HOSIUS (HOSS), STANISLAUS: Bishop of Erm
land and cardinal; b. at Cracow May b, 1504; d. at
Capranics (25 m. n.n.w. of Rome),
Earlier Italy, Aug. b, 1679. He began his
Life. humanistic studies at Cracow, and
appears, even in boyhood, to have
turned away from the world in exaggerated fashion.
He owed his advancement to Bishop Tomicki of
Cracow, whose nephews he instructed as tutor.
Among his Epistoke (published by the Cracow
Historical Academy, vol. i., 1879; vol. ii., 1888)
are several from this period-to Dantiseus, bishop
elect of Cuhn, written at Venice, 1530 (voi. i.,
Elrist.
6); to the governor of Bologna, the celebrated
historical writer Francesco Guiceiaidini (i. 7;
written 1532); and to the papal legate Campeggi
(i. 8). Upon Hosius' return to Poland Tomicki
employed him as secretary, and after the bishop's
death (1b35) he obtained a potion in the royal
chancery. Though now, by the acquisition of a
canonry of Frauenburg, in possession of
three bene
fices, he was not yet a priest; and not until 1543,
when still other benefices were added, did he deem
it time to receive ordination. He did not officiate
Hospinian
in the pastorate assigned to him at Golombie, claim
ing that his voice was too weak. Nevertheless, he
rose rapidly in the spiritual career. In 1549 he
became bishop of Culm by command of
King Sigis
mund, who desired to send him, when vested with
this dignity, to King Ferdinand and the emperor.
Hosius returned to Poland with the design of sup
pressing the Evangelicals there also; and the realiza
tion of this design served as his life-work. In 1551
he was transferred to the bishopric of Ermland.
His first achievement in this direction was at the
Synod of Petrikau (June, 1551). He required the
bishops, one and all, to subscribe to a
Establishes
Confessio fulei catholic,
drawn up by
the Coun- himself, which was published in an
terreforma- expanded form at Cracow in 1553, and
tion in repeatedly afterward. This was to
Poland. offset the Augsburg Confession, and,
in particular, to combat the Evangel
ical
tract of Secretary Fricius (Frycz Modrzewski).
De emendanda republica,
dedicated to the king. By
this and other writings, by his example, and by
stringent measures Hosius fanned the spirit of
strict ecclesiasticism; and he had the ground well
broken throughout the country when, in 1555,
Bishop Lipomano, of Verona, appeared as papal
nuncio to restore the exclusive supremacy of the
Roman Confession in Poland. The Counterreforma
tion was first carried through in Ermland, and at
Elbing and Danzig, both subject to Polish sover
eignty, Protestantismwaspromptlyrepressed. Hand
in hand with Lipomano, Hosius next proceeded to
act in Poland proper. That a helper for the Evan
gelicals arose in
Petrus Paulus Vergerius (q.v.), who
carried on his polemics against the Catholics from
1556 to 1560, availed little. A second antagonist
of Hosius, the Polish
Johannes a Lasco (q.v.), was of
more consequence; but unfortunately his exertions
for the Protestant cause were considerably impeded
by the contrary action of Vergerius, who belonged
to the "false brethren" mentioned by Johannes in
a letter to Calvin
(OR, Epist. Calvini, xvi.
415).
At the curia it was desired to incite the man
who so effectively combated Protestantism in
Poland to still greater activity; and
Later Paul IV. (q.v.) summoned him to
Activity Rome in 1558. The pope set before
and him
(Epist. Hosii, ii.,
pp. 931, 954)
Character. three tasks: ameliorations in church
affairs, extirpation of heresy, and
preparation for the reassembling of the suspended
Council of Trent. Meanwhile, at Vienna in 1560,
be was to confirm in the Roman faith the successor
to the Austrian throne, Maximilian, who inclined
to Protestantism; and arrange for the marriage of
a second son of the emperor with Elizabeth of
England. The latter design miscarried, but that
Hosius wrought results in Vienna satisfactory to
the curia appears from his elevation at this juncture
to the rank of cardinal, and his nomination as one
of the three papal presidents of the Council of Trent,
reopened in 1562. Sarpi has no high estimation of
his fitness for this post; and it is true that his
peculiar ability lay in another sphere; namely, that
of, the straightforward, inexorable suppression of
heretics. The rest of his life he spent partly at home
and partly in Rome. From 1562 he carried on the
Counterreformation most uncompromisingly in
Ermland, at Braunaberg, at Elbing, and in all
Poland. The measures he devised as bishop of
Ermland and as
member of the Polish Diet were
cleverly reenforced by his literary activity; indeed,
Hosius occupies foremost rank among Roman Catholic controversialists. He does not deserve the
ascription of "fundamental dogmatist" or that
of a "master in theology," awarded him in blind
veneration by his latest biographer, Canon Eichhom
of Frauenburg (vol. ii., pp. 563, 565). In his polemics
he was quite unable to think good of an opponent;
the aspirations of the heretics were prompted by
the devil. This point of view appears alike in his
Confessio,
in
De expresso Dei Verbo,
and in the
Confutatio Prolegomenon Brentii,
his chief writings,
which are accessible in the Cologne edition of his
Opera (1584), with a large number of letters edited
by S. Rescius. It is significant to note what
Hosius writes in a letter to Cardinal Lothringen
concerning the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, the
tidings of which afforded him " incredible satisfaction
(recreationem),
particularly the death of
Coliguy," " than whom I doubt if the world has
ever produced a more pestilential man."
K. Benrath.
Bibliography:
The Opera Boris appeared in Paris, 1582,
Lyons, 1584, Antwerp, 1588 and 1571, Venice, 157$; the
best edition is by 8. Rescius, 2 vols.,
Cologne, 1584, The
chief
Vita is
by 6. Rescius, Rome, 1587, Germ. transl. by
J. B. Fickler, Ingolstadt, 1591. A second source is T.
Treter,
Theatrmm airtutum Stanialai Hosii,
Rome, 1588.
New material was consulted in A. Eichhorn,
Der er»r
hdndische Bischof and %ardinal Stanislaus Hosius,
2 vols.,
Mainz, 1854-55. Illustrative and biographical detail
will be found in much of the literature under
Poland.
