STANISLAUS

See also:

• HOSIUS
• STANISLAUS HOSIUS (1504–1579)

HOSIUS (1504–1579)  , Polish cardinal, was born in Cracow on the 5th of May 1504 . He studied law at Padua and Bologna, and entering the church became in 1549 bishop of Kulm, in 1551 bishop of Ermland, and in 1561 cardinal . Hosius had Jesuit sympathies and actively opposed the Protestant reformation, going so far as to desire a repetition of the St Bartholomew massacre in Poland, Apart from its being " the' property of the Roman Church," he regarded the Bible as having no more worth than the fables of Aesop . Hosius was not distinguished as a theologian, though he drew up the Confessio fidei chrisliana catholica adopted by the synod of Piotrkow in 1557 . He was, however, supreme as a diplomatist and administrator . Besides carrying through many difficult negotiations, he founded the lyceum of Braunsberg, which became the centre of the Roman Catholic mission among Protestants . He died at Capranica near Rome on the 5th of August 1579 . A collected edition of his works was published at Cologne in 1584 . Life by A . Eichhorn (Mainz, 1854), 2 vols .