Pietro Martire Vermigli, sometimes simply
Peter Martyr (September 8 1499 – November 12 1562), was an
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
theologianThe term "theology" literally means the study of God, deriving from the Greek word theos, meaning 'God', and the suffix -ology from the Greek word logos meaning "discourse", "theory", or "reasoning"...
of the
ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe which is generally deemed to have begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 although a number of precursors such as Jan Hus predate that event...
period.
He was born at
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence...
, the son of Stefano di Antonio Vermigli and Maria Fumantina, a moderately well-to-do family. The young couple originally christened their child
Piero Mariano, though he took the name Peter Martyr when he was ordained into the Augustinian order after
St. Peter MartyrPeter Martyr is the name of:*Peter of Verona, 13th century martyr*Pietro Martire Vermigli, 16th century Italian theologian*Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, 16th century Italian-born historian...
.
Pietro Martire Vermigli, sometimes simply
Peter Martyr (September 8 1499 – November 12 1562), was an
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
theologianThe term "theology" literally means the study of God, deriving from the Greek word theos, meaning 'God', and the suffix -ology from the Greek word logos meaning "discourse", "theory", or "reasoning"...
of the
ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe which is generally deemed to have begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 although a number of precursors such as Jan Hus predate that event...
period.
Life
He was born at
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence...
, the son of Stefano di Antonio Vermigli and Maria Fumantina, a moderately well-to-do family. The young couple originally christened their child
Piero Mariano, though he took the name Peter Martyr when he was ordained into the Augustinian order after
St. Peter MartyrPeter Martyr is the name of:*Peter of Verona, 13th century martyr*Pietro Martire Vermigli, 16th century Italian theologian*Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, 16th century Italian-born historian...
. Educated in the Augustinian cloister at
FiesoleFiesole is a town and comune of the province of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a famously scenic height above Florence, 8 km NE of that city...
, he was transferred in 1519 to the convent of St John of Verdara near
PaduaPadua is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice , in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area, having a population of c...
, where he graduated
D.D.Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....
about 1527 and made the acquaintance of the future
Cardinal PoleReginald Cardinal Pole was an English Cardinal in the Catholic Church, and the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, holding office during the Counter Reformation.-To the reign of Queen Mary I:...
. From that year onwards he was employed as a public preacher at
BresciaBrescia is a city in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 191,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...
,
PisaPisa is a city in Tuscany, central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the Arno River on the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
,
VeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy, the capital of the region Veneto, a population of 271,367 . Together with Padua, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area . The city historically was an independent nation...
and
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
; and in his intervals of leisure he mastered
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
and
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Culturally, it is considered a Jewish language. Hebrew in its modern form is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel while Classical Hebrew has been used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world for over...
. In 1530 he was elected abbot of the Augustinian monastery at
SpoletoSpoleto is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is 20 km S. of Trevi, 29 km N...
, and in 1533 prior of the convent of St Peter ad Aram at
NaplesNaples in Italy, is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture, architecture, music and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old...
.
About this time, primarily through the influence of
Juan de ValdesJuan de Valdés was Spanish religious writer, younger of twin sons of Fernando de Valdés, hereditary regidor of Cuenca in Castile, was born about 1509 at Cuenca....
, he read
Martin BucerMartin Bucer was a Protestant reformer based in Strasbourg who influenced Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican doctrines and practices. Although originally a member of the Dominican Order, after meeting and being influenced by Martin Luther in 1518 he arranged for his monastic vows to be annulled...
's commentaries on the Gospels and the
PsalmsPsalms is a book of the Hebrew Bible , included in the collected works known as the "Writings" or Ketuvim.-Etymology:...
and also Zwingli's
De vera et falsa religione; and his Biblical studies began to affect his views. He was accused of erroneous doctrine, and the Spanish viceroy of Naples prohibited his preaching. The prohibition was removed on appeal to Rome, but in 1541 Vermigli was transferred to
LuccaLucca is a city in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
, where he again fell under suspicion. Summoned to appear before a chapter of his order at
GenoaGenoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000...
, he fled in 1542 to Pisa and thence to another Italian reformer,
Bernardino OchinoBernardino Ochino was an Italian Reformer. -Biography:Bernardino Ochino was born at Siena.At an early age he entered the order of Observant Franciscan Friars, but, craving a stricter rule, transferred himself in 1534 to the newly-founded Order of Friars Minor Capuchin.He had already become famous...
, at Florence. Ochino escaped to
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
, and Vermigli to
ZürichZürich or Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre and sometimes called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, the political capital of Switzerland being Berne...
, thence to
BaselBasel is Switzerland's third most populous city . With 830000 inhabitants in the tri-national metropolitan area , Basel is Switzerland's second-largest urban area....
, and finally to
StrasbourgStrasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in north-eastern France. With 702,412 inhabitants in 2007, its metropolitan area is the ninth largest in France...
, where, with Bucer's support, he was appointed professor of theology and married his first wife, Catherine Dammartin of
MetzMetz is a city in the northeast of France, capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. It is located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers....
.
Vermigli and Ochino were both invited to England by Archbishop
Thomas CranmerThomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI. He helped build a favourable case for Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon which resulted in the separation of the English Church from union with the Holy See...
in 1547, and given a pension of forty marks by the government. In 1548 Vermigli was appointed
Regius Professor of DivinityThe Regius Professorship of Divinity is one of the oldest and most prestigious of the professorships at the University of Oxford and at the University of Cambridge.Both chairs were founded by Henry VIII...
at
OxfordThe University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
, in succession to Dr. Richard Smyth, and was incorporated D.D. In 1549 he took part in a great disputation on the
EucharistThe Eucharist, also called Holy Communion, Sacrament of the Table, the Blessed Sacrament, or The Lord's Supper and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance, generally considered to be a commemoration of the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his...
. He had abandoned
LutherMartin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
's doctrine of
sacramental unionSacramental union is the Lutheran theological doctrine of the Real Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Christian Eucharist.- Type of union :...
and adopted the doctrine of a Real Presence conditioned by the faith of the recipient standard amongst Reformed theologians. Indeed, Vermigli appears to have profoundly affected the views of Cranmer and
RidleyNicholas Ridley was an English Bishop of London. During the English Reformation, he was burned at the stake. He died among the Oxford Martyrs during the Marian Persecutions for his teachings and his support of Lady Jane Grey on 16 October 1555 in Oxford...
, and historians have proven definitively that Vermigli had a great deal of influence in the modifications of the
Book of Common PrayerThe Book of Common Prayer is the common title of a number of prayer books of the Church of England and of other Anglican churches, used throughout the Anglican Communion. The first book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English Reformation following the break with...
in 1552.
On the accession of the Catholic
Mary I of EnglandMary I , was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. She was the oldest daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. The fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived...
, Vermigli was permitted to return to Strasbourg, where, after some opposition raised on the ground that he had abandoned Lutheran doctrine, he was reappointed professor of
theologyThe term "theology" literally means the study of God, deriving from the Greek word theos, meaning 'God', and the suffix -ology from the Greek word logos meaning "discourse", "theory", or "reasoning"...
. He befriended a number of English exiles, but had himself in 1556 to accept an offer of the chair of Hebrew at Zürich owing to his increased alienation from Lutheranism. He was invited to Geneva in 1557, and to England again in 1561, but declined both invitations, maintaining, however, a constant correspondence with Bishop
John JewelJohn Jewel , was an English bishop of Salisbury.-Life:He was the son of John Jewel of Buden, Devon, was educated under his uncle John Bellamy, rector of Hampton, and other private tutors until his matriculation at Merton College, Oxford, in July 1535.There he was taught by John Parkhurst,...
and other English prelates and reformers until his death at Zürich on 12 November 1562.
Wives
His first wife, Catherine, a former nun who died at Oxford on 17 February 1553, was disinterred in 1557 and tried for
heresyHeresy is proposing some unorthodox change to an established system of belief, especially a religion, that conflicts with the previously established opinion of scholars of that belief such as canon. It is sometimes confused with apostasy which is disaffiliation from orthodoxy and blasphemy which is...
; legal evidence was not forthcoming because witnesses had not understood her tongue; and instead of the corpse being burnt, it was merely cast on a dunghill in the stable of the dean of Christ Church. The remains were identified after
ElizabethElizabeth I was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called the Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
's accession, mingled with the supposed relics of St
FrideswideSaint Frideswide was a celibate English princess and abbess who is credited with establishing Christ Church in Oxford.-Life:...
to prevent future desecration, and reburied in the cathedral. Vermigli's second wife, Caterina Merenda, whom he married at Zürich, survived him, marrying a merchant of
LocarnoLocarno is the capital of the Locarno district, located on the northern tip of Lake Maggiore in the Swiss canton of Ticino, close to Ascona at the foot of the Alps. It has a population of about 15,000...
.
Works
Vermigli published over a score of theological works, chiefly Biblical commentaries and treatises on the Eucharist. His learning was striking and profound, and he played a vital role in both the Swiss and English Reformations.
John CalvinJohn Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
himself regarded Peter Martyr as one of the greatest expounders of the doctrine of the Eucharist in
ProtestantismProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
.
Sources