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Pope
Benedict XVI - General Audiences |
General
Audience
On St. Peter Canisius
"He Formed People's Faith for Centuries"
H.H. Benedict XVI
February 9, 2011
www.zenit.org
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today I would like to speak to you about St. Peter Kanis, Canisius in
the Latin form of his surname, a very important figure in the Catholic
1500s. He was born on May 8, 1521, in Nijmegen, Holland. His father was
burgomaster of the city. While he was a student at the University of
Cologne, he often visited the Carthusian monks of St. Barbara -- a
propelling center of Catholic life -- and other pious men who cultivated
the spirituality of the so-called modern devotion. He entered the
Society of Jesus on May 8, 1543, in Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate), after
having followed a course of spiritual exercises under the guidance of
Blessed Peter Faber, Petrus Faber, one of the first companions of St.
Ignatius of Loyola. He was ordained a priest in June 1546 in Cologne and
the very following year, he attended the Council of Trent as a
theologian with the bishop of Augusta, Cardinal Otto Truchsess von
Waldburg, where he collaborated with two confreres, Diego Laínez and
Alfonso Salmerón.
In 1548, St. Ignatius sent him to complete his spiritual formation in
Rome and then sent him to the College of Messina to exercise himself in
humble domestic services. He obtained a doctorate in theology in
Bologna, on Oct. 4 he was assigned by St. Ignatius to the apostolate in
Germany. On Sept. 2 of that year, 1549, he visited Pope Paul III in
Castel Gandolfo and then he went to St. Peter's Basilica to pray. Here
he implored the help of the great Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to give
permanent efficacy to the Apostolic Blessing for his important destiny,
his new mission. He wrote in his diary some words of this prayer. He
said: "There I felt that a great consolation and the presence of grace
were granted to me through these intercessors [Peter and Paul]. They
confirmed my mission in Germany, and they seemed to transmit to me, as
apostle of Germany, the support of their benevolence. You know, Lord, in
how many ways and how many times on that same day you entrusted Germany
to me, which I would later care for, and for which I desire to live and
die."
We must keep in mind that we find ourselves in the time of the Lutheran
Reformation, at the moment in which the Catholic faith in
German-speaking countries, in face of the fascination of the
Reformation, seemed to be fading away. The task entrusted to Canisius
was almost impossible, as he was charged with revitalizing, with
renewing the Catholic faith in Germanic countries. It was possible only
in the strength of prayer. It was possible only from the center, that
is, from a profound personal friendship with Jesus Christ; friendship
with Christ in his Body, the Church, which is nourished by the
Eucharist, his real presence.
Following the mission received from Ignatius and from Pope Paul III,
Canisius left for Germany and went first to the duchy of Bavaria, which
for several years was the place of his ministry. As dean, rector and
vice chancellor of the University of Ingolstadt, he looked after the
academic life of the institute and the religious and moral reform of the
people. In Vienna, where for a brief time he was administrator of the
diocese, he carried out his pastoral ministry in hospitals and prisons,
both in the city and the countryside, and he 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 in Germanic countries a solid network of
communities of his order, especially of colleges, which were starting
points for the Catholic Reformation, for the renewal of the Catholic
faith. At that time he also took part in the colloquium of Worms with
Protestant leaders, among whom was Philipp Melanchthon (1557); he
participated in the two Augusta Diets (1559 and 1565); he accompanied
Cardinal Stanislaw Hozjusz, legate of Pope Pius IV to Emperor Ferdinand
(1560); he intervened in the final session of the Council of Trent where
he spoke on the question of Communion under both species and on the
Index of Prohibited Books (1562).
In 1580 he went to Fribourg in Switzerland, wholly dedicated to
preaching and the composition of his writings. He died there on Dec. 21,
1597. Beatified by Blessed Pius IX in 1864, in 1897 he was proclaimed
the second apostle of Germany by Pope Leo XIII, and canonized and
proclaimed doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI in 1925.
St. Peter Canisius spent a good part of his life in contact with the
socially most important persons of his time and exercised a special
influence with his writings. He was editor of the complete works of
Cyril of Alexandria and of St. Leo the Great, of the Letters of St.
Jerome and of the Prayers of St. Nicholas of Flue. He published
devotional books in several languages, the biographies of some Swiss
saints and many homiletic texts. However, his most widespread writings
were the three catechisms composed between 1555 and 1558. The first
catechism was addressed to students able to understand elementary
notions of theology; the second to boys and girls of the people for an
initial religious instruction; the third to adolescents with a
scholastic formation at the level of middle and high school. Catholic
doctrine was explained with questions and answers, briefly, in biblical
terms, with much clarity and free of criticisms. In his lifetime alone
there were a good 200 editions of this catechism! And hundreds of
editions succeeded one another until the 1900s. Thus in Germany, still
in my father's generation, people called the catechism simply the
Canisius: He is really the catechist of the centuries; he formed
people's faith for centuries.
This is a characteristic of St. Peter Canisius: to be able to
harmoniously combine fidelity to dogmatic principles with respect due to
every person. St. Canisius differentiated a knowing, culpable apostasy
from a non-culpable loss of faith, in the circumstances. And he
declared, before Rome, that the greater part of Germans who went over to
Protestantism were without fault. At a historical moment of strong
confessional oppositions, he avoided -- this is something extraordinary
-- the harshness and rhetoric of anger of the time in discussions among
Christians, something rare as I said -- and he looked only to the
presentation of the spiritual roots and to the revitalization of 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 modern devotion and Rhenish
mysticism.
Characteristic of St. Canisius' spirituality was a profound personal
friendship with Jesus. For example, on Sept. 4, 1549, he wrote in his
diary, speaking with the Lord: "In the end, as if you opened 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, so to speak, to
attain the waters of my salvation from your founts, O my Savior." And
then he saw that the Savior gave him a garment with three parts that
were called peace, love and perseverance. And with this garment made up
of peace, love and perseverance, Canisius carried out his work of
renewal of Catholicism. His friendship with Jesus -- which is the center
of his personality -- nourished by love of the Bible, by love of the
Sacrament, by love of the Fathers, this friendship was clearly united to
the awareness of being a continuer of the mission of the Apostles in the
Church. And this reminds us that every genuine evangelizer is always a
united instrument with Jesus and the Church and, because of this,
fruitful.
St. Peter Canisius was formed in his friendship with Jesus in the
spiritual environment of the Carthusian monastery of Cologne, in which
he was in close contact with two Carthusian mystics: Johann Lansperger,
Latinized into Lanspergius, and Nicholas van Hesche, Latinized into
Eschius. Subsequently he deepened the experience of that friendship,
familiaritas stupenda nimis, with the contemplation of the mysteries of
Jesus' life, which form a large part of St. Ignatius' spiritual
exercises. His intense devotion to the Lord's Heart, which culminated in
consecration to the apostolic ministry in the Vatican Basilica, has its
foundation here.
Rooted in the Christocentric spirituality of St. Peter Canisius is a
profound conviction: There is no soul solicitous of its own perfection
that does not practice mental prayer every day, an ordinary means that
permits the disciple of Jesus to live in intimacy with the divine
Master. Because of this, in the writings destined to 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 the
holy Mass and on the sacraments but, at the same time, he is careful to
show to the faithful the need and the beauty of personal daily prayer,
which should support and permeate participation in the public worship of
the Church.
This is an exhortation and a method which preserves their value intact,
especially after they were proposed again authoritatively by the Second
Vatican Council in the Constitution "Sacrosanctum Concilium": Christian
life does not grow if it is not nourished by participation in the
liturgy, particularly in Sunday's holy Mass, and by personal daily
prayer, by personal contact with God. Amid the thousands of activities
and the many distractions that surround us, it is necessary to find
moments of recollection before the Lord every day to listen to him and
to speak with him.
At the same time, the example that St. Peter Canisius has left us, not
only in his works, but above all with his life is always timely and of
permanent 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 is able to be an instrument
at his disposal, united closely to him by faith in his Gospel and in his
Church, by a morally coherent life and incessant prayer as love. And
this is true for every Christian who wishes to live his adherence to
Christ with commitment and fidelity. Thank you.
[Translation by ZENIT]
[The Holy Father then greeted pilgrims in several languages. In English,
he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today's catechesis is on the life of Saint Peter Canisius. He was born
in the Low Countries, and as a young man became one of the early
followers of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Three years after his priestly
ordination in Cologne, he laboured intensively for the religious and
moral reform of the people as well as for the improvement of academic
life in the University of Ingolstadt. He founded the College of Prague,
and was named the first Superior of the Jesuit province in Southern
Germany. From there he oversaw the Society's communities and colleges
which quickly became major centres of Catholic reform. During this
period, in the tumult of the Reformation, he took part in many civic and
theological disputes. He published devotional literature as well as
catechisms popular for their Biblically-inspired responses. Even in his
later years in Fribourg, Switzerland, he remained extremely active,
dedicating himself to writing and preaching. Pope Leo XIII proclaimed
Peter Canisius the 'Second Apostle of Germany', and he was canonized and
named Doctor of the church by Pope Pius XI. His significant contribution
to catechesis is second only to the example for us of his disciplined
Christ-centred spirituality, finding in the liturgy, daily prayer and
devotion to the heart of Jesus the strength and inspiration to carry out
well his innumerable tasks.
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!
© Copyright 2011 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
[He concluded in Italian:]
My thoughts turn finally to young people, the sick and newlyweds.
Yesterday we celebrated the liturgical memorial of St. Jerome Emiliani,
founder of the Somaschi, 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
heart to the heroism of holiness in every day existence. May it sustain
you, dear sick, in persevering patiently to offer your prayer and your
suffering for the whole Church. And may it give you, dear newlyweds, the
courage to make your families communities of love, marked by Christian
values.
[Translation by ZENIT]
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