Peter Canisius was a Dutch Jesuit priest. During his lifetime, he became known as a strong advocate for the Catholic Church during the Protestant Reformation. He was born in 1521 in Nijmegen, Netherlands. After meeting Peter Faber, he became the first Dutchman to join the Society of Jesus in 1543, and he was ordained as a priest in 1546.
Through his preaching and writings, he gained great popularity, becoming extremely well known and influential during his lifetime. He oversaw the establishment of many German Jesuit colleges, while also teaching at them. He was also the chief preacher at the Cathedral in Augsburg, and one of the colleges he founded is the University of Innsbruck.
Even during his lifetime, the Society of Jesus grew from a small group of priests into a powerful weapon against the Protestant Reformation. Interestingly, he rejected attacks against John Calvin and Philip Melanchthon, saying, “With words like these, we don’t cure patients, we make them incurable.”
Peter was also a great devotee of the Virgin Mary. Thus, he taught that, while there are many roads leading to Jesus Christ, for him, the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary was the best. His sermons and letters document a clear preoccupation with Marian veneration.
Canisius was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1864, and later canonized and declared a Doctor of the Church on May 21, 1925, by Pope Pius XI.
