PETER
700
PETER
book for students, reprinted more than thirty times
under the titles of "Epistolie et Evangeha" etc.;
- "Principia grammatices" (Ingolstadt, 1556); Hanni-
bal Codrett's Latin Grammar, adaptt-d for German students by Canisius, reprinted in 1501, 1564 and 1568; *"(jrdnung der Letaney von vnser lichen Frawen" [Dillingcn (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. 1. a., 15- 68?).
- "Ain Christlicher Bcricht, was die hailige Christ-
liche Kirch . . . gey" (Dillingcn, 1559), translation and preface by Canisius (cf. N. Paulus in "Historisch- polit. Blatter", CXXI, 765) ; "Epistohe B. Hieronymi . . . selcctie" (Dillingen, 1562), a school edition arranged and ijrefaced by Canisius and later reprinted about forty times; *"Hortulus Animse" (q. v.), a German prayer-book arranged b}- 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 Christiana; Pie- t at is" (Antwerp, 1 566) , many times reprinted, in which Canisius combined the catechism for the middle grades and the "Lectiones et Precationes ecclesi- astic*" (revised in Rome); "Beicht-und Commun- ionbuchlein" [Dillingen, 1567 (?), 1575, 1579, 1582, 1603; Ingolstadt, 1594, etc.); "Christenliche . . . Predig von den vier Sontagen im Aducnt, auch vonn dem heiligen Christag" (Dillingen, 1570).
At the request of Ferdinand II of Tyrol, Canisius supervised the publishing of *"Von dem hoch vnd weitberhiimpten \\'underzcichen, so sich . . . auff dem Seefeld . . . zugetragen" (Dillingen, 1580), and wrote a long preface for it ; then appeared ' ' Z wey vnd neunt- zig Betrachtung vnd Gebett, dess . . . Bruders Clausen von Vnterwalden" (Fribourg, 1586); "Man- uale Catholicorum. In usum pie precandi" (Fri- bourg, 1587); "Zwo . . . Historien . . . Die erste von . . . S. Beato, ersten Prediger in Schweitzer- land. Die andere von . . . S. Fridolino, ersten Pre- diger zu Claris 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; "Not* in Evangelicas lectiones, qua; 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 insonder- heit von Sanct Vrso" (Fribourg, 1594); *"Catholische Kirchengesiing zum theil vor vnd nach dem Cate- chismo zum teil sonst durchs Jahr . . . zusingen" (Fribourg, 1.596); "Enchiridion Pietatis quo ad pre- candum Deum ins'ruitur Princeps" (s. 1., 1751), dedicated by Canisius in 1592 to the future emperor, Ferdinand II (Zeitschrift fiir katholische Theologie, XIV, 741); " Beat i Petri Canisii Exhortationes domes- ticse , mostly short sketches, collected and edited by G. Schlosser, S.J. (Roermond, 1876); "Beati Petri Canisii Epistula; ct 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 dot^uments dealing with his labours.
"Peter Canisius", says the Protestant professor of theology, Kruger, "was a noble Jesuit; no blemish
stains his character" ("Petrus Canisius" in "Ge-
schichte u. Legende", Giessen, 1898, 10). The prin-
cipal trait of his character was love for Christ and
for his work; he devoted his life to defend, proiiagalc,
and strengthen the Chiu'ch. Hence his devotion to
the pope. He did not deny the abuses which existed
in Rome; he deinandod spc<:dy remedies; but the su-
preme and full power of the pope over the whole
C'hurcli, and the iiil'alliliility of his teaching as Head
(if llu■t'hur(■h,C"ani^ius(■llampionedasvigo^ousl}'asthe
Italian and Spaiii.sh lircitlicrs of the order. He cannot
be called an "l,i>isr(ipaliau" or "Senii-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 wLshed
to make him cardinal. The bishops, Brendel of
Mainz, 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, Hof'ius, Truchsess, Commen-
done, 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 LTniversity of Lou-
vain, Ruard Tapper, the provcst Martin Eisengrein,
Friedrich Staphylus, PYanz Sonnius, Martin liitho-
vius, Wilhelm Lindanus, the imperial vice-chan-
cellors Jacob Jonas and Georg Sigismund Seld, the
Bavarian chancellor Simon Thadda!us Eck, and the
Fuggers and WeLsers of Aug.sburg. " Canisius's whole
life", writes the Swiss Protestant theologian Gautier,
"is animated by the desire to form a generation of
devout cleriescapableof servingthe Church worthily"
("Etude sur la correspondance de Pierre Canisius",
Geneva, 1905, p. 46). At Ingolstadt he held disputa-
tions 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 theGerman College at Rome and provided for
pupils who had returned home. He also urged Gregory
XIII to make donations and to found similar institu-
tions 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 iower grades. The reformed ordinances pub-
lished at that time for the LTniversities 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"; Hacius 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; Andrese, 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 Prot- estant mob. At Easter, 1568, he was obliged to preach in the Cathedral of Wiirzburg in order to dis- prove 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 Cathohc authors to advocate
