Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld

SPEE von Langenfeld, Friedrich. b. Kaiserswerth, near Düsseldorf, 25 February 1591; d. Trier, 7 August, 1635. He was educated at the Jesuit gymnasium at Cologne, and entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1610, first at Trier and at Fulda, and then as a student of philosophy at Würzburg, finally studying at Speyer and Mainz. He entered the Jesuit priesthood in 1622, and was sent as Professor of Philosophy to Paderborn (1623-26). After a period as a missionary priest, during which he survived an attempt to assassinate him when preaching at Peine, Saxony, he returned to teaching, first at Paderborn, then at Cologne, and finally at Trier. During the Thirty Years’ War, Trier became a city of refuge,...