Crocus, Cornelius (c. 1500-1550)

Dutch educationalist and playwright. One of the first Jesuits, he became known for his school textbooks and for his Latin plays written for performance in schools. Of these the Coemedia Sacra Joseph (1535) was the most successful, achieving over 20 editions and being imitated as far afield as Poland (see Rej, Mikołaj).

Crocus was born in Amsterdam and after studying at Louvain was ordained a priest. In 1528 he then became a headmaster in Amsterdam, a post which he held until the year before his death, when he resigned it in order to travel on foot to Rome, where he was received by Ignatius Loyola into the Jesuits. He engaged in religious controversy against Luther and the Anabaptists, wrote a popular textbook to assist children to form a correct Latin style (1536), as well as his play for schools.