Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
religious works, one of which, ''Dei immortalis in corpore mortali patientis historia'', was widely popular, and was translated into many languages.
Life
William was the younger son of the
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
-born poet and historian
Richard Stanyhurst
Richard Stanyhurst (1547–1618) was an Anglo-Irish alchemist, translator, poet and historian, who was born in Dublin.
Life
His father, James Stanyhurst, was Recorder of Dublin, and Speaker of the Irish House of Commons in 1557, 1560 and 1568. ...
and his second wife Helen Copley, who died during his infancy, and was born at
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
on 15 June 1601.Alfred Poncelet, "Stanyhurst (Guillaume)", ''
Biographie Nationale de Belgique
The ''Biographie nationale de Belgique'' ( French; "National Biography of Belgium") is a biographical dictionary of Belgium. It was published by the Royal Academy of Belgium in 44 volumes between 1866 and 1986. A continuation series, entitled the ' ...
'' vol. 23 (Brussels, 1924), 601–607. After studying at the Jesuit college in Brussels, he entered the Society of Jesus at
Mechelen
Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...
on 25 September 1617. His older brother Peter had joined the Jesuits a year before him, and died while serving as a chaplain to the Flemish fleet on 22 April 1627.
After making his profession, William taught Latin composition and rhetoric at the Jesuit college in
Kortrijk
Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Regio ...
. He was ordained priest on 30 March 1630. He went on to head a sodality for students and masters of the faculties of Law and Medicine at the University of Leuven, of which Ferdinand III and Wladislaw IV became honorary members. During this period Stanyhurst gained a reputation as an eloquent preacher in English, Dutch and Latin, and as a discerning confessor.
In 1654 he was transferred to Antwerp, where he taught at the
Irish College, Antwerp
Irish College, Antwerp, was an Irish Pastoral College, dedicated to St. Patrick for Irish Secular Priests, which opened circa 1600 during the Penal Laws against Irish Catholics, Penal Laws in Antwerp, in what is now Belgium.James van Baerlant, Antwerp, 1661 (Prague, 1700; Vienna, 1766), was translated into French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Others of his works, all of which passed through many editions, are:
*''Album Marianum'', describing God's beneficence to Austria (Louvain, 1641)
*''Regio mortis sive Domus infelicis aeternitatis'' (Antwerp, 1652)
*''Quotidiana Christiani Militis tessera'' (Antwerp, 1661) - parts of this reappeared in ''Selectissima moralis Christianae praecepta harmonicis metris ac rythmis expressa'' (Antwerp, 1662)
*''Ecclesia Militans'', Antwerp.