Stanislaus Hosius

Hosius was born in Kraków, son of Ulrich Hosse of Pforzheim. He spent his early youth at Kraków and Wilno; and at the age of fifteen, when he was already well versed in German, Polish, and Latin, entered the University of Kraków, from which he graduated as Bachelor of Arts in 1520. Piotr Tomicki, Bishop of Kraków and Vice-Chancellor of Poland, employed him as private secretary and entrusted to him the education of his nephews. Tomicki became his patron and underwrote his studies at the University of Padua and the University of Bologna, Italy. At Padua, Reginald Pole was one of his fellow-students. At Bologna he pursued jurisprudence under Hugo Buoncompagni, the future Gregory XIII.[1]

After graduating as doctor of canon and civil law at the University of Bologna on 8 June, 1534, he returned to Cracow and became secretary in the royal chancery. On the death of Bishop Tomicki (1535) he continued as secretary under the new vice-chancellor, Bishop Jan Chojeński of Płock. After the death of Bishop Choinski in 1538, Hosius was appointed royal secretary. In this position he had the entire confidence of King Sigismund, who bestowed various ecclesiastical benefices upon him as reward for his faithful services. In 1543 Hosius was ordained priest. King Sigismund died in 1548, but before his death he had instructed his son and successor, Sigismund II, to nominate Hosius for the next vacant episcopal see.[1]

Hosius was nominated for the See of Chełmno in 1549. He had not sought this dignity and accepted it only with reluctance. Hosius was then sent by Sigismund on a diplomatic important mission to the courts of King Ferdinand I at Prague, and Emperor Charles V at Brussels and Ghent. The mission resulted in an alliance between Poland and these two monarchies. Upon his return to Poland he received episcopal consecration at Kraków on 23 March, 1550, and immediately took possession of his see.[1] Hosius had Jesuit sympathies and actively opposed the Protestant Reformation.

Two years late he became Prince-Bishop of Warmia in Royal Prussia, Poland. Hosius drew up the Confessio fidei christiana catholica, adopted by the Synod of Piotrków in 1557. He was a supremely skillful diplomat and administrator. Hosius and Marcin Kromer were the two bishops most instrumental in keeping the Warmia region Catholic, while neighboring Ducal Prussia became Protestant. In 1558 Pope Paul IV summoned him to Rome, and soon Hosius became an influential member of the Roman Curia.[2]

The following year Pope Pius IV appointed Hosius as his personal nuncio to Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor at the court in Vienna, where he was to work on the reopening of the Council of Trent. He was further charged with gaining the support of the Emperor's son Maximilian, who appeared to have Protestant sympathies. For his successful work Hosius was promoted to cardinal in 1561. Pope Pius IV named him Legate-Theologian for the third session of the Council of Trent; the other two legates were Cardinals Puteo and Gonzaga.[2]

Despite health issues he mediated between the various factions at the Council as well as addressed issue particular to Poland-Lithuania, such as the status of the Teutonic Knights and the marriage of Stansilaus Orzechowski. When the Council ended he returned home despite requests that he should travel to Rome for the Papal conclave which was to be held after the death of the ailing Pius IV. Cardinal Truchess even suggested the Hosius was a candidate for the papacy.[3] Instead of going to Rome he returned to his diocese, leaving Trent on December 1563, to implement the decrees and canons of the Council of Trent. In 1566 Pope Pius V consecrated him as Papal Legate to Poland.

Besides carrying through many difficult negotiations, he founded the lyceum of Braniewo (Braunsberg) in order to counter the rapidly spreading Protestants. It became the center of the Roman Catholic mission among Protestants. In 1572 Pope Gregory XIII declared Hosius a member of the Congregatio Germania. He died at Capranica Prenestina near Rome, Italy on 5 August 1579.

A special friend to Hosius was Saint Peter Canisius. Both Kromer and Hosius left many records of their German language speeches and sermons in their years of duty in the Bishopric of Warmia. They were later translated to Czech, English, and French.

A collected edition of his works was published at Cologne, Germany in 1584 ( Life by A Eichhorn (Mainz, Germany, 1854), 2 vols).