As for the rest of the Catholics in your country, they should strive
to preserve safe and intact the rights of the parents and those of the Church
in the teaching of youth.
16. These are the things
to ensure on this point. First, Catholics should not choose mixed schools but
have their own schools especially for children. They should choose excellent
and reputable teachers for them. For an education in which religion is altered
or non-existent is a very dangerous education. We often see both cases
occurring in mixed schools. No one should be ready to believe that instruction
and piety can be separated with impunity. In effect, if it is true that We
cannot exempt ourselves from the duty of religion at any period of life, in
private or public affairs, so much the less should this duty be omitted at any
age which is thoughtless, in which the spirit is ardent and exposed to so many
inducements to evil.
17. To organize teaching
in such a way as to remove it from all contact with religion is therefore to
corrupt the very seeds of beauty and honor in the soul. It is to prepare, not
defenders of the nation, but a plague and a scourge for the human race. Once
God is suppressed, what can keep young people dutiful or recall them when they
have strayed from the path of virtue and fall into the abyss of vice?
18. Secondly, it is
necessary to teach religion to children, but not only at specified times. All
their teaching should occur in an atmosphere of Christian piety. If it is
otherwise, if this sacred inspiration does not penetrate the spirits of the
teachers and of the students, the instruction will produce only little fruit
and will often even have seriously harmful consequences. Every discipline has
its own dangers and the young people will not know how to avoid them unless
certain divine restraints are imposed on their intelligence and their heart. So
We must beware that the essential thing, the practice of justice and piety, not
be relegated to second place; that youth, restricted to those things alone
which are visible, not crush the strength of virtue; that while the teachers
carefully spell out the basics and the intricacies of some tiring discipline,
they have no concern for the true wisdom whose “beginning is the fear of the
Lord” and whose precepts should govern the whole of life. The knowledge of many
subjects should always go hand in hand with the care of the spirit. Religion
should give shape and direction to all branches of knowledge. Its majesty and
sweetness should strike home and inspire the souls of the young.
19. Since the intention
of the Church has always been that all types of studies be concerned with the
religious formation of youth, it, is necessary that this part of teaching not
only have its own place—and a principal place at that—but also that nobody should
exercise such a serious office without having been judged suitable and
authorized to perform it by the Church.
20. But it is not only in
the education of children that religion claims her rights. There was a time
when the government of every university (especially the University of Paris)
subordinated all branches of study to theology to the extent that nobody was
considered to have reached the heights of knowledge unless he had obtained a
doctorate in theology. The restorer of the Augustan age, Leo X and after him
the other popes, wanted the Roman Athenaeum and the other universities to be
like strong fortresses at a period when impious wars raged against the church.
Here, under the guidance and the inspiration of Christian wisdom, youth would
receive its education. This system of studies which put God and religion in
first place produced excellent results. Certainly it ensured that the youth
thus educated remained more faithful to their duties. These happy results will
be repeated among you if you strive energetically to have the rights of
religion respected in your secondary schools, gymnasia, lycaea, and academies.
21. But never forget that
disunity of spirit and lack of harmony in action render vain the best
intentions and useless all efforts. What can the divided forces of people
accomplish against the united attack of our enemies? What good is individual
bravery if there is no common tactic?
22. That is why We exhort
you to abandon all stubborn controversy, every partisan contention, for these
are causes of disunity. Thus everyone should act in harmony to define the
Church. They should concentrate their forces and direct them toward the same
goal, with the same intention “concerned with preserving unity of spirit in the
bond of peace.”[1]
23. The memory of a great
saint has persuaded Us to give this advice. May his illustrious example remain
fixed in your minds and arouse the love of wisdom which he himself possessed.
May this same wisdom always work for the salvation of man and for the defense
of the Church’s authority.
24. We are confident,
venerable brothers, since this matter is your special concern, that you will
find among learned men many helpers to share in the glory of this work. Those
to whom Providence has given the noble duty of educating youth will be of most
assistance on account of the nature of their work.
25. If they remember the
saying of the ancients, that knowledge merits the name of cleverness rather
than wisdom when it is separated from justice, or better yet if they meditate
on the words of Scripture: “They are vain, those men in whom there is no
knowledge of God,”[2] they will learn to use the weapons of knowledge less for
their personal gain than for the general good. They can expect their efforts to
produce the same fruits as Peter Canisius long ago obtained in his colleges and
institutions: obedient young people who are eager to learn and are vigorous who
detest the example of the impious, and are equally attracted to knowledge and
virtue. When their piety has grown deep, there will practically be no need to
fear that their souls will be affected by error or turned away from virtue. It
is on them that the Church, on them that society base their fondest hope. They
will be the eminent citizens of the future on whose wisdom, prudence, and
knowledge will depend both the salvation of the social order and the
tranquility of domestic life.
26. In conclusion, let Us
offer Our prayers to God who is the Lord of Knowledge and to his Virgin Mother,
called the Seat of Wisdom through the intercession of Peter Canisius who served
the Church so well by his teaching. May He see fit to answer Our prayers for
the growth of the Church and the good of youth. Filled with this hope, We
impart to each one of you, venerable brothers, to your clergy and to all your
people our apostolic blessing as a pledge of heavenly favors and a testimony of
Our paternal good wishes.
Given in Rome at Saint
Peter’s the first day of August, 1897,
the twentieth year of Our Pontificate.
NOTES
Ephesians 4.3
Wisdom 13.1
Front
der Kanzel des Augsburger Doms.
Antaŭo
de la ambono de la katedralo de Aŭgsburgo.
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peter Canisius
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today I want to talk to you about St Peter Kanis, Canisius in the Latin form of
his surname, a very important figure of the Catholic 16th century.
He was born on 8 May 1521 in Wijmegen, Holland. His father was Burgomaster of
the town. While he was a student at the University of Cologne he regularly
visited the Carthusian monks of St Barbara, a driving force of Catholic life,
and other devout men who cultivated the spirituality of the
so-called devotio moderna [modern devotion].
He entered the Society of Jesus on 8 May 1543 in Mainz (Rhineland — Palatinate),
after taking a course of spiritual exercises under the guidance of Bl. Pierre
Favre, Petrus [Peter] Faber, one of St Ignatius of Loyola’s first companions.
He was ordained a priest in Cologne. Already the following year, in June 1546,
he attended the Council of Trent, as the theologian of Cardinal Otto Truchsess
von Waldburg, Bishop of Augsberg, where he worked with two confreres, Diego
Laínez and Alfonso Salmerón. In 1548, St Ignatius had him complete his
spiritual formation in Rome and then sent him to the College of Messina to
carry out humble domestic duties.
He earned a doctorate in theology at Bologna on 4 October 1549 and St Ignatius
assigned him to carry out the apostolate in Germany. On 2 September of that
same year he visited Pope Paul III at Castel Gandolfo and then went to St
Peter’s Basilica to pray. Here he implored the great Holy Apostles Peter and
Paul for help to make the Apostolic Blessing permanently effective for the
future of his important new mission. He noted several words of this prayer in
his spiritual journal.
He said: “There I felt that a great consolation and the presence of grace had
been granted to me through these intercessors [Peter and Paul]. They confirmed
my mission in Germany and seemed to transmit to me, as an apostle of Germany,
the support of their benevolence. You know, Lord, in how many ways and how
often on that same day you entrusted Germany to me, which I was later to
continue to be concerned about and for which I would have liked to live and
die”.
We must bear in mind that we are dealing with the time of the Lutheran
Reformation, at the moment when the Catholic faith in the German-speaking
countries seemed to be dying out in the face of the fascination of the
Reformation. The task of Canisius — charged with revitalizing or renewing the
Catholic faith in the Germanic countries — was almost impossible.
It was possible only by virtue of prayer. It was possible only from the centre,
namely, a profound personal friendship with Jesus Christ, a friendship with
Christ in his Body, the Church, which must be nourished by the Eucharist, his
Real Presence.
In obedience to the mission received from Ignatius and from Pope Paul III,
Canisius left for Germany. He went first to the Duchy of Bavaria, which for
several years was the place where he exercised his ministry.
As dean, rector and vice chancellor of the University of Ingolstadt, he
supervised the academic life of the Institute and the religious and moral
reform of the people. In Vienna, where for a brief time he was diocesan
administrator, he carried out his pastoral ministry in hospitals and prisons,
both in the city and in the countryside, and prepared the publication of
his Catechism. In 1556 he founded the College of Prague and, until
1569, was the first superior of the Jesuit Province of Upper Germany.
In this office he established a dense network of communities of his Order in
the Germanic countries, especially colleges, that were starting points for the
Catholic Reformation, for the renewal of the Catholic faith.
At that time he also took part in the Colloquy of Worms with Protestant
divines, including Philip Melanchthon (1557); He served as Papal Nuncio in
Poland (1558); he took part in the two Diets of Augsberg (1559 and 1565); he
accompanied Cardinal Stanislaw Hozjusz, Legate of Pope Pius IV, to Emperor
Ferdinand (1560); and he took part in the last session of the Council of Trent
where he spoke on the issue of Communion under both Species and on the Index of
Prohibited Books (1562).
In 1580 he withdrew to Fribourg, Switzerland, where he devoted himself entirely
to preaching and writing. He died there on 21 December 1597. Bl. Pius IX
beatified him in 1864 and in 1897 Pope Leo XIII proclaimed him the “Second
Apostle of Germany”. Pope Pius XI canonized him and proclaimed him a Doctor of
the Church in 1925.
St Peter Canisius spent a large part of his life in touch with the most
important people of his time and exercised a special influence with his
writings. He edited the complete works of Cyril of Alexandria and of St Leo the
Great, the Letters of St Jerome and the Orations of St Nicholas of Flüe. He
published devotional books in various languages, biographies of several Swiss
Saints and numerous homiletic texts.
However, his most widely disseminated writings were the
three Catechisms he compiled between 1555 and 1558. The
first Catechism was addressed to students who could grasp the
elementary notions of theology; the second, to young people of the populace for
an initial religious instruction; the third, to youth with a scholastic
formation of middle and high school levels. He explained Catholic doctrine with
questions and answers, concisely, in biblical terms, with great clarity and
with no polemical overtones.
There were at least 200 editions of this Catechism in his lifetime
alone! And hundreds of editions succeeded one another until the 20th century.
So it was that still in my father’s generation people in Germany were calling
the Catechism simply “the Canisius”. He really was the Catechist of
Germany for centuries, he formed people’s faith for centuries.
This was a characteristic of St Peter Canisius: his ability to combine
harmoniously fidelity to dogmatic principles with the respect that is due to
every person. St Canisius distinguished between a conscious, blameworthy
apostosy from faith and a blameless loss of faith through circumstances.
Moreover, he declared to Rome that the majority of Germans who switched to
Protestantism were blameless. In a historical period of strong confessional
differences, Canisius avoided — and this is something quite extraordinary — the
harshness and rhetoric of anger — something rare, as I said, in the discussions
between Christians in those times — and aimed only at presenting the spiritual
roots and at reviving the faith in the Church. His vast and penetrating
knowledge of Sacred Scripture and of the Fathers of the Church served this
cause: the same knowledge that supported his personal relationship with God and
the austere spirituality that he derived from the Devotio Moderna and
Rhenish mysticism.
Characteristic of St Canisius’ spirituality was his profound personal
friendship with Jesus. For example, on 4 September 1549 he wrote in his
journal, speaking with the Lord: "In the end, as if you were opening to me
the heart of the Most Sacred Body, which it seemed to me I saw before me, you
commanded me to drink from that source, inviting me, as it were, to draw the
waters of my salvation from your founts, O my Saviour”.
Then he saw that the Saviour was giving him a garment with three pieces that
were called peace, love and perseverance. And with this garment, made up of
peace, love and perseverance, Canisius carried out his work of renewing
Catholicism. His friendship with Jesus — which was the core of his personality
— nourished by love of the Bible, by love of the Blessed Sacrament and by love
of the Fathers, this friendship was clearly united with the awareness of being
a perpetuator of the Apostles’ mission in the Church. And this reminds us that
every genuine evangelizer is always an instrument united with Jesus and with
his Church and is fruitful for this very reason.
Friendship with Jesus had been inculcated in St Peter Canisius in the spiritual
environment of the Charterhouse of Cologne, in which he had been in close contact
with two Carthusian mystics: Johannes Lansperger, whose name has been Latinized
as “Lanspergius” and Nikolaus van Esche, Latinized as “Eschius”.
He subsequently deepened the experience of this friendship, familiaritas
stupenda nimis, through contemplation of the mysteries of Jesus’ life,
which form a large part of St Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises. This is the
foundation of his intense devotion to the Heart of the Lord, which culminated
in his consecration to the apostolic ministry in the Vatican Basilica.
The Christocentric spirituality of St Peter Canisius is rooted in a profound
conviction: no soul anxious for perfection fails to practice prayer daily,
mental prayer, an ordinary means that enables the disciple of Jesus to live in
intimacy with the divine Teacher.
For this reason in his writings for the spiritual education of the people, our
Saint insists on the importance of the Liturgy with his comments on the
Gospels, on Feasts, on the Rite of Holy Mass and on the sacraments; yet, at the
same time, he is careful to show the faithful the need for and beauty of
personal daily prayer, which should accompany and permeate participation in the
public worship of the Church.
This exhortation and method have kept their value intact, especially after
being authoritatively proposed anew by the Second Vatican Council in the
Constitution Sacrosanctum
Concilium: Christian life does not develop unless it is nourished by
participation in the Liturgy — particularly at Sunday Mass — and by personal
daily prayer, by personal contact with God.
Among the thousands of activities and multiple distractions that surround us,
we must find moments for recollection before the Lord every day, in order to
listen to him and speak with him.
At the same time, the example that St Peter Canisius has bequeathed to us, not
only in his works but especially with his life, is ever timely and of lasting
value. He teaches clearly that the apostolic ministry is effective and produces
fruits of salvation in hearts only if the preacher is a personal witness of
Jesus and an instrument at his disposal, bound to him closely by faith in his
Gospel and in his Church, by a morally consistent life and by prayer as
ceaseless as love. And this is true for every Christian who wishes to live his
adherence to Christ with commitment and fidelity. Thank you.
To special groups:
I extend a warm welcome to all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors,
especially those from Japan and Malaysia, students from Loyola University and
the University of St Thomas, as well as students from the Highlands Institute
and the Irish Institute in Rome. Upon all of you, I invoke God’s Blessings of
joy and peace!
Lastly my thoughts go to the young people, the sick and
the newlyweds. Yesterday we celebrated the liturgical Memorial of St
Jerome Emiliani, the Founder of the Somaschi Fathers, and of St Josephine
Bakhita, a daughter of Africa who became a daughter of the Church.
May the courage of these faithful witnesses of Christ help you, dear young
people, to open your hearts to the heroism of holiness in everyday life. May it
sustain you, dear sick people, in persevering patiently in order to offer
your prayers and your suffering for the whole Church. And may it give you,
dear newlyweds, the courage to make your families communities of love, impressed
with Christian values.
Peter Canisius (Kanis),
SJ, Priest Doctor (RM)
Born in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, in May 8, 1521; died in Fribourg,
Switzerland, December 21, 1597; canonized and declared a Doctor of the Church
in 1925; feast day formerly April 27. From the disorders of the 16th century
Catholic Church, which helped to create the Protestant Reformation, sprung
Peter Canisius. He stood out as the leader of the Counter-Reformation in German
lands because his scholarship and theological insight, his courtesy and
learning commanded the respect even of his opponents.
Peter was the eldest son
of Jacob Kanis, who was elected burgomaster of Nijmegan nine times and was made
a nobleman after tutoring the sons of the duke of Lorraine--a staunch holdout
for Catholics. When Peter's mother died, his father remarried, and his
stepmother raised his religiously. Although he went to the University of
Cologne and then to Louvain with the intention of becoming a canon lawyer, he
grew more and more entranced by the study of theology. He realized that a legal
career and marriage would not satisfy him, so he took a vow of celibacy, and
returned to Cologne to continue his theological studies.
Under the inspiration of
a Jesuit named Peter Fabre during a retreat in Mainz, Canisius joined the
Society of Jesus in 1543. Canisius gave his inheritance to the poor, became a
novice, and lived a community life in Cologne, where he engaged in visiting the
sick and giving religious instruction. He also found time to write editions on
the works of Saint Cyril of Alexandria and Saint Leo the Great.
After his ordination in
1546, Canisius earned a reputation as a preacher. He attended two sessions of
the Council of Trent as a delegate. Saint Ignatius Loyola summoned him to Rome
to assist him for five months. He then went to Messina to teach in the first
Jesuit school, but returned shortly to Rome. At the request of Duke William IV
of Bavaria, Canisius went to Bavaria as a professor to counteract heresy in the
schools. Peter reformed the university at Ingolstadt and was named rector and
then vice chancellor.
In 1552, he was called to
Vienna by King Ferdinand to fulfill a similar function. The churches were
poorly attended when he arrived, but he earned the trust and following of the
people by his efforts to relieve the sick and dying during an outbreak of the
plague. The king and the papal nuncio wanted him to become archbishop of
Vienna. Instead he consented to administer the see for only one year, without
episcopal orders, title, or benefits.
The parishes were
virtually without clergy, the monasteries deserted, and there had been no
ordinations for 20 years (and we think we have a vocational crisis!). During
this period he began work on his finest work, Summary of Christian Doctrine
(Summa Doctrinae Christianae), a catechism of 211 questions and answers written
in Latin and German. Published in 1555, it went through 200 editions before his
death and was translated into 15 European languages.
Canisius next went to
Prague (in 1556) to found a college and was made provincial, against his will,
of a new province that encompassed southern Germany, Austria, and Bohemia. The
college gained such a reputation that Protestants sent their children to it,
and in two years, Peter brought most of the city back to the faith.
He moved to Augsburg,
Germany, in 1559, at the request of King Ferdinand, and induced there a similar
revival of the faith. He also influenced the Reichstag to restore public
schools. Throughout his life he insisted upon the importance of schools and
writing for publication. In fact, he is one of the founders of the Catholic
press.
At the end of his term as
provincial, he moved to Dillingen, Bavaria, where he directed the university.
He taught, acted as a confessor, and composed a stream of works in defense of
the Catholic faith.
Whereas many felt that
the Protestant Reformers were by far the most learned and intelligent of the
controversialists, in Peter Canisius they met their equal. He used some of
their weapons. The Bible, he believed, could be used in support of the ancient
faith as well as enlisted on the side of Protestantism. Where Canisius thought
he opponents were right, he courteously said so. But he believed that his own
statement of the Catholic faith could hold its own in any Christian debate, and
preferred to concentrate on basic Christian doctrines rather than controversial
matters, such as indulgences and purgatory. In dealing with Lutherans, he
always distinguished between those who had deliberately propagated heresy and
those who had been brought up in it, or had drifted into it, whose errors, as
he thought, came from ignorance rather than malice.
In addition to
apologetics, his written work includes theological, ascetical, and historical
treatises. Among his compositions are A Manual for Catholics, a martyrology, a
revision of the Augsburg Breviary, and the General Prayer, which is still
recited in Germany.
Canisius acted as a court
chaplain for several years at Innsbruck, Austria, and helped to resolve a rift
between the emperor and Pope Pius IV. In 1577, he was relieved of the task of
finishing a series of books because of his ill health. Nevertheless, he
continued to preach, make visitations as vice provincial, and give missions. In
1580, he went to Fribourg, Switzerland, to build a college, which became the
University of Fribourg. His regular preaching for more than eight years is
credited with holding Fribourg to the faith during an uneasy time in history.
His health deteriorated
further. In 1591, he suffered a stroke. He recovered enough to write, with the
help of a secretary, and died six years later.
As you can see, Canisius
was constantly engaged in teaching, preaching, instructing, advising, and
arbitrating in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Bohemia, and Poland. It is
estimated that he travelled 20,000 miles on foot and horseback in 30 years. For
this work, he is rightly called the Second Apostle of Germany (Attwater,
Benedictines, Bentley, Brodrick, Delaney, Farmer, White).
In art St. Peter can be
identified as an elderly (sometimes bearded) Jesuit with "charitas"
and IHS in glory above his head as he kneels before the Blessed Virgin with a
book near him (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1221.shtml
_p0729_Peter_Canisius.jpg)
San Pietro Canisio Sacerdote
e dottore della Chiesa
- Memoria Facoltativa
Nimega, Olanda, 1521 -
Friburgo, Svizzera, 21 dicembre 1597
Pietro Kanijs (Canisio,
nella forma latinizzata) nasce a Nimega, in Olanda, nel 1521. È figlio del
borgomastro della città, ha perciò la possibilità di studiare diritto canonico
a Lovanio e diritto civile a Colonia. In questa città ama trascorrere il tempo
libero nel monastero dei certosini e la lettura del breve opuscolo degli
Esercizi spirituali che Sant'Ignazio ha scritto da poco determina la svolta
decisiva della sua vita: compiuta la pia pratica a Magonza sotto la direzione
di padre Faber, entra nella Compagnia di Gesù ed è l'ottavo gesuita a emettere
i voti solenni. A lui si deve la pubblicazione delle opere di San Cirillo di
Alessandria, di San Leone Magno, di San Girolamo e di Osio di Cordova. Prende
parte attiva al concilio di Trento, come teologo del cardinale Truchsess e
consigliere del papa. Sant'Ignazio lo chiama in Italia, mandandolo dapprima in
Sicilia, poi a Bologna, per rimandarlo quindi in Germania, dove resta per
trent'anni, in qualità di superiore provinciale. Pio V gli offrì il
cardinalato, ma Pietro Canisio pregò il papa di lasciarlo al suo umile servizio
della comunità. Morì a Friburgo, in Svizzera, il 21 dicembre
1597. (Avvenire)
Etimologia: Pietro = pietra,
sasso squadrato, dal latino
Martirologio Romano: San
Pietro Canisio, sacerdote della Compagnia di Gesù e dottore della Chiesa, che,
mandato in Germania, si adoperò strenuamente per molti anni nel difendere e
rafforzare la fede cattolica con la predicazione e con i suoi scritti, tra i
quali il celebre Catechismo. A Friburgo in Svizzera prese infine riposo dalle
sue fatiche.
Continuando nella sua catechesi sui santi, Benedetto XVI ha dedicato l’udienza generale del 9 febbraio a san Pietro Canisio (1521-1597), gesuita e teologo presente come perito al Concilio di Trento.Olandese di nascita, nel 1548 fu inviato dal fondatore dei Gesuiti, sant’Ignazio di Loyola (1491-1556), in Germania. Il Papa ne richiama le parole annotate nel suo diario e riferite alla Basilica di San Pietro, dove il santo si era recato per pregare: «Là io ho sentito che una grande consolazione e la presenza della grazia mi erano concesse per mezzo di tali intercessori [Pietro e Paolo]. Essi confermavano la mia missione in Germania e sembravano trasmettermi, come ad apostolo della Germania, l’appoggio della loro benevolenza. Tu conosci, Signore, in quanti modi e quante volte in quello stesso giorno mi hai affidato la Germania per la quale in seguito avrei continuato ad essere sollecito, per la quale avrei desiderato vivere e morire».
I tempi per una missione in Germania non erano facili: «ci troviamo – ricorda il Papa – nel tempo della Riforma luterana, nel momento in cui la fede cattolica nei Paesi di lingua germanica, davanti al fascino della Riforma, sembrava spegnersi. Era un compito quasi impossibile quello di Canisio, incaricato di rivitalizzare, di rinnovare la fede cattolica nei Paesi germanici». Ma, nutrito della spiritualità di sant’Ignazio, san Pietro Canisio riuscì sia a rafforzare la fede cattolica là dov’era rimasta maggioritaria – in Baviera, poi a Vienna, a Praga e in Polonia, dove fu nunzio pontificio – sia a mantenerla nelle regioni tedesche a maggioranza protestante. Partecipò anche ai colloqui di Worms del 1557 con i dirigenti protestanti, fra cui Filippo Melantone (1497-1560), che sfiorarono una riconciliazione poi sfumata soprattutto per l’opposizione dei principi protestanti tedeschi. Consacrò l’ultima parte della sua vita a Friburgo, in Svizzera, dove si era ritirato nel 1580 e dove morirà nel 1597, alla predicazione e alla stesura delle sue ultime opere.
San Pietro pubblicò in effetti numerosi volumi. «Ma i suoi scritti più diffusi – nota il Pontefice – furono i tre Catechismi composti tra il 1555 e il 1558. Il primo Catechismo era destinato agli studenti in grado di comprendere nozioni elementari di teologia; il secondo ai ragazzi del popolo per una prima istruzione religiosa; il terzo ai ragazzi con una formazione scolastica a livello di scuole medie e superiori. La dottrina cattolica era esposta con domande e risposte, brevemente, in termini biblici, con molta chiarezza e senza accenni polemici. Solo nel tempo della sua vita sono state ben 200 le edizioni di questo Catechismo! E centinaia di edizioni si sono succedute fino al Novecento. Così in Germania, ancora nella generazione di mio padre, la gente chiamava il Catechismo semplicemente il Canisio: è realmente il catechista per secoli, ha formato la fede di persone per secoli».
Si può dire che la caratteristica fondamentale della missione tedesca di san Pietro Canisio sia stata, afferma Benedetto XVI, «saper comporre armoniosamente la fedeltà ai principi dogmatici con il rispetto dovuto ad ogni persona. San Canisio ha distinto l'apostasia consapevole, colpevole, dalla fede, dalla perdita della fede incolpevole, nelle circostanze. E ha dichiarato, nei confronti di Roma, che la maggior parte dei tedeschi passata al Protestantesimo era senza colpa. In un momento storico di forti contrasti confessionali, evitava – questa è una cosa straordinaria – l’asprezza e la retorica dell’ira – cosa rara come ho detto a quei tempi nelle discussioni tra cristiani, – e mirava soltanto alla presentazione delle radici spirituali e alla rivitalizzazione della fede nella Chiesa». Fermezza nella dottrina, contro ogni sincretismo e relativismo, e cordialità nelle relazioni personali, contro un certo zelo amaro, costituiscono la formula per l’ecumenismo che il Papa ha recentemente proposto, con riferimento specifico proprio ai luterani, nella recente Settimana di preghiera per l’unità dei cristiani.
Per mettere in pratica questa formula non serve solo un profondo sapere teologico. Serve anche la vita spirituale, che in san Pietro Canisio era alimentata fin dalla giovinezza secondo il Papa «dalla devotio moderna e dalla mistica renana», movimenti di risveglio spirituale fioriti tra la fine del XV secolo e i primi decenni del XVI. «È caratteristica per la spiritualità di san Canisio – afferma ancora il Papa – una profonda amicizia personale con Gesù. Scrive, per esempio, il 4 settembre 1549 nel suo diario, parlando con il Signore: “Tu, alla fine, come se mi aprissi il cuore del Sacratissimo Corpo, che mi sembrava di vedere davanti a me, mi hai comandato di bere a quella sorgente, invitandomi per così dire ad attingere le acque della mia salvezza dalle tue fonti, o mio Salvatore”. E poi vede che il Salvatore gli dà un vestito con tre parti che si chiamano pace, amore e perseveranza».
Il Papa identifica tre radici della spiritualità del santo: la mistica certosina, gli Esercizi spirituali di sant’Ignazio di Loyola e la devozione al Sacro Cuore. «All’amicizia con Gesù san Pietro Canisio si era formato nell’ambiente spirituale della Certosa di Colonia, nella quale era stato a stretto contatto con due mistici certosini: Johann Lansperger, latinizzato in Lanspergius [1489-1539], e Nicolas van Hesche, latinizzato in Eschius [1507-1578]. Successivamente approfondì l’esperienza di quell’amicizia, familiaritas stupenda nimis, con la contemplazione dei misteri della vita di Gesù, che occupano larga parte negli Esercizi spirituali di sant’Ignazio. La sua intensa devozione al Cuore del Signore, che culminò nella consacrazione al ministero apostolico nella Basilica Vaticana, trova qui il suo fondamento»
Dalla frequenza personale con sant’Ignazio deriva per san Pietro Canisio il convincimento che «non si dà anima sollecita della propria perfezione che non pratichi ogni giorno la preghiera, l’orazione mentale, mezzo ordinario che permette al discepolo di Gesù di vivere l’intimità con il Maestro divino. Perciò, negli scritti destinati all’educazione spirituale del popolo, il nostro Santo insiste sull’importanza della Liturgia con i suoi commenti ai Vangeli, alle feste, al rito della santa Messa e degli altri Sacramenti, ma, nello stesso tempo, ha cura di mostrare ai fedeli la necessità e la bellezza che la preghiera personale quotidiana affianchi e permei la partecipazione al culto pubblico della Chiesa».
Questi tesori della spiritualità ignaziana, afferma il Papa, «conservano intatto il loro valore, specialmente dopo che sono stati riproposti autorevolmente dal Concilio Vaticano II nella Costituzione Sacrosanctum Concilium: la vita cristiana non cresce se non è alimentata dalla partecipazione alla Liturgia, in modo particolare alla santa Messa domenicale, e dalla preghiera personale quotidiana, dal contatto personale con Dio. In mezzo alle mille attività e ai molteplici stimoli che ci circondano, è necessario trovare ogni giorno dei momenti di raccoglimento davanti al Signore per ascoltarlo e parlare con Lui».
Questo vale per tutti i fedeli, ma vale tanto di più per chi è chiamato ad annunciare ad altri il Vangelo. La vita di san Pietro Canisio è la prova che «il ministero apostolico è incisivo e produce frutti di salvezza nei cuori solo se il predicatore è testimone personale di Gesù e sa essere strumento a sua disposizione, a Lui strettamente unito dalla fede nel suo Vangelo e nella sua Chiesa, da una vita moralmente coerente e da un’orazione incessante come l’amore. E questo vale per ogni cristiano che voglia vivere con impegno e fedeltà la sua adesione a Cristo».
Autore: Massimo Introvigne
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/30450
Katholische Kreuzauffindungskapelle, Hauskapelle der Akademie für Lehrerfortbildung und Personalführung in Bayern (ehemalige Kapelle des Priesterseminars) in Dillingen an der Donau (Bayern) von 1911, Glasfenster von Franz Xaver Zettler in München, Darstellung: Petrus Canisius; Inschrift: B.CANISIUS CATECHIZAT
BENEDETTO XVI
UDIENZA GENERALE
San Pietro Canisio
Cari fratelli e sorelle,
Oggi vorrei parlarvi di
san Pietro Kanis, Canisio nella forma latinizzata del suo cognome, una figura
molto importante nel Cinquecento cattolico. Era nato l’8 maggio 1521 a Nimega,
in Olanda. Suo padre era borgomastro della città. Mentre era studente
all’Università di Colonia, frequentò i monaci Certosini di santa Barbara, un
centro propulsivo di vita cattolica, e altri pii uomini che coltivavano la
spiritualità della cosiddetta devotio moderna. Entrò nella Compagnia di
Gesù l’8 maggio 1543 a Magonza (Renania – Palatinato), dopo aver seguito un
corso di esercizi spirituali sotto la guida del beato Pierre Favre, Petrus
Faber, uno dei primi compagni di sant’Ignazio di Loyola. Ordinato sacerdote nel
giugno 1546 a Colonia, già l’anno seguente, come teologo del Vescovo di
Augusta, il cardinale Otto Truchsess von Waldburg, fu presente al Concilio di
Trento, dove collaborò con due confratelli, Diego Laínez e Alfonso Salmerón.
Nel 1548, sant’Ignazio
gli fece completare a Roma la formazione spirituale e lo inviò poi nel Collegio
di Messina a esercitarsi in umili servizi domestici. Conseguito a Bologna
il dottorato in teologia il 4 ottobre 1549, fu destinato da sant'Ignazio
all'apostolato in Germania. Il 2 settembre di quell'anno, il '49, visitò
Papa Paolo III in Castel Gandolfo e poi si recò nella Basilica di San Pietro
per pregare. Qui implorò l'aiuto dei grandi Santi Apostoli Pietro e Paolo, che
dessero efficacia permanente alla Benedizione Apostolica per il suo grande
destino, per la sua nuova missione. Nel suo diario annotò alcune parole di
questa preghiera. Dice: “Là io ho sentito che una grande consolazione e la
presenza della grazia mi erano concesse per mezzo di tali intercessori [Pietro
e Paolo]. Essi confermavano la mia missione in Germania e sembravano
trasmettermi, come ad apostolo della Germania, l’appoggio della loro
benevolenza. Tu conosci, Signore, in quanti modi e quante volte in quello
stesso giorno mi hai affidato la Germania per la quale in seguito avrei
continuato ad essere sollecito, per la quale avrei desiderato vivere e morire”.
Dobbiamo tenere presente
che ci troviamo nel tempo della Riforma luterana, nel momento in cui la fede
cattolica nei Paesi di lingua germanica, davanti al fascino della Riforma,
sembrava spegnersi. Era un compito quasi impossibile quello di Canisio, incaricato
di rivitalizzare, di rinnovare la fede cattolica nei Paesi germanici. Era
possibile solo in forza della preghiera. Era possibile solo dal centro, cioè da
una profonda amicizia personale con Gesù Cristo; amicizia con Cristo nel suo
Corpo, la Chiesa, che va nutrita nell'Eucaristia, Sua presenza reale.
Seguendo la missione
ricevuta da Ignazio e da Papa Paolo III, Canisio partì per la Germania e partì
innanzitutto per il Ducato di Baviera, che per parecchi anni fu il luogo del
suo ministero. Come decano, rettore e vicecancelliere dell’Università di
Ingolstadt, curò la vita accademica dell’Istituto e la riforma religiosa e
morale del popolo. A Vienna, dove per breve tempo fu amministratore della
Diocesi, svolse il ministero pastorale negli ospedali e nelle carceri, sia
nella città sia nelle campagne, e preparò la pubblicazione del
suo Catechismo. Nel 1556 fondò il Collegio di Praga e, fino al 1569, fu il
primo superiore della provincia gesuita della Germania superiore.
In questo ufficio,
stabilì nei Paesi germanici una fitta rete di comunità del suo Ordine,
specialmente di Collegi, che furono punti di partenza per la riforma cattolica,
per il rinnovamento della fede cattolica. In quel tempo partecipò anche al
colloquio di Worms con i dirigenti protestanti, tra i quali Filippo Melantone
(1557); svolse la funzione di Nunzio pontificio in Polonia (1558); partecipò
alle due Diete di Augusta (1559 e 1565); accompagnò il Cardinale Stanislao
Hozjusz, legato del Papa Pio IV presso l’Imperatore Ferdinando (1560); intervenne
alla Sessione finale del Concilio di Trento dove parlò sulla questione della
Comunione sotto le due specie e dell’Indice dei libri proibiti (1562).
Nel 1580 si ritirò a
Friburgo in Svizzera, tutto dedito alla predicazione e alla composizione delle
sue opere, e là morì il 21 dicembre 1597. Beatificato dal beato Pio IX nel
1864, fu proclamato nel 1897 secondo Apostolo della Germania dal Papa Leone
XIII, e dal Papa Pio XI canonizzato e proclamato Dottore della Chiesa nel 1925.
San Pietro Canisio trascorse
buona parte della sua vita a contatto con le persone socialmente più importanti
del suo tempo ed esercitò un influsso speciale con i suoi scritti. Fu editore
delle opere complete di san Cirillo d’Alessandria e di san Leone Magno, delle
Lettere di san Girolamo e delle Orazioni di san Nicola della
Fluë. Pubblicò libri di devozione in varie lingue, le biografie di alcuni
Santi svizzeri e molti testi di omiletica. Ma i suoi scritti più diffusi furono
i tre Catechismi composti tra il 1555 e il 1558. Il primoCatechismo era
destinato agli studenti in grado di comprendere nozioni elementari di teologia;
il secondo ai ragazzi del popolo per una prima istruzione religiosa; il terzo
ai ragazzi con una formazione scolastica a livello di scuole medie e superiori.
La dottrina cattolica era esposta con domande e risposte, brevemente, in
termini biblici, con molta chiarezza e senza accenni polemici. Solo nel tempo
della sua vita sono state ben 200 le edizioni di questo Catechismo! E centinaia
di edizioni si sono succedute fino al Novecento. Così in Germania, ancora nella
generazione di mio padre, la gente chiamava
il Catechismo semplicemente il Canisio: fu realmente
il catechista della Germania, ha formato la fede di persone per
secoli.
È, questa, una
caratteristica di san Pietro Canisio: saper comporre armoniosamente la fedeltà
ai principi dogmatici con il rispetto dovuto ad ogni persona. San Canisio ha
distinto l'apostasia consapevole, colpevole, dalla fede, dalla perdita della
fede incolpevole, nelle circostanze. E ha dichiarato, nei confronti di Roma,
che la maggior parte dei tedeschi passata al Protestantesimo era senza colpa.
In un momento storico di forti contrasti confessionali, evitava - questa è una
cosa straordinaria - l’asprezza e la retorica dell’ira - cosa rara, come ho
detto, a quei tempi nelle discussioni tra cristiani, - e mirava soltanto
alla presentazione delle radici spirituali e alla rivitalizzazione della fede
nella Chiesa. A ciò servì la conoscenza vasta e penetrante che ebbe della Sacra
Scrittura e dei Padri della Chiesa: la stessa conoscenza che sorresse la sua
personale relazione con Dio e l’austera spiritualità che gli derivava
dalla devotio moderna e dalla mistica renana.
E' caratteristica per la
spiritualità di san Canisio una profonda amicizia personale con Gesù. Scrive,
per esempio, il 4 settembre 1549 nel suo diario, parlando con il Signore: “Tu,
alla fine, come se mi aprissi il cuore del Sacratissimo Corpo, che mi sembrava
di vedere davanti a me, mi hai comandato di bere a quella sorgente, invitandomi,
per così dire, ad attingere le acque della mia salvezza dalle tue fonti, o mio
Salvatore”. E poi vede che il Salvatore gli dà un vestito con tre parti che si
chiamano pace, amore e perseveranza. E con questo vestito composto da pace,
amore e perseveranza, il Canisio ha svolto la sua opera di rinnovamento del
cattolicesimo. Questa sua amicizia con Gesù - che è il centro della sua
personalità - nutrita dall'amore della Bibbia, dall'amore del Sacramento,
dall'amore dei Padri, questa amicizia era chiaramente unita con la
consapevolezza di essere nella Chiesa un continuatore della missione degli
Apostoli. E questo ci ricorda che ogni autentico evangelizzatore è sempre uno
strumento unito, e perciò stesso fecondo, con Gesù e con la sua Chiesa.
All’amicizia con Gesù san
Pietro Canisio si era formato nell’ambiente spirituale della Certosa di
Colonia, nella quale era stato a stretto contatto con due mistici certosini:
Johann Lansperger, latinizzato in Lanspergius, e Nicolas van Hesche,
latinizzato in Eschius. Successivamente approfondì l’esperienza di
quell’amicizia, familiaritas stupenda nimis, con la contemplazione dei
misteri della vita di Gesù, che occupano larga parte negli Esercizi
spirituali di sant’Ignazio. La sua intensa devozione al Cuore del Signore,
che culminò nella consacrazione al ministero apostolico nella Basilica Vaticana,
trova qui il suo fondamento.
Nella spiritualità
cristocentrica di san Pietro Canisio si radica un profondo convincimento: non
si dà anima sollecita della propria perfezione che non pratichi ogni giorno la
preghiera, l’orazione mentale, mezzo ordinario che permette al discepolo di
Gesù di vivere l’intimità con il Maestro divino. Perciò, negli scritti
destinati all’educazione spirituale del popolo, il nostro Santo insiste sull’importanza
della Liturgia con i suoi commenti ai Vangeli, alle feste, al rito della santa
Messa e degli altri Sacramenti, ma, nello stesso tempo, ha cura di mostrare ai
fedeli la necessità e la bellezza che la preghiera personale quotidiana
affianchi e permei la partecipazione al culto pubblico della Chiesa.
Si tratta di
un’esortazione e di un metodo che conservano intatto il loro valore,
specialmente dopo che sono stati riproposti autorevolmente dal Concilio
Vaticano II nella Costituzione Sacrosanctum
Concilium: la vita cristiana non cresce se non è alimentata dalla
partecipazione alla Liturgia, in modo particolare alla santa Messa domenicale,
e dalla preghiera personale quotidiana, dal contatto personale con Dio. In
mezzo alle mille attività e ai molteplici stimoli che ci circondano, è
necessario trovare ogni giorno dei momenti di raccoglimento davanti al Signore
per ascoltarlo e parlare con Lui.
Allo stesso tempo, è
sempre attuale e di permanente valore l’esempio che san Pietro Canisio ci ha
lasciato, non solo nelle sue opere, ma soprattutto con la sua vita. Egli
insegna con chiarezza che il ministero apostolico è incisivo e produce frutti
di salvezza nei cuori solo se il predicatore è testimone personale di Gesù e sa
essere strumento a sua disposizione, a Lui strettamente unito dalla fede nel
suo Vangelo e nella sua Chiesa, da una vita moralmente coerente e da
un’orazione incessante come l’amore. E questo vale per ogni cristiano che
voglia vivere con impegno e fedeltà la sua adesione a Cristo. Grazie.
Saluti:
Je salue les francophones
présents à cette audience, spécialement les étudiants des différents collèges
et lycées de Paris et d’Aix-en Provence. Je vous invite à venir à Madrid pour
les Journées Mondiales de la Jeunesse en août prochain. A bientôt donc!
N’oubliez pas de garder un contact quotidien avec Dieu. Avec ma
Bénédiction apostolique.
I extend a warm welcome
to all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors, especially those from Japan
and Malaysia, students from Loyola University and the University of Saint
Thomas, as well as students from the Highlands Institute and the Irish
Institute in Rome. Upon all of you, I invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace!
Mit Freude grüße ich die
deutschsprachigen Pilger und Besucher. Wie der heilige Petrus Canisius wollen
wir stets die Wahrheit suchen und für sie eintreten, um so unsere innere
Freundschaft mit Christus zu vertiefen und zu verlebendigen. Dies ist ja das
Herzstück und die Mitte seines Lebens gewesen: die Freundschaft mit Christus,
dessen offenes Herz er gesehen hat, von dem er sich aufgefordert fühlte, aus
den Wassern des Lebens zu trinken, die von Ihm kamen. Dies ist die Mitte, von
der wir Christen leben, und dies ist die Mitte, von der her die Kirche immer
wieder erneuert werden kann. Euch allen wünsche ich einen gesegneten Aufenthalt
in Rom.
Saludo cordialmente a los
peregrinos de lengua española, en particular a los grupos provenientes de España,
México y otros países latinoamericanos. Invito a todos a vivir con empeño y
fidelidad la adhesión a Cristo, a ejemplo de San Pedro Canisio. Encomendaos a
su intercesión, pidiendo a Dios que vuestro apostolado produzca frutos de
salvación, siendo testigos de Jesús e instrumentos suyos, con una vida
moralmente coherente y una oración incesante. Muchas gracias.
Amados peregrinos de
língua portuguesa, para todos a minha saudação amiga e encorajadora! Antes de
vós, veio peregrino a Roma Pedro Canísio para invocar a intercessão dos
Apóstolos São Pedro e São Paulo sobre a missão que lhe fora confiada na
Alemanha, o seu campo de apostolado mais longo. No seu diário, descreve como
aqui sentiu a graça divina que fazia dele um continuador da missão dos
Apóstolos. Como ele, todos nós, cristãos, somos enviados a evangelizar, mas
para isso precisamos de permanecer unidos com Jesus e com a Igreja. Sobre vós e
a vossa família, desça a minha Bênção.
Saluto in lingua
slovacca:
Srdečne vítam pútnikov zo
Slovenska, osobitne zo Žiliny, Horných Vesteníc a Dolných Vesteníc.Bratia a
sestry, prajem vám, aby svetlo evanjelia osvecovalo všetky kroky vášho života a
ochotne udeľujem Apoštolské požehnanie každému z vás a vašim rodinám vo vlasti.
Pochválený buď Ježiš Kristus!
Traduzione italiana:
Rivolgo un cordiale
benvenuto ai pellegrini provenienti dalla Slovacchia, particolarmente da
Žilina, Horné Vestenice e Dolné Vestenice.
Fratelli e sorelle, mentre vi auguro che la luce del Vangelo illumini tutti i
passi della vostra vita, volentieri imparto la Benedizione Apostolica a
ciascuno di voi ed alle vostre famiglie in Patria.
Sia lodato Gesù Cristo!
Saluto in lingua polacca:
Serdecznie witam
pielgrzymów polskich. W piątek przypada wspomnienie Matki Bożej z Lourdes i
Światowy Dzień Chorego. W modlitwie polecajmy Niepokalanej Matce chorych i
tych, którzy z miłością pochylają się nad nimi w szpitalach, w domach opieki i
w rodzinach. Zobaczmy w twarzach osób chorych oblicze cierpiącego Chrystusa.
Niech umacniają nas słowa świętego Piotra: „Krwią Jego ran zostaliście
uzdrowieni” (1 P 2, 24). Wszystkim chorym, wam tu obecnym i waszym
bliskim z serca błogosławię.
Traduzione italiana:
Saluto cordialmente i
pellegrini polacchi. Venerdì ricorre la memoria della Madonna di Lourdes e la
Giornata Mondiale del Malato. Nella preghiera affidiamo alla Madre Immacolata i
malati e quanti con amore si pongono al loro servizio negli ospedali, nelle
case di cura e nelle famiglie. Vediamo nei volti dei malati il volto di Cristo
sofferente. Ci rafforzino le parole di San Pietro: “Dalle sue piaghe siete
stati guariti” (1Pt 2, 24). Benedico di cuore tutti i malati, voi qui
presenti e i vostri cari.
* * *
Saluto con affetto i
pellegrini di lingua italiana. In particolare i Vescovi venuti per l’incontro
promosso dal Movimento dei Focolari. Cari Fratelli nell’Episcopato, sono
lieto di questa opportunità che vi è offerta per confrontare esperienze
ecclesiali di diverse zone del mondo, ed auguro che queste giornate di preghiera
e di riflessione possano portare frutti abbondanti per le vostre comunità.
Saluto voi, membri dell’Associazione Nuovi Orizzonti e, mentre vi incoraggio a
proseguire nell'attuazione di un coraggioso apostolato in favore dei fratelli
in difficoltà, vi esorto a testimoniare il Vangelo della carità, diffondendo la
luce, la pace e la gioia di Cristo risorto. Saluto i Pueri
Cantores di Cerreto Sannita e i rappresentanti dell’Oratorio di
Buccinasco. Cari amici, auguro che la sosta presso le tombe degli Apostoli
rinsaldi la vostra adesione a Cristo e faccia crescere la carità nelle vostre
famiglie e nelle vostre comunità.
Il mio pensiero va infine
ai giovani, ai malati e agli sposi novelli. Abbiamo celebrato ieri la memoria
liturgica di san Girolamo Emiliani, fondatore dei Somaschi, e di santa
Giuseppina Bakhita, figlia dell’Africa diventata figlia della Chiesa. Il
coraggio di questi testimoni fedeli di Cristo aiuti voi, cari giovani, ad
aprire il cuore all’eroismo della santità nell’esistenza di ogni giorno.
Sostenga voi, cari malati, nel perseverare con pazienza ad offrire la vostra
preghiera e la vostra sofferenza per tutta la Chiesa. E dia a voi, cari sposi
novelli, il coraggio di rendere le vostre famiglie comunità di amore,
improntate ai valori cristiani.
© Copyright 2011 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
SOURCE : http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/it/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110209.html
Catechismus Graecolatinus von Petrus Canisius, gedruckt bei Agricola in Innsbruck, ausgestellt im Museum im Zeughaus.
Pietro Canisio
(1521-1597)
BEATIFICAZIONE:
- 23 novembre 1864
- Papa Pio IX
CANONIZZAZIONE:
- 21 maggio 1925
- Papa Pio XI
- Basilica Vaticana
RICORRENZA:
Sacerdote della Compagnia
di Gesù e dottore della Chiesa, che, mandato in Germania, si adoperò
strenuamente per molti anni nel difendere e rafforzare la fede cattolica con la
predicazione e con i suoi scritti, tra i quali il celebre Catechismo. A Friburgo
in Svizzera prese infine riposo dalle sue fatiche
“Tu conosci, Signore, in quanti modi e quante volte in quello stesso giorno mi hai affidato la Germania per la quale in seguito avrei continuato ad essere sollecito, per la quale avrei desiderato vivere e morire”
Era nato l'8 maggio del
1521 a Nimega, un villaggio olandese che si trovava allora nel ducato germanico
di Gheldria e, dunque, nel Sacro Romano Impero.
Entrò nella Compagnia di
Gesù nel 1543, dopo aver fatto gli Esercizi Spirituali sotto la
direzione di Pietro Favre, e partecipò al Concilio di Trento nel 1547 e
nel 1562, espressamente chiamato dal vescovo di Augusta, cardinale Otto
Truchsess von Waldburg. In questa occasione cominciò a usare la forma latina
del suo nome.
Nello spirito della
Riforma cattolica promossa dal Concilio tridentino, sua principale missione fu
il risveglio delle radici spirituali dei singoli fedeli e del corpo della
Chiesa nel suo insieme.
Dopo un breve tempo a
Roma e a Messina, fu inviato al ducato di Baviera, dove lavorò come decano,
rettore e vice-cancelliere dell’università di Ingoldstadt. Quindi a Vienna,
dove fu amministratore della Diocesi e popolarissimo predicatore nel Duomo di
Santo Stefano, dedicandosi anche al ministero pastorale in ospedali e carceri.
Nel 1556 fu nominato
primo Padre provinciale della Provincia della Germania Superiore. Creò nei
paesi germanici una rete di comunità e collegi gesuiti, sempre nello spirito di
supporto alla riforma cattolica; con lo stesso fine, partecipò a importanti
negoziati, in qualità di rappresentante ufficiale della Chiesa.
“Nella sua amorevole
provvidenza, - ha scritto san Giovanni Paolo II nella sua lettera ai Vescovi
tedeschi in occasione del IV centenario della sua morte - Dio fece di san
Pietro Canisio il proprio ambasciatore in un periodo in cui la voce
dell'annuncio cattolico di fede nei Paesi di lingua tedesca rischiava di
tacere.”
“San Pietro Canisio
trascorse buona parte della sua vita a contatto con le persone socialmente più
importanti del suo tempo ed esercitò un influsso speciale con i suoi scritti.
[NG1] Fu editore delle opere complete di san Cirillo d’Alessandria e di san
Leone Magno, delle Lettere di san Girolamo e delle Orazioni di san Nicola della
Fluë.
Pubblicò libri di
devozione in varie lingue, le biografie di alcuni Santi svizzeri e molti testi
di omiletica. Ma i suoi scritti più diffusi furono i tre Catechismi composti
tra il 1555 e il 1558. Il primo Catechismo era destinato agli
studenti in grado di comprendere nozioni elementari di teologia; il secondo ai
ragazzi del popolo per una prima istruzione religiosa; il terzo ai ragazzi con
una formazione scolastica a livello di scuole medie e superiori. La dottrina
cattolica era esposta con domande e risposte, brevemente, in termini biblici,
con molta chiarezza e senza accenni polemici. Solo nel tempo della sua vita
sono state ben 200 le edizioni di questo Catechismo!”
La sua attività a favore
della Riforma cattolica, sostenuta da modi affabili e cortesi, incontrò il
pieno favore sia dell'imperatore Ferdinando I sia di papa Gregorio XIII: non
amava sottolineare eresie o errori nella dottrina quanto evidenziare gli aspetti
di perenne novità della dottrina cattolica.
Nei suoi ultimi anni
fondò in Svizzera a Friburgo nel 1580 il collegio Sankt Michael, che fu poi
trasferito a Feldkirch e infine a St. Blasien nella Foresta Nera.
Alla sua morte, il 21
dicembre 1597, fu sepolto nella chiesa universitaria di Friburgo Sankt Michael.
SOURCE : https://www.causesanti.va/it/santi-e-beati/pietro-canisio.html
Den hellige Peter
Canisius (1521-1597)
Minnedag: 21.
desember
Skytshelgen for
bispedømmene Innsbruck (1964) og Brixen (1925); for Tysklands katolske
skoleorganisasjon (1921)
Den hellige Peter
Canisius (Pieter Kanis) ble født den 8. mai 1521 i Nijmegen (Nimwegen) i det da
tyske hertugdømmet Geldern i erkebispedømmet Köln (nå Nederland). Han var
eldste sønn i en velstående patrisierfamilie, og hans far, Jakob Kanis (Kanijs)
eller de Hondt, var blitt adlet etter å ha vært lærer for sønnene til hertugen
av Lorraine. Han ble borgermester i Nijmegen ni ganger. Peter mistet tidlig sin
mor, Aegidia van Houweningen, men farens annen hustru viste seg som en utmerket
stemor.
I januar 1536 ble den
14-årige Peter sendt til universitetet i Köln for å studere filosofi – senere
bebreidet han seg selv for å ha kastet bort tiden der mens han skulle studere.
Han tilbrakte deler av 1539 på universitetet i Leuven (Louvain/Löwen), hvor han
studerte kirkerett i noen måneder for å tilfredsstille sin far, som ville at
han skulle bli advokat. Men han fant snart ut at en juridisk karriere og
ekteskap som faren hadde planlagt, ikke var noe for ham, så han avla
kyskhetsløfte den 25. februar 1540 og dro tilbake til Köln for å studere
teologi. Han ble magister artium i mai 1540. Samtidig kom han i
kontakt med «Den nye fromhet» (Devotio moderna), en religiøs
reformbevegelse som kjempet for en praktisk og nestekjærlig kristendom i
verden.
Fra 1544 holdt han
som baccalaureus i teologi nytestamentlige forelesninger og ga ut
sine første publikasjoner, vitenskapelige utgaver av verkene til de
hellige Kyrillos
av Alexandria og Leo I den Store samt
mystikeren Tauler. Han deltok på riksdagen i Worms i 1545. Etter prestevielsen
i Kölnerdomen den 12. juni 1546 ble han kjent som predikant i Tyskland, Sveits,
Østerrike og Bøhmen mellom 1546 og 1562. Takket være hans årvåkenhet kunne
keiser Karl V gripe inn mot den vankelmodige erkebiskop i Köln, Hermann von
Wied, som var blitt protestant og ble kalt tilbake fra sitt embete, og dermed
var Köln reddet som metropol for katolisismen.I byene i Rhinland hadde
forkynnelsen til den salige Peter Favre (Faber) vakt
stor oppmerksomhet. Han var jesuittprest og den eldste av den hellige Ignatius av Loyolas
første ledsagere. I Mainz deltok Peter Kanis på en ignatiansk retrett han
holdt, og i den andre uken avla han løfte om å bli jesuitt (Societas Iesu –
SJ). Som første tysker trådte han inn i jesuittordenen den 8. mai 1543, på sin
22-årsdag eller «andre fødselsdag», under det latinifiserte navnet Petrus
Canisius. Han gjennomgikk sitt novisiat i Köln, hvor han tilbrakte mye tid med
bønn, studier, undervisning og besøk til de syke. Han ga hele sin arv til de
fattige og grunnla i Köln i 1544 sammen med Peter Favre jesuittenes første hus
i Tyskland.
Peter var mellom februar
og juni 1547 teolog for biskopen av Augsburg, kardinal Otto Truchsess von
Waldburg, ved en sesjon av det berømte konsilet i Trient (Trento)
(Tridentinerkonsilet), som satt samlet først i Trient og deretter i Bologna.
Han talte to ganger i teologenes kongregasjon. Deretter kalte Ignatius av
Loyola ham til Roma, hvor de tilbrakte seks måneder sammen. Deretter var han
fra 1548 lærer i retorikk i Messina, ved historiens første jesuittskole. Han
underviste på latin og italiensk. Men han ble kalt tilbake til Roma for
høytidelig å avlegge sine evige løfter den 7. september 1549, som den åttende
jesuitt overhodet, i nærvær av ordensgrunnleggeren selv. Deretter mottok han
doktorgraden i teologi i Bologna den 4. oktober.
Han ble nå sendt til
Tyskland og tilbrakte de neste tretti år der med arbeid for fornyelse av det
katolske liv. Han ble lederen for motreformasjonen i de tyske landene, og
tilbrakte resten av livet med å preke, undervise og skrive, samt med opplæring,
rådgivning og megling i Tyskland, Østerrike, Sveits, Bøhmen og Polen. Først
sendte pave Paul III (1534-49) ham til Ingolstadt i Bayern, etter at hertug
Vilhelm IV av Bayern i september 1549 hadde kommet med en innstendig appell om
å sende teologer som kunne imøtegå den kjetterske lære, som fikk stadig større
innpass på skolene.
Sammen med de to
jesuittbrødre Jaius og Salmeron ankom han Ingolstadt den 13. november 1549.
Kirken var her som ellers i de tyske byene uorganisert og demoralisert etter
angrepene fra Martin Luther og hans tilhengere. Noen mennesker ble nidkjære
protestanter, men langt flere, desillusjonert av religiøse kontroverser,
fjernet seg fra kristen tro overhode. Peter fant at selv blant nominelle
katolikker var de det bare i navnet og hadde ikke praktisert sin tro på mange
år. Fasten ble ignorert, helgendager ble ikke markert og få studenter kom til
messe. Men jesuittene var populære fordi de tilbød gratis undervisning, og ved
ekstremt hardt arbeid klarte Peter å få stor innflytelse blant studentene og
klarte å få i stand en virkelig religiøs gjenfødelse ved sin forkynnelse og
undervisning. Han satte også i gang en kampanje mot salg av umoralske eller
kjetterske bøker.
Som teologiprofessor
hadde han så stor suksess at professorene i 1550 enstemmig valgte ham til
rektor. Dette var et embete som ble fylt for seks måneder av gangen, og det var
en tvilsom ære som kunne avslås hvis man betalte en bot på seks gullstykker.
Men Peter hadde ikke noe gull, så han måtte ta på seg disse pliktene i tillegg
til sine mange andre. Da hans embetsperiode var over, skrev han: «Ved Guds nåde
er jeg ferdig med denne oppgaven.» Han håpet at hans tid som
universitetsadministrator var over, men hertug Albrecht, som beundret hans arbeid
høyt og håpet å få beholde ham i Ingolstadt, insisterte på at han ble
visekansler for universitetet i 1551.
I 1552 ble han reddet fra
denne situasjonen av ordensgeneral Ignatius. Fra Bayern ble han i februar 1552
sendt til Wien etter anmodning fra kong Ferdinand I (1519-64), keiserens bror,
sammen med en liten gruppe jesuitter for å foreta en mer generell reform. Her
virket han fra 1552-54 som lærer og hoffpredikant for kongen. I Østerrike var
situasjonen enda verre enn i Ingolstadt. Mange menigheter var uten prester, for
det hadde ikke vært noen prestevielser i bispedømmet Wien på 20 år, klostre lå
øde og mange mennesker hadde gitt opp sin religiøse praksis. Det fantes mange
sekter, og katolsk lære var nesten ikke-eksisterende. Mange av presteskapet hadde
ikke engang den mest elementære kjennskap til teologi eller doktrine, og
menighetene ble vanskjøttet og folket hensank til hedensk overtro.
Universitetet i Wien hadde måttet stenge en tid, overveldet av strømmen av
uvitenhet og likegyldighet.
Jesuittene ble huset i
klosteret St. Dominikus, som da nesten var tomt for munker. Peter hadde en
nesten utrolig energi og ble en religiøs kraft i byen. Han var den eneste av
jesuittene som snakket tysk, men først prekte han for nesten tomme kirker,
delvis på grunn av den generelle utilfredshet, men også fordi hans
Rhinland-tysk skurret i wienernes ører. Men han vant wienernes hjerter og
aktelse for sin innsats for de fattige i byen samt ved å pleie de syke under
pesten som rammet byen høsten 1552, da han utrettelig arbeidet med å skaffe mat
og medisiner, hørte skriftemål og tildelte de siste sakramenter og trøstet
slektninger. Befolkningen i Wien ble imponert da de så ham tigge om mat og klær
til dem som trengte det, og da de hørte om hans arbeid for dødsdømte menn. Han
pleide å være hos dem, gå sammen med dem til henrettelsesstedet og trøste dem
helt frem til bøddelen avsluttet deres liv.
Oppdraget ble gitt til p.
Lejay, men da han døde, arvet Peter det. Han opplevde det som en byrde og skrev
til p. Johannes Polanco, jesuittenes generalsekretær, for å bekjenne at «etter
så mange måneder sitter jeg ennå fast i begynnelsen.» Hans beste arbeid ble
gjort med unge mennesker, med de syke og fattige og med fanger, og han var
ingen stor vitenskapsmann. Problemet var at håndboken måtte være enkel nok til
at alminnelige katolikker fattet den og samtidig tilstrekkelig lærd til å
tilfredsstille teologene.Peter grunnla et kollegium og tok opp femten unge menn
som elever. Høsten 1552 arvet han også Compendium, som skulle bli en stor
prøvelse for ham, men som han skulle komme til å lede til å bli hans største
bedrift. Ideen kom fra kong Ferdinand, som ønsket en ny håndbok i katolsk lære:
«Det skal bli et metodisk verk og omfatte alt en god kristen bør vite. Hans
Majestet ønsker at det skal skrives av hans egne teologer, trykket i Wien på
hans oppdrag og brukt i undervisningen etter hans uttrykkelige ordre i skolene
i hele hans rike.»
Til slutt ble denne
vanskeligheten identifisert. Et annet medlem av jesuittmisjonen, p. Laynez,
overtok arbeidet med å skrive en lærd avhandling, mens Peter skrev en
begynnerbok for studenter. I 1555 fullførte han sin store Katekisme på
latin (Summa Doctrinae Christianae), som ble oversatt til tysk året etter.
Den ble på mange måter Den katolske kirkes svar på Luthers like berømte
katekisme. Den besto av fem kapitler om tro, håp, kjærlighet, sakramentene og
rettferdighet – det siste kapitlet inkluderte synd, gode gjerninger,
kardinaldydene og Den Hellige Ånds gaver. Det var 211 korte, poengterte
spørsmål og lange og utførlige svar. Kong Ferdinand skrev et forord, hvor han
påbød at «denne katekismen og ingen andre skal legges frem, forklares og
undervises (…) verken offentlig eller privat.»
Katekismen ble
øyeblikkelig grepet fatt i som et tydelig dokument i kampen mot lutherdommen. I
1558 skrev Peter en «Mindre katekisme» (Catechismus minimus), som var
lettere for skolebarn og den generelle offentlighet, og denne ble oversatt til
tysk. Senere kom en utgave med bilder, tresnitt og bønner. Senere skrev Peter
«Den korteste katekismen» (Parvus catechismus catholicorum), som var enda
enklere, men fortsatt beholdt troens elementer. De tre katekismene (Canisi)
fikk en enorm utbredelse på mange språk, allerede før Peter Canisius' død hadde
de kommet i 200 opplag på 15 språk og ble en modell for andre lignende
arbeider.
De temaene som ikke var
bestridt av protestantene, fikk relativt liten plass, mens stridsspørsmålene
fikk bred behandling. Katekismen preget den katolske oppdragelsen i nesten 300
år og ble utgitt helt til 1800-tallet. Sveitsiske barn kaller fortsatt
katekismen for «kani». Som gammel mann redigerte Peter en utgave av den korteste
katekismen for dem som nettopp hadde lært å lese, med ordene oppdelt i
stavelser. Hans mål var ikke å produsere lærde verk, men å nå enkle mennesker
med sitt budskap.
Peters arbeid brakte ham
uønsket heder og mer administrasjon. Kong Ferdinand, nuntius og selv paven
ønsket å utnevne ham til den vakante erkebispestolen i Wien, men
ordensgrunnleggeren Ignatius ville bare tillate ham å administrere bispedømmet
inntil det var funnet en ny biskop, og da uten bispevielse, tittel og inntekt.
Pave Julius III (1550-55) utnevnte ham da til administrator i ett år. I alt tre
ganger ble han tilbudt bispestolen i Wien, men hver gang avslo han etter råd
fra Ignatius.
I fasten 1553 besøkte
Peter mange forlatte sogn i Nedre Østerrike, hvor han prekte og forvaltet
sakramentene. Kongens eldste sønn, senere Maximilian II (1564-76), hadde
utnevnt den gifte presten Phauser som hoffpredikant, og han forkynte den
lutherske lære. Peter advarte Ferdinand I skriftlig og muntlig, og han gikk mot
Phauser i offentlige disputter. Maximilian var tvunget til å avskjedige
Phauser, og av den grunn bar han resten av livet nag til Peter.
I juli 1555 fulgte Peter
de første jesuittene til Praha for å grunnlegge et kollegium, og der møtte han
et spesielt sterkt fiendskap. Flere ganger ble det kastet steiner på ham, til
og med under messen, og hans fiender lå på lur på Karlsbroen for å kaste ham i
Moldau. Han unnslapp imidlertid alle angrep, og han klarte til og med å avvæpne
sine motstandere gjennom sine gripende prekener, og i løpet av hans to år i
Praha ble byen for en stor del vunnet tilbake til Kirken. Det kollegiet som
Peter etablerte i Praha, ble berømt for sin religiøse og akademiske standard,
og til og med protestanter foretrakk å sende sine sønner dit.
Mens Peter var i Praha,
ble han i juni 1556 til sin forferdelse utnevnt til provinsial for den nye
jesuittprovinsen som omfattet Bayern, Schwaben, Østerrike, Ungarn og Bøhmen.
Stillingen krevde at han visiterte alle de jesuittiske husene som lå under hans
jurisdiksjon, gi råd om ekspansjon og bestemme i hvilke byer det skulle
opprettes nye kollegier. Han ble sendt rundt på oppdrag for paven og keiseren,
han fulgte hertug Vilhelm av Bayern som rådgiver på riksdagen i Regensburg
(1556-57) og den pavelige legaten til Polen. Han var ansvarlig for spredningen
av den jesuittiske innflytelse til Polen og sto i kontakt med alle ledende
katolske personligheter i tiden. Han deltok også på enda en sesjon av konsilet
i Trient i mai 1562. Men han måtte vende tilbake fra Trient tidligere enn han
hadde planlagt, for i hans fravær hadde protestantene igjen blitt aktive, og
katolikkene krevde at han vendte tilbake.
I 1557 dro han etter
spesiell invitasjon til Worms for å delta i en diskusjon mellom katolske og
protestantiske teologer, selv om han ut fra egne erfaringer var overbevist om
at slike diskusjoner som oftest var nytteløse, siden de opphetede kranglene
bare utvidet kløften mellom dem. Mange hadde følt at de protestantiske
reformatorene var de klart lærdeste og mest intelligente, men i Peter Canisius
møtte de sin likemann. Han brukte noen av deres egne våpen, og mente at Bibelen
like gjerne kunne brukes til støtte for den gamle tro som for protestantismen.
Selv om Peter var fast i
sin tro, var han vennlig mot lutheranerne og prøvde å understreke grunnleggende
kristen lære og felles elementer i deres tro heller enn forskjellene og
kontroversielle temaer som avlat, skjærsilden og valfarter. Når han mente at
hans opponenter hadde rett, innrømmet han det med stor høviskhet. Han var også
et unntak blant kontroversteologer på den tiden, idet han var høflig, moderat
og forstående, noe som sammen med hans lærdom også ga ham respekt blant
motstanderne.
Etter kong Ferdinands
ønske dro Peter i 1559 til Augsburg, som skulle bli hans hovedkvarter til 1565.
Der forsvarte han den katolske lære mot den fremstormende protestantismen. Med
sin forbløffende energi grunnla han skoler, kollegier og presteseminarer. Han
fikk frafalne tilbake, omvendte lutheranere og oppmuntret katolikkene. Når det
gjaldt lutheranere, skilte han alltid mellom dem som med overlegg var
forkjempere for kjetteri, og dem som hadde blitt brakt opp i det eller drevet
inn i det, han mente at de sistnevntes feil heller kom av uvitenhet enn
ondskap. Han fikk Riksdagen til å gjeninnføre offentlige skoler. Under en pest
som hjemsøkte byen, gjeninnførte han offentlige bønneprosesjoner, og han pleide
ofrene for den fryktelige sykdommen selvoppofrende og uten frykt.
Han innså tidlig pressens
betydning og oppmuntret på alle måter trykkere og forleggere. Hele tiden insisterte
han på viktigheten av å bruke trykkpressene til å nå ut til store folkegrupper.
En strøm av arbeider til forsvar for den katolske tro strømmet fra hans penn.
Blant arbeidene fra denne tiden kan vi nevne et utvalg av den hellige Hieronymus'
brev, en «Håndbok for katolikker», et martyrologium og en revisjon av
Augsburg-breviaret. Han skrev også teologiske, asketiske og historiske
avhandlinger. Den «generelle bønn» han skrev, blir fortsatt resitert i Tyskland
på søndager.
Peter Canisius blir
allment regnet som Sentral-Europas fremste teolog og skribent i sin generasjon,
og han har mye av æren for motreformasjonens suksess i området. En moderne
luthersk teolog har omtalt ham som «en nobel jesuitt av uplettet karakter», og
han gjorde mer enn noen annen enkeltperson for å bevare sørtyskerne i Den
katolske kirke. I 1565 ble han sendt som pave Pius IVs (1559-65) hemmelige
nuntius med dekretene fra konsilet i Trient.
På slutten av sin tid som
provinsial slo han seg ned i Dillingen i Bayern, hvor jesuittene både hadde et
eget kollegium og ledet universitetet. I tillegg var det favorittbostedet til
kardinal Otto Truchsess, som lenge hadde vært hans nære venn. Han beskjeftiget
seg hovedsakelig med undervisning, å høre skriftemål og å skrive på den første
av en serie bøker han hadde begynt på etter ordre fra sine overordnede. De var
ment å være et svar på en svært anti-katolsk «Kristenhetens historie» som ble
publisert av en gruppe protestantiske skribenter som var kjent som
«Centuriatorene fra Magdeburg».
I 1569 ble Peter til sin
glede fritatt for det byrdefulle embetet som provinsial, og han slo seg ned i
Innsbruck. Her hjalp han til med å bilegge en strid mellom keiseren og pave
Pius IV. Våren 1573 dro han til Roma for å diskutere situasjonen i Tyskland med
paven, og under disse møtene anbefalte han flere seminarer i Tyskland. Han
mente at jo bedre prestene var forberedt, jo bedre ble katolikkene i sognene. I
Innsbruck fortsatte han arbeidet med å skrive på bokserien, også mens han var
hoffkapellan der (1571-77), men i 1577 fikk han til sin lettelse tillatelse til
å avslutte det på grunn av sin helse. Men hans helse var ikke verre enn at
fortsatte å forkynne, og han fulgte provinsialen på hans visitasjoner og han
innehadde til og med vervet som viseprovinsial. Han oppholdt seg også en tid i
Strasbourg. Det er blitt anslått at han i løpet av 30 år reiste over 32.000 km
til fots eller på hesteryggen.
Peter Canisius bodde i
Dillingen da han i november 1580 ble sendt til Fribourg i Sveits etter
motsetninger med Paulus Hoffaeus, sin etterfølger som ordensprovinsial. Her
ventet et nytt arbeidsfelt for den utrettelige misjonæren, nemlig å bekjempe
kalvinismen, som hadde gjort Sveits til en høyborg for protestantismen.
Fribourg var hovedstaden i en katolsk kanton som var klemt inne mellom to
mektige protestantiske naboer. På oppdrag av pave Gregor XIII (1572-85) grunnla
Peter jesuittkollegiet St. Mikael, og der arbeidet han til sin død som
predikant og skribent. Han måtte selv samle inn penger, bestemme hvor det
skulle bygges og være rådgiver under oppføringen av bygningene. Kollegiet åpnet
i 1582 og ble oppkalt etter en av hans favoritthelgener, erkeengelen Mikael.
Det utviklet seg senere til universitetet i Fribourg, som har vært et av de
betydeligste i sitt slag siden.
I over åtte år var hans
hovedarbeid å forkynne: På søndager og festdager preket han i katedralen, på
hverdagene besøkte han andre steder i kantonen. Med god grunn kan vi gå ut fra
at hans arbeid sørget for å beholde Fribourg i Den katolske kirke på et kritisk
punkt i historien. Økende helseproblemer tvang ham til å gi opp å preke våren
1589. I 1591 ble han rammet av slag, men han overlevde så vidt og kom seg
tilstrekkelig til å fortsette å skrive ved hjelp av en sekretær nesten helt
frem til sin død. Han forble enkel, ydmyk og hardt arbeidende og deltok ivrig i
kommunitetens daglige liv. Han tok oppvasken med skjelvende hender og kostet de
støvete korridorene, selv om han ikke kunne gå uten stav.
I september 1597 fikk han
vatersott, blodtilstrømning til lungene og betennelse i halsen, og han kunne
ikke lenger lese messen. Den 21. desember 1597 døde han stille i Fribourg blant
sine brødre, 76 år gammel. Han hadde grunnlagt 18 kollegier og utgitt 37 bøker.
Han ble bisatt i kirken St. Michael i det daværende jesuittiske St.
Mikael-kollegiet, først i et sidekapell, senere under høyalteret. Ved hans grav
skjedde mange undre. Før saligkåringen i 1864 ble hans relikvier plassert under
alteret i kapellet som var viet til Jesu hellige hjerte.
I dag er kapellet viet til ham.
Peter Canisius ble
saligkåret den 20. november 1864 (dokumentet (Breve) var datert den 2. august
1864) av den salige pave Pius IX (1846-78)
og helligkåret den 21. mai 1925 i Roma av pave Pius XI (1922-39). Som følge av
hans utallige skrifter ble han også samtidig utnevnt til kirkelærer, og det var
første gang noen ble kirkelærer samtidig med helligkåringen (den neste
ble Albert
den Store i 1931). Han ble skrevet inn i den romerske kalenderen i
1926 med minnedag 27. april. Hans navn står i Martyrologium Romanum. Hans
minnedag er i dag dødsdagen 21. desember, mens han i jesuittordenen fortsatt
blir feiret den 27. april.
Pave Leo XIII (1878-1903)
kalte ham en gang «Tysklands andre apostel etter den hellige Bonifatius». Han
kalles også Sveits' apostel. På grunn av sitt virke for den katolske ungdom, er
han fra 1921 skytshelgen for den tyske katolske skoleorganisasjonen. Noen
kaller ham også grunnleggeren av den katolske presse.
I kunsten fremstilles han
som jesuitt i svart soutane (prestekjole), gjerne som eldre og hvithåret, med
skrivefjær, bok (katekisme), krusifiks og hodeskalle, med monogrammet IHS og
gjerne ordet «Caritas» i en glorie over hodet, knelende for Guds Mor Maria.
Kilder: Attwater
(dk), Attwater/John, Attwater/Cumming, Farmer, Bentley, Lodi, Butler, Butler
(XII), Benedictines, Delaney, Bunson, Tylenda, Engelhart, Schnitzler,
Schauber/Schindler, Melchers, Gorys, Dammer/Adam, Index99, KIR, CE, CSO, Patron
Saints SQPN, Infocatho, Bautz, Heiligenlexikon - Kompilasjon og
oversettelse: p. Per
Einar Odden - Opprettet: 1999-12-08 22:50 -
Sist oppdatert: 2006-01-02 22:57
SOURCE : http://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/canisius
Le Grand catéchisme de Canisius est disponible en PDF :
http://www.liberius.net/auteur.php?id_auth=10
https://www.iskk.gov.al/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/fjalori-enciklopedik-i-ri-D-G-1.pdf
