Innsbruck celebrates its diocesan patron and companion Petrus Canisius – kath.ch
The “Petrus Canisius Year”, with which the Diocese of Innsbruck honored its patron on the occasion of his 500th birthday, came to an end on Saturday with a Canisius festival and a festive church service in the Innsbruck Exhibition Center. Local Bishop Hermann Glettler described the saint as a critical companion on the synodal journey.
Petrus Canisius, who worked in Freiburg, Switzerland, was one of the most important figures in Catholic reform in Central Europe. He was born in Nijmegen in 1521. The theologian and Jesuit was an influential spiritual and political champion of the Counter Reformation. The first Catholic catechisms go back to him. He works in Vienna, among others.
In the last years of his life, Canisius founded the College of Saint Michael in Freiburg in 1580. Canisius was buried in the college church in 1597. In 1925 he was canonized. In 2021, some of the relics were reburied in the Holy Sepulcher Chapel in Freiburg’s St. Nicholas Cathedral.
Bearer with the relic of Saint Peter Canisius
Petrus Canisius is also the diocesan patron of Innsbruck. He was celebrated accordingly. The year started in January with the motto “Light a Heart Fire for Faith”. As a result, there were numerous campaigns and offers all over Tyrol in honor of Petrus Canisius.
Picnic, concert and live acts
The highlight and end point on Saturday was a Canisius festival with 17 stops all over Innsbruck. The program ranges from graffiti workshops and live acts to a picnic concert, games for families and meeting points for encounters and prayer. The conclusion was a festive service with Bishop Hermann Glettler in the exhibition hall.
Bishop Glettler said at the opening of the festival on the weekend that he hopes that the Canisius Year’s concern to bring people together will continue beyond this end point. The Innsbruck bishop recommended taking ten minutes of silence a day for a “personal rendezvous with Jesus”.
Canisius as the pacemaker of faith
In a time of numerous crises – from Corona to the climate crisis to personal crises – strong offers of “meaning, perspective, strength of faith and confidence” are needed. In this way, Petrus Canisius, who fought for the renewal of the Church as the “heart pacemaker of faith”, can be a lasting role model, as Glettler demonstrated at the festive service in the afternoon.
The Bishop of Innsbruck, Hermann Glettler.
This applies to the synodal path from the Pope, which the Church is supposed to take, as well as to the central challenge of climate change.
Companion on the synodal path
As a local church, Glettler deliberately wants to embark on this synodal process – with the aim of: “More community, participation and a hearty mission.” Petrus Canisius will be “a critical and sympathetic companion”.
Glettler was also convinced that in order to cope with the climate crisis, the world not only needs staying power and technical know-how, but also a “hearty, cosmopolitan spirituality” – for example in order to adequately take the risk of worsening injustices as a result of climate change to react. (cape)
© Catholic Media Center, 09/27/2021
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