Laurentius Surius

Laurentius Surius (translating to Lorenz Sauer; Lübeck, 1523 – Cologne, 23 May 1578) was a German Carthusian hagiographer and church historian.

"[3] With his credentials, Surius could have had a university career, but he met Lanspergius, who induced him to enter the Carthusian monastery of Saint Barbara at Cologne, in 1542.

Except for a brief stay at the charterhouse in Mainz, the greater part of his life after this was spent in his monastery, where he was a model of piety, of rigid observance of the rules of the order, and of earnest work as a scholar; for these reasons he was held in high esteem by St. Pius V.[4] Surius died in Cologne on May 25, 1578.

He translated into Latin editions of German mystics of the later Middle Ages, such as Johannes Tauler, Henry Suso, and John of Ruysbroeck.

His major work is his collection of the lives of the saints, De probatis Sanctorum historiis ab Al. Lipomano olim conscriptis nunc primum a Laur.

He began a second edition which was finished after his death by his colleague in the monastery, Mosander, who added a seventh volume (Cologne, 1582).