Peter Canisius
Saint Peter Canisius (1521 – 1597) was a Dutch Jesuit priest known for his strong support for the Catholic faith during the Protestant Reformation in Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Switzerland and the British Isles. The restoration of the Catholic Church in Germany is largely attributed to the work there of the Jesuits, which Canisius led. He is venerated in the Catholic Church as a saint and as a Doctor of the Church.
Quotes
[edit]- Others may use their work as an excuse, aiming for the highest positions, which render the greatest service to the Church. (. . .) They may also justify themselves by saying that they do not want to become children among children themselves. Christ, the Wisdom of God Himself, did not hold back and treated children with confidence.
- From Epistulae, VII, 333, from the letter of John Paul II to the German bishops on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the death of St. Peter Canisius.
- I wish to awaken in others and in myself a greater fervour so that the Catholic deposit of faith, which the Apostle entrusted to us for good reason and which is preferable to all the treasures of this world, may be preserved intact and authentic, since Christian wisdom, general peace and the holiness of man depend on it.
- From Meditationes seu Notae in Evangelicas Lectiones, in Societatis Iesu Selecti Scriptores, II, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1955, from the letter of John Paul II to the German bishops on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the death of St. Peter Canisius.
- You know, O Lord, how intensely you entrusted Germany to me that day. Since then, Germany has increasingly occupied my thoughts, and I have ardently desired to offer my life and my death for the eternal salvation of Germany.
- From Epistulae, 1, from the letter from John Paul II to the German bishops on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the death of St. Peter Canisius.
- The opinions and hesitations of some do not stop us from now believing in the bodily Assumption of Mary more resolutely, from affirming it more plainly and from professing it more openly-together with the Church than was done in the first centuries of Christianity. For the Church acquires wisdom through the ages, and she receives and manifests ever increasingly the light of truth, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit Who rules and teaches her.
- Saint Peter Canisius, De Maria Virginia incomparabili, cited by Pope Benedict XIV, De Festus B. V. M., Para II, c. 120. As reported in Joseph Duhr, SJ, The Glorious Assumption of the Mother of God, translated by John Manning Frances, SJ, Pç.J. Kenedy & Sons, New York, June 1950 (with nihil obstat by John M.A. Fearns, S.T.D., and imprimatur by Cardinal Francis Spellman given on September 18, 1950), p. 68 (of 153).
