Laurentius Surius (translating to Lorenz Sauer;

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

, 1523 –

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, 23 May 1578) was a German

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has i ...

hagiographer A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...

and church historian.

Biography

Laurentius Surius was born in Lübeck in 1523, to a wealthy and respected family. His father was a goldsmith.Kwiatkowski, Iris, "Laurentius Surius", ''Internetportal Rheinische Geschichte''
/ref> It is not certain whether his parents were Catholics or Lutherans.

Peter Canisius Peter Canisius ( nl, Pieter Kanis; 8 May 1521 – 21 December 1597) was a Dutch Jesuit Catholic priest. He became known for his strong support for the Catholic faith during the Protestant Reformation in Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Swit ...

suggests that he was born a Protestant. Surius' brother became a canon at Lübeck. In 1534 Surius began studies at the

University of Frankfort-on-the-Oder European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) (german: Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)) is a university located at Frankfurt (Oder) in Brandenburg, Germany. It is also known as the University of Frankfurt (Oder). The city is on th ...

. He may have left there due to an outbreak of the plague in 1536. He then went to Cologne, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in 1537, and a Master of Arts in 1539. Canisius was a fellow-student at Cologne. "His friendship with Canisius led to a fascination with Reform Catholicism, which combined his interests in the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, Humanism, and the Early Church."Rasch, Christian Willm, "Surius, Laurentius", ''Religion Past and Present''
2011 With his credentials, Surius could have had a university career, but he met Lanspergius, who induced him to enter the

monastery of Saint Barbara at Cologne, in 1542.Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Laurentius Surius." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 29 October 2021 He made his vows in 1541 and was ordained a priest two years later. Except for a brief stay at the charterhouse in Mainz, the greater part of his life after this was spent in his monastery, where he was a model of piety, of rigid observance of the rules of the order, and of earnest work as a scholar; for these reasons he was held in high esteem by

St. Pius V Pope Pius V ( it, Pio V; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri, O.P.), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1566 to his death in May 1572. He is v ...

. Surius died in Cologne on May 25, 1578.

Works

Surius devoted himself chiefly to the domains of church history and hagiography, and wrote a large number of works on these subjects. A skilled Latinist, he translated into Latin complete editions of great German mystics of the late Middle Ages, such as

Johannes Tauler Johannes Tauler OP ( – 16 June 1361) was a German mystic, a Roman Catholic priest and a theologian. A disciple of Meister Eckhart, he belonged to the Dominican order. Tauler was known as one of the most important Rhineland mystics. He pro ...

Henry Suso Henry Suso, OP (also called Amandus, a name adopted in his writings, and Heinrich Seuse or Heinrich von Berg in German; 21 March 1295 – 25 January 1366) was a German Dominican friar and the most popular vernacular writer of the fourteenth cen ...

, and

John of Ruysbroeck John van Ruysbroeck, original Flemish name Jan van Ruusbroec () (1293 or 1294 – 2 December 1381) was an Augustinian canon and one of the most important of the Flemish mystics. Some of his main literary works include ''The Kingdom of the Di ...

.''The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature''
(James Strong and John McClintock,eds.) Harper and Brothers; NY; 1880. He presented the works in Latin in order to make them more accessible to a broader European readership. Around 1556, he took up controversialist literature, translating a treatise by the Dominican Johann Fabri, and one by Johannes Gropper on the body and blood of Christ; also the sermons of Michael Sidonius, the apologies of Friedrich Staphylus, and an oration by Martin Eisengrein. He completed the ''Institutiones'' of Florentius of Haarlem, prior of the Carthusians of Louvain, and edited a new edition of the ''Homiliarium'' of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...

. He wrote against Sleidanus his "Commentarius brevis rerum in orbe gestarum ab a. 1500 ad a. 1564" (Cologne, 1566), which was continued by others. Turning to church history, in 1561, he published an edition of the works of

Pope Leo I Pope Leo I ( 400 – 10 November 461), also known as Leo the Great, was bishop of Rome from 29 September 440 until his death. Pope Benedict XVI said that Leo's papacy "was undoubtedly one of the most important in the Church's history." Leo was ...

. He also published in 1567 a collection of the Acts of the councils: "Concilia omnia tum generalia tum provincialia" (4 volumes, Cologne, 1567).Chalmers, Alexander. "Surius, Laurentius", ''General Biographical Dictionary'', 1812 He followed this in 1539 with a collection of sermons by

Alcuin Alcuin of York (; la, Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus; 735 – 19 May 804) – also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin – was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student o ...

Hagiography

His most important and still valuable work is his collection of the lives of the saints, ''De probatis Sanctorum historiis ab Al. Lipomano olim conscriptis nunc primum a Laur. Surio emendatis et auctis'', the first edition of which appeared in six volumes at Cologne in 1570–75. He began a second edition which was finished after his death by his colleague in the monastery, Mosander, who added a seventh volume (Cologne, 1582). A third edition with an improved text appeared at Cologne in 1618; a new and revised edition was published (1875–80) at Turin in thirteen volumes. Surius did not lack for learning, but was willing to give credit to fabulous accounts. Notwithstanding the liberties taken by Surius with the text of the manuscripts he used, his work has rendered great service and has furnished many narratives concerning the lives of the saints that have been published in various languages.

Notes

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Surius, Laurentius 1522 births 1578 deaths German Christian monks Carthusians 16th-century German historians Christian hagiographers German male non-fiction writers