Life
Kolvenbach's childhood was spent in Druten, near Nijmegen in the Netherlands. There, he attended Canisius College for his secondary studies. At Canisius, he concentrated on modern languages. He entered the novitiate at Mariendaal on 7 September 1948. After completing philosophy studies at Berchmans Institute in Nijmegen, he was assigned to Lebanon, where he completed his doctorate in Sacred Theology at Université de Saint-Joseph in Beirut. In 1961, he was ordained a priest in the Armenian Catholic Church, an Eastern-rite church in communion with Rome.
The next years of his life were spent in academia, specifically in linguistics. From 1963 to 1976, he taught general and Oriental linguistics in The Hague, Paris, and Beirut. Eventually, he was appointed Professor of General Linguistics and Armenian at Université de Saint-Joseph. He served in that capacity until 1981, when he became rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute.
During his time on the Faculty of Saint-Joseph, he also served as provincial superior of the Jesuit vice-province of the Middle East.
Read more about this topic: Peter Hans Kolvenbach
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