27
August 1575 A.D. Pierre
Viret—French Reformer Ordered out of France
Graves, Dan. “Pierre Viret Ordered Out of
France.” Christianity.com. Apr 2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1501-1600/pierre-viret-ordered-out-of-france-11630009.html. Accessed 19 May 2007.
Pierre Viret was the most popular preacher in
sixteenth century France. Among the cities which invited him to preach were
Paris, Orleans, Avignon, Montauban, and Montpellier. He was established at
Nimes at the time. Pierre accepted Montpellier's offer, believing Christ wanted
him there; and he converted almost the whole faculty of the city's medical
college to Reformation Christianity. But unlike Calvin, Knox and other reformers,
Pierre Viret's name gets almost no recognition today.
Curiously enough, he was not
even a Frenchman. He was born in the little Swiss town of Orbe in 1511. His
parents were poor, but Pierre took advantage of a free education to begin his
life of scholarship. Eventually he attended the University of Paris. As in
Switzerland, some of his teachers were Lutheran sympathizers and he became a
convert to Reformation faith.
William Farel, the same man who
later convinced John Calvin to become a preacher, convinced Pierre too. From
then on, his whole life was dedicated to godliness and spreading the gospel. He
was so effective that Catholic enemies tried to stab him to death; he was
severely wounded. Later, Catholics poisoned his spinach. He survived, but he
suffered stomach problems ever afterward.
A beautiful thing about Pierre
was that these ugly attacks and the riots that accompanied his sermons, did not
warp his spirit. To the contrary, he preached just as lovingly to his enemies
as ever. Although he was staunchly Protestant, he labored to bring about reconciliation
between Catholics and Protestants.
For many years he worked in
Lausanne and Geneva before beginning his work in France. Thousands attended his
sermons. Whole regions came to Christ under his teaching. Although we often
describe the Huguenots as French Calvinists, many were actually converts to
Pierre's slightly different teachings. (For instance, he viewed the Lord's
Supper as more symbolic than Calvin did.) When Pierre was at Lyons in Southern
France, Catholics regained control of that region. On this
day, August 27, 1565 Pierre received a notice telling him
to get out. He went to Navarre which was ruled by the Protestant queen, Jeanne
d'Albret.
A few years later, Pierre and
eleven other ministers were captured by the Catholics. Seven were executed.
Pierre, however, was allowed to live because the commander had heard so much
good about him from other Catholics.
Pierre suffered many things in
his life. His first wife and his children by her died of plague. His second
wife and two children also died of plague. These griefs made him a sympathetic
figure to those with similar sufferings. Despite ill health, Pierre preached
countless sermons and wrote about fifty books. He died at the age of sixty,
worn out with hard work and suffering.
Bibliography:
2. "Viret, Pierre." Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation.
3. Various internet articles.
Last updated July,
2007
No comments:
Post a Comment