Luigi Pasquali (theologian)

Luigi Pasquali also Pasquale (* around 1530 in Cuneo in Piedmont ; † September 9, 1560 in Rome : actually Giovanni Luigi Pasquale , also Giovan Luigi Paschale ) was a Waldensian preacher and evangelical martyr in Italy .

Life

Pasquali came from a wealthy family. Initially, he embarked on a military career and became an officer . As part of his service he came to Nice , which like Coni belonged to Savoy . Here Pasquali got to know the ideas of the Reformation through Reformation writings. He left the military and studied theology in Lausanne and Geneva . While still a student, he started translating the Bible into Italian and distributed it.

After completing his studies, he was sent from Geneva to the Waldensians in Calabria , where he worked as a preacher. Soon he was arrested and taken to Naples . He did not comply with requests for revocation, possibly also because he experienced that two people arrested with him were not treated better than he was despite the disclosure of the Reformation confession.

Eventually he was brought to Rome . Pasquali was aware that he would be martyred . But he hoped that his death would lead to the spread of the gospel creed. A last public interrogation was carried out on September 8, 1560 in the Roman Dominican monastery of Santa Maria sopra Minerva . The death sentence was then announced.

The execution was carried out publicly in front of the Castel Sant'Angelo in the presence of Pope Pius IV . Pasquali also used this opportunity to preach in the Reformation until he was strangled and burned . His ashes were scattered in the Tiber .

Remembrance day

September 9 in the Evangelical Name Calendar .

Web links

• Martin Senftleben: Luigi Pasquali. In: The church year. May 27, 2018 . 

Individual evidence

1. ^ Joachim Schäfer: Luigi Pasquali. In: Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints . July 3, 2017, accessed November 1, 2018 .