St. Peter Canisius, S.J. (December 21st)

Of the fairly few Saints on the liturgical calendar in the past week:

December 21, St. Peter Canisius, SJ, priest

I’ve chosen to write about St. Peter Canisius, SJ.

The future St. Peter Canisius, SJ was born in 1521 in Nijmegen in the then Duchy of Guelders, which was then part of the Hapsburg Netherlands and part of the Holy Roman Empire.  

In modern times the city is located in the (Kingdom of) the Netherlands near the border with Germany and at a key crossing point of the Waal River in the Rhine River delta.  The city became the site of major fighting during the failed Allied thrust called “Operation Market Garden” over the Rhine and into Germany in September 1944.  I mention this because anyone who’s read the book or seen the movie “A Bridge Too Far” or even the HBO series “Band of Brothers” would know about Operation Market Garden and the role that Nijmegen played in the battle.

Yet, more than four centuries before that, in 1521, Nijmegen was the birthplace of this Saint.

As turns out to be the case in his time, the future  St. Peter Canisius’ family was quite wealthy, in his case “upper middle class.”  His father, Jacob Kanis was a burgermeister (basically an alderman, or member of the city council, though as would be the custom back then probably without term / for life) for the city of Nijmegen, and his mother, Aegidia, apparently was titled coming from the family “van Houweningen.”  

Being from a wealthy burger family (city dwellers and from hence the term bourgeoisie comes), he was sent to the university (of Cologne) to study.  There he met Peter Faber, one of the founders of the Jesuit Order (I recently wrote about St. Francis Xavier, SJ (Dec 3) another of the founders of the Jesuits), and he never looked back, becoming the first Dutchman to join it.

It was a tumultuous time.  The Protestant Reformation had begun – much of it playing precisely in Germany and the Netherlands – and the  Jesuit Order, composed of generally of very educated men, who even took a special vow of obedience to the Pope, soon came to be at the forefront of the Catholic response(s) to it.

So, the future St. Peter Canisius quickly came to have a very busy life, travelling from university town to university town all across Germany and the Habsburg lands, debating Protestant exponents throughout.

He is credited in “saving” Catholicism in the Netherlands, across Southern Germany, the Habsburg empire and all the way into Poland (Cracow).

And what is fascinating about him was his belief that it was far better to debate the Protestant reformers, challenge their doctrines in speech and in writing, rather simply issue overly general polemical condemnations of their views.

Lest anyone then doubt the Catholicity of the future St. Peter Canisius, he was a steadfast defender of the role of Mary in the Christian Faith and the one who added the “second part of the Hail Mary” to the prayer.

He is why we pray today: 

“Holy Mary, Mother of God pray for us sinners…” in the prayer.

In that addition, we are reminded that Mary, as a Saint, member of the Church, if already in Heaven, she can pray for us, as we ourselves as asked to do for others all around us who find themselves in need.  

So St. Peter Canisius, SJ becomes a very interesting person for us even today.  We too are often challenged in our faith.  He reminds us to not be afraid.  Our doctrines are sound, and we don’t need to condemn those who disagree with us.  Instead we should debate them, and above all love them.

St. Peter Canisius, pray for us!