Nicolas Steno

Niels Steensen (Danish: Niels Steensen; Latinized to Nicolas Steno or Nicolaus Stenonius); 1 January 1638 – 25 November 1686 [NS: 11 January 1638 – 5 December 1686]) was a Danish scientist, a pioneer in both anatomy and geology who became a Catholic bishop in his later years.

Blessed

Niels Steensen
Vicar Apostolic of Nordic Missions
Portrait of Steno as bishop (1868)
SeeTitiopolis
Appointed21 August 1677
by Pope Innocent XI
Term ended5 December 1686
PredecessorValerio Maccioni
SuccessorFriedrich von Tietzen
Other post(s)Titular Bishop of Titiopolis
Orders
Ordination13 April 1675
Consecration19 September 1677
by Saint Gregorio Barbarigo
Personal details
Born
Niels Steensen

(1638-01-01)1 January 1638
[NS: 11 January 1638]
Died25 November 1686(1686-11-25) (aged 48)
[NS: 5 December 1686]
Schwerin, Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
BuriedBasilica of San Lorenzo, Italy
NationalityDanish
DenominationRoman Catholic
Parents
  • Father: Steen Pedersen
  • Mother: Anne Nielsdatter
Occupation
Previous post(s)
Coat of arms
Sainthood
Feast day5 December
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
Beatified23 October 1988
Rome, Vatican City
by Pope John Paul II

Steensen was trained in the classical texts on science; however, by 1659 he seriously questioned accepted knowledge of the natural world. Importantly he questioned explanations for tear production, the idea that fossils grew in the ground and explanations of rock formation. His investigations and his subsequent conclusions on fossils and rock formation have led scholars to consider him one of the founders of modern stratigraphy and modern geology. The importance of Steensen's foundational contributions to geology may be gauged from the fact that half of the twenty papers in a recent miscellany volume on The Revolution in Geology from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment focus on Steensen, the "preeminent Baroque polymath and founder of modern geologic thought".

Born to a Lutheran family, Steensen converted to Catholicism in 1667. After his conversion, his interest in the natural sciences rapidly waned giving way to his interest in theology. At the beginning of 1675, he decided to become a priest. Four months later, he was ordained in the Catholic clergy on Easter Sunday in 1675. As a clergyman, he was later appointed Vicar Apostolic of Nordic Missions and Titular Bishop of Titopolis by Pope Innocent XI. Steensen played an active role in the Counter-Reformation in Northern Germany.

His canonization process began in 1938 and Pope John Paul II beatified Steensen in 1988.

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