Peter Canisius
Dutch, Jesuit priest, Doctor of the Church, Roman Catholic saint
Peter Canisius (Dutch: Pieter Kanis; 8 May 1521 – 21 December 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.
Life
He was born in 1521 in Nijmegen in the Duchy of Guelders, which, until 1549, was part of the Habsburg Netherlands within the Holy Roman Empire and is now the Netherlands. His father was a wealthy burgermeister, Jacob Kanis. His mother, Ægidia van Houweningen, died shortly after Peter's birth. He was sent to study at the University of Cologne, where he earned a master's degree in 1540, at the age of 19.
While there, he met Peter Faber, one of the founders of the Society of Jesus. Through him, Canisius became the first Dutchman to join the newly founded Society of Jesus in 1543. Canisius finished his studies in theology and then was ordained in 1546.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Peter Canisius” as dutch, Jesuit priest, Doctor of the Church, Roman Catholic saint. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q44624. VIAF identifies the subject as 59109589. The Library of Congress control number is n86081350. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1521, 1597, 1549 and 1540.
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This entry incorporates text from “Peter Canisius” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.