Goschwin Nickel

Goswin Nickel (1582 – 31 July 1664) was a German Jesuit priest and the tenth Superior-General of the Society of Jesus.

He was elected Superior-General less than a week after the death of his predecessor Aloysius Gottifredi, on 17 March 1652.

Owing to his great age, Father Nickel obtained from the 11th General Congregation the election of Gian Paolo Oliva as vicar-general with right of succession (on 7 June 1661).

The German novelist Thomas Mann mentions Nickel in his famous book The Magic Mountain, bringing up a relatively forgotten quote by the Superior-General about love for one's fatherland, which Nickel called "a plague with the most certain death of Christian love".

This notion of Nickel's has already been touched on in the Finnish philosopher Edward Westermark's book The Origin and Development of Moral Ideas, back in 1917.