Peter Canisius

Canisius, Peter

 

(Pieter de Hondt). Born May 8, 1521, in Nijmegen, Holland; died Dec. 21, 1597, in Freiburg, Switzerland. Catholic theologian with whose name is linked the beginning of the Jesuit order in Germany and the implementation of the Counter-Reformation.

Canisius entered the Jesuit order in 1543 in Mainz. In 1549 he settled down at the University of Ingolstadt; in 1552 he was in Vienna. In 1556 he was placed at the head of the Jesuit order in the German Province. He founded many Jesuit colleges and compiled three catechisms—the Summa Doctrinae Christianae (1555), a short catechism (1556), and Catechismus Minor seuparvus Catechismus Catholicorum (1558).