Biography

He was born at Mechlin on 16 June 1532 (1531). He died at Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

, 16 December 1619. He was received into the Society of Jesus

Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

 by St. Ignatius

St. Ignatius

-People:* Ignatius of Antioch, third Patriarch of Antioch, considered a saint by the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches*Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, considered a saint by the Roman Catholic Church...

 on 7 November 1552. While still a young man he was sent to Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

 (western Germany) to lecture on Sacred Scripture and astronomy

Astronomy

Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

. His reputation as a professor was established within a very short time, and on 10 December 1564, the university of Cologne

University of Cologne

The University of Cologne is one of the oldest universities in Europe and, with over 44,000 students, one of the largest universities in Germany. The university is part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, an association of Germany's leading research universities...

 conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and Theology.

He was ever ready to defend the teaching of the Catholic Church, which at this period was engaged in the struggle with Protestant 'heresy', and by word and by writing he brought many back to the true fold. He was for two terms provincial

Provincial superior

A Provincial Superior is a major superior of a religious order acting under the order's Superior General and exercising a general supervision over all the members of that order in a territorial division of the order called a province--similar to but not to be confused with an ecclesiastical...

 of the Jesuit province of Belgium, for one term provincial of that of the Rhine, and assisted at three General Congregation

General Congregation

The highest authority in the Society of Jesus is the General Congregation, an assembly of the Jesuit representatives from all parts of the world. A general congregation is always summoned on the death or resignation of the administrative head of the order—called the Superior General—to...

 of his order.

Works

The catalogue of his writings (De Backer, I, 218) mentions forty-two titles. They include works on ascetical subjects, meditations on the Blessed Virgin, and sermons on the Gospel for each Sunday of the year.

Probably the most famous was his "Enchiridion controversiarum præcipuarum nostri temporis de Religione" (Cologne, 1585, 1587, 1589, 1593). This was afterwards revised and enlarged by its author in 1596, 1605, 1608; and was translated into various languages.

To each of the attacks made upon it by Protestant writers, such as Philip Marbach, Franciscus Gommar or Lucas Osiander

Lucas Osiander the Elder

Lucas Osiander the Elder was a German pastor of the Evangelischen Landeskirche in Württemberg. He was a son of the reformer Andreas Osiander and father to Lucas Osiander the Younger....

, Coster gave an able reply. His works directed against these opponents are entitled: "Liber de Ecclesiâ contra Franciscum Gommarum" (Cologne, 1604); "Apologia adversus Lucæ Osiandri hæretici lutherani refutationum octo propositionum catholicarum" (Cologne, 1606); "Annotationes in N. T. et in præcipua loca, quæ rapi possent in controversiam" (Antwerp, 1614).

Source

• Catholic Encyclopedia article