Five Martyrs of Lyon

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Five Martyrs of Lyons is the name given to five southern French theology students who were burned in Lyons on May 16, 1553 for attempting to spread the Protestant faith . Their names are:

  • Martial Alba (also spelled Martialis Alba ) from Montauban
  • Pierre Escrivain (in German spelling Peter l'Ecrivain , Latinized Petrus Sc (h) riba , Peter Scriba or Petrus Escrivain ) from Boulogne in Gascony
  • Bernard Seguin ( Bernhard Seguin , Latinized Bernhardus Seguinus or Bernhard Seguinus ) from la Réole in Bazadois
  • Charles Favre ( Karl Favre or Carl Favre , also Charles Faure or Karl Faber , Latinized Carolus Fabritius , Carolus Faber or Carolus le Fevre ) from Blanzac in Angoumois
  • Pierre Navihères ( Peter Navi (h) ères , Latinized Petrus Naverius , Petrus Nahuieres , Petrus Naviherus or Peter Naviherus ) from Limoges

Life

Education

All five had studied in Calvinist Lausanne at the expense of the Canton of Bern , and some of their training took place in Geneva . Bernard Seguin stayed with his teacher Théodore de Bèze , Pierre Navihères with Pierre Viret .

Before Easter 1552, Seguin informed de Bèze of his intention to travel to France with the four others at the invitation of the Protestant Christians there. There they wanted to spread the word of God according to the evangelical understanding at their different places of birth, first to their parents and relatives, then to other people.

travel

After completing their studies and receiving their permission to preach, they first traveled to Geneva from Lausanne, after they had successfully asked the Lausanne Church to approve their plan and had received good leadership and teaching certificates from it. There was also a letter of recommendation from Viret. They stayed in Geneva for a few days, where they also had personal contact with John Calvin . At Viret's request, they also received letters of recommendation from him to other Reformed Christians.

On their journey home together, they approached the Roman Catholic Lyon after a few days. At Bourg de Colonges near L'Écluse , they met a Lyons citizen who was strange to them and who offered himself as a companion. They talked animatedly with him about evangelical teaching. The companion asked her to visit him.

The Five arrived in Lyon on April 30, 1552. Their accommodation was poor, as there were many foreigners in the city at that time. The later events are likely to be traced back to thoughtless remarks in this inn. The five decided the following day to accept the offer of their previous companion. They spent a pleasant time with him in the garden when the weather was nice, then they found lunch prepared for themselves. They said an evangelical grace, sat down, and began a pleasant conversation on religious subjects again.

arrest

Suddenly the royal criminal judge Poullet and his assistant came in, accompanied by twenty men. The judge asked about her identity. One of them replied that they were students from the Holy Roman Empire . They were asked again for their first and last names, origin, status and occupation. They were then searched and handcuffed together with their host in groups of two without having violated the ban on preaching, without having been given the name of the plaintiff and without submitting an arrest warrant. Onlookers gathered at the place of arrest and on the route from which they were taken.

The theologians admonished themselves in Latin to confess Christ freely and steadfastly and were thrown into the archbishop's dungeon, where they appealed to God.

interrogation

After an hour, they were interrogated in front of the clerical court of the official. The interrogations were conducted by the Inquisitor Orry. The theologians later reported to parents and friends about these interrogations, which lasted several days and in which Roman Catholic theologians, Dominicans, Franciscans and Carmelites were involved. The five defended themselves so skillfully and biblically that they often silenced their opponents during interrogations. They asked for writing materials in court and in prison they wrote down their biblically based creeds, which they then handed over to the court.

Pierre Escrivain's doctrine of the Lord's Supper

Escrivain's speech in particular seemed to impress the judge. So he was asked if he believed in transubstantiation . He denied this, since Christ was sitting at God's right hand and would only return from there on the last day. At the same time, the divine nature of Christ is omnipresent. So in the Lord's Supper he takes the body and blood of Christ to himself, but in the spiritual and not in the bodily sense: Christ is indeed in heaven, but feeds us through his spirit at a distance, so that the believer is one in a way that the understanding cannot grasp with him would. (See also consubstantiation )

Pierre Escrivain's Doctrine of Intercession for the Dead

He was also asked if the dead should be interceded. He also denied this: If they were in paradise, this was not necessary, if they were damned, intercession would be contrary to the will of God. (In doing so, he implicitly opposed the idea of purgatory .)

Pierre Escrivain's Doctrine of Confession

The next question was whether to go to confession in front of a priest. Escrivain replied that one should only confess before God. David thought that too. Escrivain quoted Psalm 32 in particular : “I said, I want to confess my transgression to the Lord. Since you forgave the iniquity of my sin. "( Ps 32.5  LUT ) This, Escrivain was the right confession from which the forgiveness follows from grace. But the ear confession contradicts the word of God, quoting Psalm 51 : "For you alone, Lord, I have sinned, and done evil before you." ( Ps 51: 6  NIV )

Escrivain was taken back to the dungeon, where he thanked God for the courage to confess freely and asked for further help, as he stated in letters.

Pierre Escrivain's teaching on biblical interpretation

There were further interrogations. A Dominican argued to him that the word "is" is never synonymous with "it means" in the Bible. Escrivain replied that Genesis said that circumcision was the covenant with God. The Bible explains elsewhere, especially with Paul, that circumcision is only a sign of the covenant with God.

Pierre Escrivain's Doctrine of the Beatitude of Abraham and Other Fathers

He was also asked whether the Fathers of the Old Testament also shared in grace. To this he replied that Paul had written to the Corinthians that the fathers ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink ( 1 Cor 10.3-4  NIV ). Thus, through their faith, they also received the same grace. Escrivain names Abraham as an example, of whom Christ said that Abraham saw Christ's day and was happy about it ( Jn 8:56  LUT ). Abraham saw Christ not with carnal but with spiritual eyes in faith.

More on the doctrine of the Lord's Supper

Once again the official accused him personally of not believing in transubstantiation. Escrivain replied that the Bible itself taught that one should seek Christ's body in heaven. He quoted from the third chapter of the Letter to the Colossians: "If you have risen with Christ, look not for what is earthly, but what is above in heaven, since Christ is set at the right hand of God." ( Col 3: 1  LUT ) The thought of transubstantiation reject Paul in 1 Cor 11: 23-28  LUT , because there he describes the bread as bread and not as the body of Christ in four or five places. The bread remains bread, but through the words of institution it is given a special meaning for gaining eternal life.

Pierre Escrivain and his judges: hell punishment or redemption?

The official replied that Escrivain should be burned and go to Hell. Escrivain said that if he was burned for the word of God, he would not go to the devil for it. If he were cremated, his judges would instead be condemned to hell in the Last Judgment, while those innocently condemned to death, including himself, would enter eternal bliss. The official got angry and had Escrivain thrown back into the dungeon.

Escrivain later wrote that he was pleased to hear the words of Christ, “You will be presented to them as testimony before kings, princes and judges. And then I want to give you such eloquence and wisdom that you will not be able to resist. ”( Mt 10 : 18-20  LUT ) had crossed his mind. He could now refer to them for his consolation, as well as many other promises for those who should suffer for Christ's name, and saw himself in the community of all prophets, apostles and martyrs who had to go through something similar to what he wrote. He is certain of his eternal reward.

During a further interrogation, Escrivain protested against the arrest, claiming that they had not violated the ban on preaching and that no adequate investigation had taken place. Muslims and Jews are granted religious freedom, so why, he argued, not also them, who only followed the word of God? Escrivain threatened the last judgment again if an unfair verdict was passed. The official hereditary and ran around the room. Escrivain later wrote that the judges were more trapped and troubled than he and his comrades. He feels that he is only physically trapped, but not in spirit, as he wrote, while his judges are serfs of the devil and have a guilty conscience.

Pierre Escrivain's teaching from the Pope

The Franciscan monk Dr. de Combis said to Escrivain: “You say that St. Peter was not the head of the churches. See, I want to prove it to you. The Lord Christ said to St. Peter: >> You are Simon, son of Jonas; henceforth you shall be called Cephas. << Now the word Cephas means Caput in Latin and chief in French, that is a head. ”Escrivain answered:“ Lord, where did you get this interpretation from? St. John the Evangelist chap. 1, 42 ( Joh 1,42  LUT ) interprets it much differently. Because he says: >> You should be called Cephas, that is interpreted: A rock. << That is why Cephas is called a rock and not a head. ”Judge Vilards, who was sitting right next to the monks, picked up a New Testament and was able to confirm Escrivain's statement. The monk bowed his head, blushed, and fell silent.

When asked whether he denied that the Pope was Christ's vicar on earth, Escrivain replied: “Do you believe then that he who fills heaven and earth rules his church directly through his Spirit and is with us every day until an? the end of the world, in need of a governor? "(See Mt 28 : 18-20  LUT .) After Escrivain's interrogation, the judge fell into silence and then went away with the words:" Yes, what the word of God is, one must of course claim."

Bernard Seguin

Bernard Seguin was asked about human free will. He replied that after the fall of Adam, man could no longer be saved on his own.

He was also asked about Roman Catholic baptism ceremonies. He said that one should limit oneself to the biblical basics. Anyone who adds something to the water, such as the cross, fire, saliva, baptismal exorcism, salt or the like, would document that he considers John the Baptist and Christ himself to be incapable with their simple baptismal ceremonies.

Pierre Navihères

Pierre Navihères was also asked about his understanding of the Lord's Supper. So he was confronted with the words of institution that would confirm the doctrine of transubstantiation. He argued with the early Christian writers: Tertullian had in his fourth book contradicts Marcionem the Words with "This is a sign and figure of my body" interpreted as Augustine of Hippo wrote: "The Lord has had no hesitation in saying this is my Body, whether he divided nothing but the figure of his body. "And Irenaeus of Lyon said in his fourth book, chapter 5:" [...] like the Eucharist, which consists of two elements, an earthly and a heavenly [...] " With earthly food are meant bread and wine, which have retained their nature but are destined for a higher use, with the heavenly food the body and blood of Christ. The secret behind this is not to be sought in the earthly, but in the heavenly. The Council of Nicaea also argued that one should not stick to bread and wine with one's bodily eyes, but rather raise one's gaze to Christ at God's side.

Navihères was also asked about the punishment for heretics. He referred to the old church custom of not killing heretics, but to try to lead them back on the right path with biblical arguments. If they hadn't changed their mind, they'd just been banned. His own teaching is not heresy.

He was also asked if he was a Lutheran . He replied that his teaching was not based on Martin Luther's but on the Bible. Not Luther, but Christ came from heaven. But it is foretold in the Bible that he himself would be persecuted for his right faith.

Death sentence

After a short trial before the court of heretics, the theologians were sentenced to death .

captivity

Letters from the prisoners

Evangelical residents of Lyon, mostly of Swiss descent, had advised the five to appeal, which they now did. So the theologians sent a petition for clemency to the Paris Parliament, which served as the highest court of appeal in France. There was actually an appeal process, which saved time. The young theologians were held captive under harsh conditions throughout this period.

From their captivity they wrote letters to their relatives to lead them to the Protestant faith as well. A considerable part of their correspondence, which they also had with Calvin, among others, has been preserved; some of these letters can be read in the book by Paul Henry mentioned in the chapter "Web Links". Among other things, they wrote to their relatives: “Love one another, hold your meetings diligently… value God's honor above your life. We are happy and confident in the shadow of death ... "

Pierre Navihère's father disowned his son because of his alleged heresy, as he informed him in writing. Navihères replied that God be the Father of all things. He further quoted Isa 49.15  LUT : “Can a mother forget her child? Yes, if a mother already forgets her child, I don't want to forget yours, nor leave you. ”He denied that he was damned, as his father wrote to him, with clear words that he was redeemed through his faith. Whoever instigated his father should be aware of the Last Judgment.

Navihère wrote to his maternal uncle, whoever condemned him and his biblically based teaching, condemn the Bible and the teaching of the apostles and church teachers themselves. His old uncle should openly confess his evangelical faith, so as not to endanger his eternal happiness, whatever may can he achieve with the rest of his life? Navihère said that God would demand the blood of those who would not be converted around his uncle from his hands. May he consider the cross of Christ higher than earthly wealth. Suffering with Christ is necessary to share his salvation. The splendor of the world only leads to damnation.

He wrote this in another letter to relatives, in which he insulted the splendor of the Roman Catholic Church as anti-Christian and condemnable.

Help from de Bèze, Viret, Calvin and the Bernese magistrate

De Bèze and Viret asked the Bern magistrate for help, first in writing, then with a personal visit. On May 21, 1552 a letter was sent to King Henry II , who promised the release of the prisoners. When the release did not take place, another letter followed, this time to the royal governor of Lyons, and when this too was unsuccessful, a letter to the official at Lyons. The conditions of detention were eased.

Calvin wrote to the prisoners on June 10, 1552: "Whatever the case, we hope that God will give your captivity a happy ending."

Embassy to the King

The four reformed Swiss cantons of Basel , Bern , Schaffhausen and Zurich sent an embassy, ​​consisting of the mayor of Zurich , Hans Hab , and a representative from Basel , to King Heinrich II. The king granted them an audience in Tours . The ambassadors asked the king, who was preparing for a hunting expedition, to moderate the penalties and to allow French Protestants to read the Bible and practice their faith in private, but not to allow illegal behavior. The king replied:

“I have had similar impressions from you; but I ask you will neither grieve nor err in my kingdom; because I do not hinder you in your regiment. And in sum: all in my kingdom of this religion are rebels and evil people, whom I do not want. "

The embassy reported on this meeting in a letter dated July 29, 1552. Despite the king's harsh response, the efforts led to the execution of the sentence being postponed for a year.

Embassy to the cardinal

Another delegation, this time made up of high-ranking Bernese personalities, turned to Cardinal François II. De Tournon , the Archbishop of Lyon, when he was traveling through the canton from Rome . The cardinal replied kindly that Parliament was now responsible for the matter, but that he wanted to stand up for the prisoners.

Roman Catholic Christians, who were impressed by the way of life and character of the prisoners, stood up for them. The prisoners also included the Geneva pastry maker Pierre Bergier and the student Louis Corbeil.

Further attempts at liberation

A second petition to the king followed on December 1, 1552.

Also in December 1552, the prisoners informed their friends in Zurich of the offer that the cardinal had made in Bern, with the request that the French ambassador in Baden, Bassefontaine, be asked for help, as he was righteous and influential with the king.

On January 17, 1553, the cardinal was reminded of his promise with a letter. Viret sent a messenger to the Paris Parliament with a letter at his own expense.

On January 29, 1553, the cardinal replied, which, in turn, appeared to be positive. The Lyon Council has now been written to.

On February 18, 1553, the death sentence was confirmed by parliament, and the news reached the prisoners on March 1.

On March 2, 1553, another letter was sent to the cardinal.

On March 7, 1553, Calvin had apparently given up hope of a revision of the sentence and wrote to the prisoners: "I am quite sure that nothing will shake the strength that he [God] has placed in you."

Quite a few citizens suggested further requests for clemency from the Bern Council, which was responsible for Lausanne, to the king. The corresponding letters date to March 15 and 18, 1553. In the first letter, the Bernese complained about Tournon's broken words. The second letter was delivered by courier and reminded the king of his promise. He was reminded that the theologians were Bernese scholarship holders, that they had obeyed the ban on preaching and that the king had benefited from Bern’s support and was now owed a favor. All of this shows how much the council worked to save the Five.

Because of the French citizenship of the theologians and the opposition of the cardinal, these attempts were also unsuccessful. Furthermore, at a time of conflict with the Roman-German Emperor and the Pope, the king tried hard to prove his Catholic orthodoxy by cracking down on Protestantism.

Calvin, who had most likely hoped for success from the Bernese pardon, wrote to the five prisoners again on April 22, 1553; the text testifies to Desels (see web links) judgment of Calvin's sympathy and his pastoral skills.

Missionary and Reformation work in prison

The theologians convinced some of their fellow prisoners and visitors of the Reformation . They also succeeded in guiding prisoners into repentance. One example was the mugger and murderer Chambon, who was held captive in chains and plagued by lice. He cursed his parents, God, himself and the authorities. The Five made him repent after two months and hope for salvation in Christ, as he himself wrote. The change in behavior resulted in his being released from his shackles, better food and more visitors. After seven months he was no longer plagued by lice. In his letter, Chambon expressed great gratitude to the theologians. These events encouraged the theologians, who saw in the repentance of the murderer a grace from God that they themselves hoped for.

So that they could not further spread the evangelical doctrine among their fellow prisoners, they were isolated from the other prisoners and given a common cell. But this meant that they could comfort and strengthen each other. Every evening one of them said a prayer and asked the others to go inside and consider whether they had sinned against anyone in deed or word at the end of the day. Day and night they sang psalms and hymns of praise, as mentioned in a letter. The prisoners' letters and confessions were circulated in Lyon, they were attacked in fasting sermons and complained that they were granted too many freedoms to infect the city with their heresy.

On May 5, 1553, Bernard Seguin wrote a warm thank you letter to the Bern magistrate on behalf of everyone. One of the Lyon merchants, Johannes Leyner, who came from St. Gallen , was particularly committed to the five. Besides making other friends for her, he traveled to Bern and won a protest from local citizens at the council against the death sentence.

Day of execution

On May 16, 1553, at 9 a.m., the theologians were brought before the court again in the room of Rouanne Prison, where they learned that the day of their execution by burning had come. They were then taken to a kind of death row , where they first had to wait. The following events have been handed down by Jean Crespin as follows:

The five theologians prayed intensely in the cell. Some lay face down on the ground, others looked up at the sky. Then, apparently delighted, they sang psalms. Those present seemed impressed. At 1 p.m., the death row inmates had to put on gray coats and were then led out with their hands tied. They encouraged one another in the face of what they called “victory” on the stake that was approaching. They were taken to the Terreaux execution site on a cart, where they sang Psalm 9 , which they could not finish. But they kept calling on God and quoting the Bible. As they drove over a bridge over the Saône , one of them addressed the large audience:

"May the God of peace, who brought the great Shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, back from the dead by the blood of the eternal testament, fix you in every good work, that you may do his will." (Compare Heb 13:20 -21  LUT .)

Then, taking turns after each article, they spoke the Apostles' Creed to demonstrate the unity of their faith. The spokesman for the article "conceived by the Holy Spirit , born of the Virgin Mary " spoke particularly loudly, as the incorrect claim had previously been made that the Five had denied this article and blasphemed the Virgin Mary. The bailiffs ordered them to remain silent under threat of beatings, to which they replied several times:

"Are you going to prevent us from praising and supplicating God for the short time we still have to live?"

At the place of execution , the young men had to completely undress. The two youngest were the first to stake out and went on the set around the pile of wood, Martial Alba, the eldest, followed last. When she arrived at the stake, the executioner tied her up. Alba had previously prayed kneeling on the wood for a long time and continued to pray while the hangman pulled him up by the shoulders. Then Alba asked Lieutenant Tignac a favor. When the latter asked him: “What do you want?” Alba replied: “That I could kiss my brothers before I die.” The lieutenant allowed him. Alba kissed the four already tied to the stakes from the pile of wood and said to each of them: “Vale mi frater.”, Loosely translated: “Adieu, adieu, my brother.” Or “God commanded, dear brother!” The four others too tried to kiss each other and said: "Vale mi frater!" Alba joined in the greeting, went down to the stake and hugged and kissed the hangman with the words: "My friend, do not forget what I told you."

In order to increase the flammability, the executioner rubbed their naked bodies with fat and sprinkled them with sulfur, then they were tied with a chain. To shorten their suffering, a rope was hung around their necks. The executioner was supposed to strangle her with the ropes bundled at the other end . The behavior of the young men is said to have had such an effect on the bystanders that it was feared that the audience might be seduced into evangelical faith. In any case, this is believed to be the reason why the executioner was asked to hasten the execution in this way. Then the fire was lit. The ropes caught fire and did not fulfill their function. So the death row inmates stayed alive for a while and their voices could be heard in the fire. Her last words are said to have been there: "Courage, my brothers, courage!"

reception

De Bèze wrote the lamentation poem Elegia in quinque constantissimos Christi Martyres, Lugduni crematos XVI. calend. Junii on. 1553 in honor of the Five Martyrs of Lyon.

In 1558, on the occasion of the covenant between Geneva and Switzerland, the clergyman Ludwig Enoch proposed that a tragedy about the Five Martyrs of Lyons be performed in Geneva in honor of the Bern ambassadors.

Claas Bruin (1670–1732) published the book Korte schets van het leven en sterven der Martelaren in 1719, which includes the poem De Verbranding van vyf Scholieren about them after the chapter on and the illustration on the five martyrs of Lyon :

De Verbranding van vyf SCHOLIEREN
Gelukkig vyftal! hoe hated en eensgezind
Despise gy ´t Leven om in ´t Paradys te woonen,
Nu ´t God claims u met the Marteldood te kroonen!
Een teken dat hy u uit tederheid bemint:
Maar who claim in dertelheid en wellust schept,
Leeft as a bastard daar geen zorg before word.

Simon Doekes quoted Bruin's poem in 1741 in his collection of poems Verzameling der overgeblevene bybelzede- en mengelpoëzy .

In 1747 it appeared in De Historie der Martelaren by Adriaen Cornelis van Haemstede, here, as in 1719, again as a caption for a biography of the five martyrs of Lyon.

In 1927 the German publishing house in Stuttgart and Berlin published the novel Die Studenten von Lyon by Josef Ponten about the five martyrs. Thomas Mann had warned of this work several times and admired it after its publication, as did Hermann Hesse . The novel was also translated into Italian.

Remembrance day

May 16 in the Evangelical Name Calendar .

Before the introduction of the official name calendar, the day of remembrance was already listed in:

  • Theodor Fliedner : Book of Martyrs , Kaiserswerth 1849/1859, Vol. 4, pp. 1399-1404
  • Ferdinand Piper : Evangelical Calendar in Witnesses of Truth , Berlin 1874/1875, Vol. 1, pp. 14-25
  • Prussian Evangelical Oberkirchenrat: Calendar of names for the German people , Berlin 1876
  • Jörg Erb : The Cloud of the Witnesses , Kassel 1951/1963, Vol. 4, pp. 508-520
  • A. Ringwald: People before God , Stuttgart 1957/1968

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Hecker in The Church in the Village in the Eubaer Anzeiger , Chemnitz-Euba, June 2005 ( Memento from May 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ The text of the letter can be found at Glaubensstimme.de .
  3. ^ Pen- and-ink drawing from 1575 from Johann Jakob Wick : Collection of news on contemporary history from 1560–87 (with older pieces), manuscript
  4. ↑ The full text of the letter is available at Glaubensstimme.de .
  5. ↑ This text is also available at Glaubensstimme.de .