Pierre Leclerc

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Pierre Leclerc († October 6, 1546 in Meaux in France ), also written Pierre le Clerc , in the English-speaking area also Peter Leclerc , Latinized Petrus Clericus , was an evangelical martyr . By profession he was a wool comb . He and the people who were sentenced to death with him have come to be known as the Fourteen Martyrs of Meaux .

background

Bishop Guillaume Briçonnet's reforms

The bishop of Meaux , Guillaume Briçonnet , took over ideas from Erasmus of Rotterdam and Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples from 1518 . Under the protection of Margaret of Navarre , he introduced church reforms in his diocese and in 1521 appointed Lefèvre as vicar general . He brought a group of friends and students with him to Meaux, among whom, invited by the bishop, was Guillaume Farel .

Evangelical parish in Meaux

Around 1523, only about six years after Martin Luther's theses were published , a small Protestant congregation emerged in Meaux; the first on French soil. The bishop tacitly tolerated this. The growth of the church eventually made further secrecy impossible.

The angry complaints of some monks threatened to trigger dangerous consequences for the bishop on the part of the state. So Briçonnet abandoned his reform course and withdrew the permission to preach Farel and his friends that he had given them in 1523. Farel was the only one to resist and had to move to Paris. The circle around Lefèvre dissolved. This worsened the situation of the evangelical community in Meaux.

Jean Leclerc

In 1524 Pope Clement VII issued a new bull of indulgence , which Briçonnet had placed on the door of Meaux Cathedral and in other exposed places. In some places the posters were torn down, instead there were notices on the city walls describing the Pope as an Antichrist .

In January 1525, Roman Catholic prayer forms in the cathedral were destroyed with knife and sword stabs, which was a clear sign of the evangelical beliefs that were growing stronger among the woolen combs and walkers of the city from reading the Bible.

Jean Leclerc, Pierre's older brother, also Wollkämmer, shared these views as did his brother, which led to his participation in the actions described. Jean Leclerc was arrested on the spot and in March 1525, following a decree of the Paris Parliament, he was publicly flogged for three consecutive days and branded on the forehead by the executioner in the presence of his mother, who exclaimed: "Long live Jesus and his banner!" .

He was exiled and moved to Metz in July 1525 , where he continued to work in his profession. He later committed a similar crime: he heard of a solemn procession that was to take place in the vicinity of the city the next day. Blind with zeal, he went to the place where the procession was to take place and broke the pictures from the pedestals on which incense was to be burned. He was arrested on the way back to the city and made no attempt to deny what he had done, but instead confessed it with satisfaction. His punishment was to have his right hand cut off and his nose torn off. His arms were tortured with pliers, his nipples were torn out, and his head was clamped in two rings made of red-hot iron. While Jean Leclerc still wrote the verse

"But their idols are silver and gold, made
by human hands."

recited from Psalm 115 ( Ps 115,4  LUT ), bleeding and mutilated, he was thrown onto the flaming sticks and burned alive. Jean Leclerc became France's first Protestant martyr.

Increasing persecution

Jean Leclerc's example made the Protestant Christians in Meaux show their true colors. The first martyr of the local community was the young clergyman Jacques Pouent, who had translated Lutheran books. Briçonnet allowed his conviction. Pouent was tied to a stake to be cremated on Place de Grève. His speech to the bystanders had such an impact that Pierre Cornu, who taught at the Sorbonne , said: “It would be better if the church had paid a million in gold ducats to prevent Pouent's speech to the people. The death of this person gave him so many successors that they will never be completely exterminated. "

Briçonnet tried to combat the violent approach of the Franciscan Order. Although he protested his innocence, he had to answer before the Paris parliament, which acted as a court. Parliament ordered further arrests. Numerous Protestant Christians were brought from Meaux to Paris and imprisoned there. They were simple people of lower class. Some people from Briçonnet's circle who had taken an indifferent position on the Reformation should also be brought to justice. Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples and the royal court preacher Roussel were able to flee to Strasbourg with Briçonnet's help; Others from their circle came to Basel.

The increasing persecution of the evangelical parish in Meaux under Bishop Briçonnet's successor Antoine Duprat brought parish life almost completely to a standstill. However, some parishioners stuck to the evangelical doctrine.

In 1528 an alleged bull of the Pope was installed in Meaux, in which the reading and distribution of Martin Luther's writings was requested.

Guillaume Briçonnet died on January 24, 1534 in his castle at Aimans . He had withdrawn from church politics and finally stood clearly on the side of Roman Catholic teaching. He was succeeded on May 5th by Antoine Duprat ; who also died on July 9, 1535. Jean XIV. De Buz followed on August 13 , during whose tenure the events about Pierre Leclerc, described in the next chapter, took place.

Life

Chief Pastor of Meaux

The small group that was left of the evangelical congregation in Meaux accepted the church organization with a council of elders, conceived by Johannes Calvin , in 1546 . The parish founded eight years earlier by French refugees in Strasbourg , which was led by Calvin, and to which there were close ties, as most of the Protestant Christians from Meaux had fled there, served as a model.

For the election of the chief pastor, that is, the preacher and administrator of the sacraments , the congregation prepared itself with a few days of fasting and prayer. The choice fell on Pierre Leclerc, who was regarded as innocent and Bible-proof. The regular services on Sundays and public holidays took place near the market in the house of an elderly citizen named Etienne Mangin. There Leclerc laid out the script; the congregation prayed, sang psalms and spiritual songs. There they renounced Roman Catholic practices that they considered idolatrous, after which they celebrated the Lord's Supper once or twice, according to biblical tradition. The core of the small congregation consisted of 40 to 50 believers who were also involved in the election of Leclerc. They were mostly common people of both sexes, but also citizens. For the first time and also for the last time in France, Lutheran and Calvinist currents converged here and in this phase. The common ground was the Bible; Luther provided the impetus, Calvin the design. The church was strongly beyond-oriented and saw itself as redeemed.

Under Pierre Leclerc's careful guidance, the community began to grow again; People from neighboring villages within a radius of about 20 km or more also heard the sermons and celebrated the sacraments in Mangin's house; 20 years after Jean Leclerc's death, between 300 and 400 Protestant Christians of both sexes and of all ages met there. This led to their early discovery and observation by opposing people.

Indeed, they have been warned by friends to be vigilant of the deliberate plans that have been made against them. The answer was that even the hairs on their heads were numbered and that what God wanted would happen. (Compare Mt 10,27-33  LUT and Lk 12,1-12  LUT .) Finally the authorities became aware.

arrest

On September 8, 1546, a day celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church as the Birth of Mary , an informant came to the magistrate at 7 a.m., who stated that the congregation was already in the process of assembling. When the city magistrate received this news, he went to Mangin's house where the service was being held. The provost with his escort and some officials, as well as the officer who was responsible for monitoring the arrests and punishments of robbers in the district in question, were also present. He too was accompanied by a large crowd. The house was surrounded by the gendarmerie.

At this point, Pierre Leclerc was in the middle of the congregation, interpreting a specific section of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians . All were gathered in an upper room. The officer's companions who entered here stood for a while in a silent group as if thundered. The examiner asked at length what brought so many people together and prevented them from visiting their own churches. "Mainly what you see," replied Leclerc, "but wait patiently until we have completed these commitments." The other officers of the magistrate replied, "No, you must go to prison." "Let's go," said Leclerc, "if it is God's will." At the same moment he was bound and shackled.

About 3 children, 19 women and 41 men, including Leclerc, were arrested. The arrested did not offer any resistance; Leclerc's friendly demeanor was adopted by the others. A young woman among them, probably still too young to understand the degree of enmity with which the proclamation was met here, should, however, report the process to the magistrate with the words “If you see me in a lewd women's shelter or some other dishonest, would have found a shameless place, so you would not have bound me and led me away from there. ”(after the translation of the Martyr's Book). The magistrate used their authority to silence them and ordered the entire congregation to be taken to the city jail.

It was an unusual sight when so many people of both sexes allowed themselves to be led away without resistance by a comparatively small group. If they had shown any will to resist, they could easily have been freed from their relatives and neighbors who were in town. But they were far from using violence or rioting. They looked almost carefree and happy and sang psalms, especially Psalm 79 ( Ps 79.1-13  LUT ), which is about the enemies of God who invade the temple.

As soon as they were locked in prison, an investigation into their “irreverent meetings and conventicles,” as their services were dubbed, began. The most serious allegation made against them, among other allegations, was that they had dared to keep the sacrament. The performance alone was seen as an attack on the priesthood, since it called its raison d'etre into question and its well-guarded authority threatened to slip into the hands of laypeople. The privileges of the clergy could have gone up in smoke as a result.

As soon as the investigation had ensured that the charges could not be jeopardized, the arrested were tied up in cars and taken to Paris . There was not even enough straw for the prisoners to rest on. The journey was made in a great hurry; no interruption or recovery was granted. The transport caused broken bones in several prisoners. Although very many of them were marked by age and toil and weakened by the strains and shocks of their companions, they did not cease to admonish and encourage each other along the way. When they arrived in the capital, they were still singing psalms on the way to the palace prison, where they were received only to be subjected to further severe agony.

process

The negotiation was carried out by Parliament. The main charges were celebrating the Lord's Supper without authorization from the Roman Catholic Church and listening to Pierre Leclerc's public readings in French. Some of the accused had to publicly retract.

It was proceeded with the greatest legal harshness, especially against 14 of the parishioners, whose names have been passed down, and who became known as the fourteen of Meaux , all men, including Leclerc, who had shown themselves to be particularly steadfast in their confession of their faith and therefore proved themselves faced the most serious allegations. On October 4th, they were sentenced to the most severe torture permitted by law, despite their injuries sustained on the transport, of "heresy, blasphemy, conventualism and forbidden gatherings, schism and wrongdoing" . Then they were to be dragged on wickerwork to the large market square of Meaux, near Etienne Mangin's house, and then burned alive there in public. The following people were involved:

  • Pierre Leclerc
  • Etienne Mangin
  • Jaques Bouchebec
  • Jean Brissebarre
  • Henri Hutinot
  • Thomas Honnoré
  • Jean Baudouin
  • Jean Flesche
  • Jean Piquery
  • Pierre Piquery
  • Jean Matheflon
  • Philippe Petit
  • Michel Caillon
  • François Leclerc

People who were less suspicious of the steadfastness of their evangelical faith received lesser sentences. This affected both sexes. Five were flogged and banished; ten, all women, were released; the others received different levels of fines. Some were sentenced to watch the executions in shameful positions. One of them was to be hung under the armpits with his neck in a sling while he was to watch the executions. Some of the women should also watch the men being burned.

The parliament found that the bishop was guilty of negligence in allowing such meetings. The evidence indicated that there were myriad "Lutherans and heretics" in Meaux in addition to those presented. They should all be located. All books in the city related to the Christian religion were to be placed in the archive within eight days. Special sermons should be delivered and atonement processions held.

The judgment was published in Paris to immortalize the memory of the incident.

The first president of the court at that time was Pierre Liset. He got the remaining senatorial judges to separate the 14 death row inmates. They were initially distributed individually to different monasteries. There they should revoke what should be facilitated by the isolation from each other. But they refused.

The house, which had served their meetings, was completely demolished according to the resolution of the parliament, as an eternal sign of their “irreverence”, as the convicts were told. A chapel in honor of the Holy Sacrament was built in its place. A mass should be read there every Thursday to worship the host, according to the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. These measures were financed with the confiscated property of the convicts.

Return to Meaux

The prisoners were brought back to Meaux to carry out the death sentences ; the executions were supposed to take place in the big market place in order to carry out the punishment as close as possible to the place of the "crime". When the prisoners were transported to Meaux, Maillardus and Picard, two high-ranking theologians who had obtained their doctorate at the Sorbonne, rode with them on mules and tried to dissuade them from their evangelical faith. When this became too much for Leclerc, he replied to Picard: “Get away from us, Satan, and do not prevent us from contemplating the great benefits that God has shown us through his Son Jesus, in whom we care much more than yours Shouting. ”(Again according to the book of martyrs.) When Leclerc asked what the basis of their doctrine of transubstantiation was, and whether they had tasted the flesh and blood of Christ even once while eating the bread and wine, they had no answer.

In the village of Couberon, near the forest of Livry, a linen weaver encouraged the death row inmates to martyrdom on October 5th with the words “Brothers, think of Him who is in heaven”. The archers who formed the escort seized him and threw him onto the cart to the prisoners, who saw themselves confirmed by him, who was now to share their fate.

torture

The aim of the torture, which was described as "extraordinary", was that the convicts should denounce other Protestant Christians. None of them could be made to do it. One of the tortured is said to have said to the torturers: “Brave it on this wretched body. Do not spare him who has at times been so stubborn to the spirit and its Creator. "(See Martyr's Book)

execution

The death row inmates' wives and their immediate relatives were sentenced to attend the October 6th executions in the market square. The men had to go bareheaded, the women by their side, so that the wives and relatives could be distinguished from the rest of the audience. The five people sentenced to flogging and exile had to watch the executions hung under their armpits by parliament. The other convicts had to wear ropes around their necks.

The death row inmates were at 14 o'clock from the dungeon fetched. Etienne Mangin and Pierre Leclerc were carried on braids to the stakes set up in a circle, the others were brought to the place of execution in carts. Six of the death row inmates agreed to go to confession with a priest . In this way they avoided the additional punishment that the other people sentenced to death were given: their tongues were cut out before the cremation, the usual punishment for those who died “unrepentant”. It is sometimes assumed that this should also prevent the viewers from being seduced by the words of the people to be executed.

Etienne Mangin was the first to be asked to stick out his tongue, which he willingly did. It was alleged that after his tongue had been cut out and he had spat out the blood, Magin was able to say three more times understandably: “Le nom de Dieu soit beni.” (In English: “The name of the Lord be praised.”) The book of martyrs by Crespin and Corvinus draws a comparison with the early ecclesiastical martyr Romanus of Caesarea , of whom Prudentius also claims that after the amputation of his tongue he was still able to profess the Christian faith in understandable words, a legendary motif known as elinguis eloquentia .

Tied to their stakes, they could look at each other and encourage them. So Leclerc was burned alive along with the linen weaver and the other condemned to death . It was reported that some of them continued to praise God out loud until their last breath. At the same time, opposing spectators screamed in rage and priests sang the O salutaris hostia and the Salve Regina loudly , drowning out the condemned.

This was followed by the flogging of the five convicts who were then arrested. The other convicts had to ask for forgiveness for their “crime” by parliamentary resolution and take part in a penitential procession.

Sermon against Leclerc and the other executed people

On October 7th, when the weather was fine, Picard once again stepped in a splendid procession on the market square, where the remains of the pyre were still smoldering, and preached under a canopy of gold cloth in a celebratory sermon to conclude the execution of the sentence against the people burned the previous day. He is said to have said that whoever wanted to be saved must believe that those who were executed would now have to endure the punishment from hell. Even if an angel says otherwise, one should not believe him. God would not be God if he did not condemn the burned.

Picard's speech is said not to have had a very convincing effect on listeners who did not lean towards the Reformation, as his portrayal of the executed did not correspond to the image that the people who had known them personally made themselves of them during their lifetime, especially theirs Relatives.

More executions

The evangelical community of Meaux was initially destroyed, but the survivors brought the Reformation to other cities in France and a Reformed community was formed again in Meux. In 1546 five other Protestant Christians had already been burned in Paris, including the learned printer Étienne Dolet , and others died in the provinces. In 1547 further executions followed, in accordance with Francis I's policy .

Remembrance day

October 6 in the Evangelical Name Calendar , together with the other men who were burned to death on October 6, 1546 in Meaux.

An unofficial day of remembrance for Leclerc on a different date can already be found in C. Goltwurm's church calendar from 1559. The date customary today was, initially also unofficially, by Jörg Erb for his book Die Wolke der Zeugen (Kassel 1951/1963, Vol. 4, calendar on pp. 508–520). The Evangelical Church in Germany took over in 1969, this Memorial Day in the then introduced Evangelical Name calendar since this Protestant Memorial has official character.

Plaque

At the reformed church of St. Nicolas in the Rue du Faubourg in Meaux, a plaque commemorates the 14 of Meaux.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christianisme et formes Letter Aires de L'Antiquite Tardive en Occident , Fondation Hardt, Geneva 1977
  2. ↑ Eberhard Gresch: The Huguenots , Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2009 , ISBN 978-3-374-02260-1 , p. 218
personal data
SURNAME Leclerc, Pierre
ALTERNATIVE NAMES le Clerc, Pierre; Leclerc, Peter; Clericus, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French evangelical martyr
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century or 16th century
DATE OF DEATH October 6, 1546
Place of death Meaux