During these proceedings Peter Canisius had attracted the attention of Cardinal Otto Truchsess, who desired to have him as his second theologian at the Council of Trent, Father Le Jay having already been sent there as first theologian to that prelate.  The cardinal, in a letter to St. Ignatius, laid stress on the circumstance of Peter’s intimate acquaintance with the state of religion in Germany, and on his being able therefore to suggest to the Council the best means of meeting the prevalent evils.  These reasons had great weight with St. Ignatius, and scarcely had the young Jesuit returned to Cologne, when he received orders to set out for Trent.  Great was the lamentation among the burghers of Cologne.  All whom he met in the streets greeted him with tears and supplications not to depart out of their midst.  His leaving, they declared, would mean triumph to the enemies of the Church.  The university conferred on him unanimously the title of doctor of divinity as a proof of their gratitude, esteem, and regret at his loss.  The clergy and senate presented him with two precious relics—­the heads of two of the martyred companions of St. Ursula.

At Trent Canisius found four of his religious brethren, and joined them at their lodgings in the hospital.  Here the five Jesuits followed the special rule of life which St. Ignatius had sent to them.  “Three things I wish you to bear in mind,” he wrote:—­

“(1) at the sessions of the Council the greatest glory of God, and the general good of the Church; (2) outside the Council your fundamental principle to labour for the salvation of souls, a matter that lies especially near my heart in this your journey; (3) when at home not to neglect yourselves.”  He recommended them to behave as prudently as possible at the Council, not to speak hastily, and to be ever on the side of peace.  Every evening they were to confer with each other on the day’s proceedings, and to make resolutions for the morrow.  “Moreover,” he continued, “you will allow no opportunity to escape you of acquiring merit in the service of your neighbour.  You must always be on the watch to hear confessions, to preach to the people, to instruct the little ones, to visit the sick.”  In their sermons they were to avoid controverted dogmas, and to lay stress on all that appertained to the reform of morals, and obedience to the Church.

The meetings of the Council being adjourned till 1550, Canisius was called to Rome, where he remained for five months, under the personal guidance of St. Ignatius himself, who submitted him to the most humiliating trials in order to prove his virtue.  He sent him to beg and to preach in the most frequented parts of the city, and to nurse the sick in the hospitals, where he was day and night at the beck and call of exacting officials, who set him to perform the most loathsome tasks, and often curtailed his sleep and food.  St. Ignatius would then cause inquiries to be made at the hospitals concerning the behaviour of his novice under this kind of treatment.