"Wie ein Apostel Deutschlands." Apostolat, Obrigkeit und jesuitisches Selbstverständnis am Beispiel des Petrus Canisius (1543–1570) by Patricio Foresta

Abstract

Wie ein Apostel Deutschlands. Apostolat, Obrigkeit und jesuitisches Selbstverstandnis am Beispiel des Petrus Canisius (1543-1570). By Patricio Foresta. [Veroffentlichungen des Instituts fur europaische Geschichte Mainz, Abteilung fur Abendlandische Religionsgeschichte, Band 239.] (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. 2016. Pp. 528. €90,00. ISBN 976-3-525-10100-1.)This is not a biography of the Jesuit Saint Peter Canisius (1521-1597), who is usually considered the first German Jesuit though he was a Dutchman. It is rather an investigation of Jesuit identity as apostles, and of the influence of authorities, especially of secular authorities but also of the pope on the evolution of Jesuit ministries especially in Germany, all as seen principally from the perspective of Peter Canisius. According to Foresta, the Jesuits discovered their apostolic and pastoral mission, and by extension, their identity in Germany more than elsewhere where they became champions of the Counter-Reformation. As far as Canisius's life is concerned, the book does not extend beyond 1570, the year after he completed his term as the first provincial superior of the Upper German Province, a position assigned him in 1556, though he lived until 1597.Ignatius Loyola and his first companions saw themselves as living in the manner of the apostles of Jesus; they were active as wandering preachers and teachers much as the early Franciscans. But this life as itinerant apostles was lost to a degree as the Society founded institutions, especially the colleges, which, we should note, also served as pastoral centers. Some Jesuits were not happy with this development including one member of the founding group, Nicholas Bobadilla, and this caused tension in the Society. Jerome Nadal, one of Ignatius's closest associates, when he undertook an official mission to Spain after the death of Ignatius, insisted on the character of the Jesuit as an and the famous volume, Imago Primi Saeculi, published by the Flemish Jesuits in 1640 to celebrate the centennial of the founding of the Jesuits, compared the spread of the Gospel by the Jesuits to the mission of the initial twelve Apostles.With regard to the personal vocation of Canisius as apostle, Foresta discusses the vision of the Sacred Heart that he experienced at the time of his final vows in the Jesuits in Rome on September 4, 1549, after which he experienced the Apostles Peter and Paul sending him north as the Apostle of Germany. …