St. Alphonsus Liguori: The History of Heresies and Their Refutation

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CHAPTER XI. – THE HERESIES OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

III. – ECOLAMPADIUS; BUCER; PETER MARTYR

55. Ecolampadius.
56. Bucer.
57. Peter Martyr.


55. John Ecolampadius, a faithful follower of Zuinglius, was a Greek linguist, and held the situation of tutor to the Prince Palatine’s children; his friends injudiciously importuned him to become a Monk, so he entered into the Order of St. Brigit, and made his profession (1); but we may judge of his intentions, when we are told that he said: “If I make six hundred vows, I will not observe one of them, unless I like it.” “Why,” says Florimund (2), ” should we wonder at his leaving the cloister, when such were his sentiments on entering it. In a few years he laid aside the cowl, and married, as he said, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and became a follower of Zuinglius, who appointed him Superintendent of Basle (3). He followed Zuinglius’s doctrine, regarding the Real Presence, but not his explanation of est by significant (see N. 48), as he explained the text, “this is my body,” by “this is the figure of my body” (4). How strange that not one of the new Apostles of the Gospel could agree with another. He died in the year 1532, at the age of fortynine, only a Month after Zuinglius’s death, to him a source of the most poignant grief. Luther said he was found dead in his bed, strangled by the devil, a generally received opinion at that time, according to Noel Alexander; others say he died of an ulcer in the os sacrum; the general opinion, however, is, that he was found dead in his bed. Many writers, Varillas says (5), tell us that he several times attempted to take away his own life, and that he poisoned himself. Cardinal Gotti quotes others (6), who assert, that a short time previous to his death, he was heard to exclaim : ” Alas, I shall soon be in hell ;” and also that, just before his death, he said : ” I, uncertain and fluctuating in the Faith, have to give an account before the Tribunal of God, and see whether my doctrine is true or false”(7). Foolish man, he had the Church, the pillar and the ground of truth, which condemned his doctrine, and he wished to have it tried at that Tribunal, where, if he found it false (as it was), there would be no remedy to ward off eternal perdition.


56. Martin Bucer was the son of a poor Jew in Strasbourg, who left him at his death on the world, without any one to look to him, and only seven years of age. He was taken in by the Dominicans to serve Mass and assist the servants of the Convent; but finding him endowed with great talents, they gave him the habit of the Order, and put him to study (8). He soon became a great proficient in sacred and profane literature, and received Holy Orders, Cardinal Gotti says (9), without being baptized. He was so taken with Luther’s doctrine on Celibacy, that he apostatized, and not only married once, but three times successively, saying, that as a divorce was allowed to the Jews, on account of the hardness of their hearts, it was also permitted to Christians of an extraordinary temperament (10). To the errors of Luther he added others: First That Baptism is necessary as a positive precept, but that it is not necessary for salvation. Second That there is no Church which does not err in morals and faith. Third That before we are justified by God we sin in every good work we do, but that after our justification the good we perform we do through necessity. Fourth That some are so formed by God for the marriage state, that they cannot be forbidden to marry. Fifth That usury is not contrary to the Divine command. Sixth He admitted the Presence of Christ in the Holy Sacrament, but said it was not real, but took place solely by faith. On this account he passed over to the sect of the Sacramentarians, and quarrelled with Luther, and it was in defence of that sect he wrote his Dialogue, ” Arbogastus” (11). He was selected by the Landgrave as the most likely person to unite the Zuinglians and Lutherans; but though he held manyconferences, he never could succeed, for Luther never would give up the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament. He left Strasbourg, where he lived and taught a long time, and in 1549, in the reign of Edward VI., he went to England to join Peter Vermigli, commonly called Peter Martyr, who two years reviously was appointed Professor of Theology in Oxford. He had not been three years in England when he died, at the age of sixty-one, in Cambridge, in 1551; and Cardinal Gotti says (12), he was tormented with remorse of conscience in his last moments. His bones were exhumed and burned, by order of Queen Mary, in 1556.


57. The other celebrated disciple of Zuinglius who, especially in England, endeavoured to disseminate his errors, was Peter Vermigli, a Florentine, commonly called Peter Martyr. He was born in Florence, in 1500, of a noble, but reduced family. His mother, who was acquainted with the Latin language, taught him till he was eighteen years of age, when, according to some authors, he took the Carthusian habit, but the general opinion is, that he became a Canon Regular (13) of St Augustine, in the Monastery of Fiesole. In his noviciate he gave indications of great talent, and was, after his profession, sent to Padua, where he was taught Greek, Hebrew, and Philosophy. He thence went to Bologna to study Theology, and returned with a great stock of learning (14). He next turned his attention to the pulpit, and preached several Lents in the principal cities of Italy. While preaching in the Cathedral of Naples, he had the misfortune to become acquainted with a Spanish lawyer of the name of Valdes, who, by reading Luther’s and Calvin’s works, became infected with their heresies, and fearing to be discovered in Spain, where the stake awaited him, went to Germany, but the climate not agreeing with him, he came to Naples, and contracted a friendship with Peter Martyr, and then made him a Sacramentarian. As soon as he tasted the poison himself, he began to communicate it to others who used to meet him in a church. This had not gone on long when he was charged with his errors before the Nuncio, and immediately called to Rome. His brethren in religion, with whom he always lived on the best terms, and who certainly believed him innocent, took up his defence most warmly, and he was most fully acquitted and dismissed.

From Home he went to Lucca, where he thought he could establish a Zuinglian congregation, with less risk to himself than in Naples, and he succeeded so far, that among others he made four proselytes among the Professors of the University. They were in a little while discovered, and obliged to fly to the Protestant Cantons of Switzerland, where they soon became Ministers. Peter being discovered also, and not knowing where to fly, turned his steps likewise to Switzerland, hoping that his disciples there would procure a Professorship for him. He went first to Zurich, and afterwards to Basle; but as he wished to make himself the master of all, he met but a cool reception in either place. He then went to Bucer, in Strasbourg, who received every heretic, and procured him immediately a Professorship of Theology. He remained there till called to England, where he went with a nun he married, and was received with great honour in London, and was appointed to a Chair in Oxford, with double the salary that was promised to him. He returned to Strasbourg, in 1553, and finally went to teach his blasphemies in Zurich, where he died in 1562, loaded with fruits of perdition, for besides the many years he taught his errors in all these places, he composed and left after him also a number of works to sustain them (15).


(1) Nat. Alex. t. 19, s. 3, n. 3.
(2) Floremund in Synopsi. l. 2, c. 8, n. 9.
(3) Gotti, loc. cit. n. 15.
(4) Gotti, n. 1C, & Nat. Alex. loc. cit.
(5) Varill. L 8, p. 356.
(6) Gotti, n. 17,
(7) Gotti, c. 109, s. 2, in fine.
(8) Gotti, t. 2, c. 109, see. 4; Varil. t, 1 l. 8, p. 363.
(9) Gotti, loc. cit. n. 1.
(10) Varil. loc. cit.
(11) Gotti, loc. cit. n. 2, 3; Varil. t. 1, l. 8, p. 364.
(12) Varil. l. 11, p. 297.
(13) Gotti, loc. cit. n. 5.
(14) Varillas, t. 2, l. 17, p. 106; Dizion. Port, alia parola Vermigli.
(15) Varillas, I. 17, p. 106; Berti Hist. sec. 16, c. 3; Van Ranst, sec. 16, p. 391; Dizion. Portat. loc. cit.