Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

Chapter 6
The Jesuits Enter Poland
Destruction of its
Protestantism
THE Jesuits had been introduced into Poland,
and the turning of the Protestant tide, and the
begun decadence of the nation's political power,
which was almost contemporaneous with the
retrogression in its Protestantism, was mainly the
work of the Fathers. The man who opened the door
to the disciples of Loyola in that country is worthy
of a longer study than we can bestow upon him.
His name was Stanislaus Hosen, better known as
Cardinal Hosius. He was born at Cracow in 1504,
and thus in birth was nearly contemporaneous with
Knox and Calvin. He was sprung of a family of
German descent which had been engaged in trade,
and become rich. His great natural powers had
been perfected by a finished education, first in the
schools of his own country, and afterwards in the
Italian universities. He was unwearied in his
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