The first section of this Theological Conference paper introduced the conditions that prevailed in Switzerland at the time leading up to the Reformation.
2. Glaris and Einsiedeln
F R Daubney
Ulrich Zwingli was born on 1 January 1484, in a house which still stands, in a village called Wildhaus, 40 miles south-east of Zurich. The family were prominent in the community, with Zwingli’s father being the magistrate of the village, his father’s brother, Bartholomew, the village priest, and his mother’s brother the abbot of a Benedictine monastery. Ulrich therefore received as good an education as the times could provide.
When Zwingli’s father decided that Ulrich should become a priest, he was sent to school in Basel at the age of 10. He proved to be a brilliant pupil and in four years outgrew what the school could offer. He was then sent to Berne for two years, after which he left to enter the city’s Dominican monastery, attracted by the monks’ promise to train him in music. Music was a passion with Zwingli and he was already an accomplished player on various instruments. However, the Lord did not intend that Zwingli should become a monk, and Zwingli’s father, alarmed at that prospect, removed him from the monastery and sent him to the University of Vienna in neighbouring Austria, where he stayed for two years before returning to Basel University, where he taught in a school in order to pay his way. The scholastic theology taught at the University so disgusted him that he felt it was a waste of time to study it. However, a teacher of a very different type, called Thomas Wittembach came to Basel and offered a course of lectures.
Wittembach wrote, “God’s Word is the foundation of all truth. Absolution by priests is a Romish cheat. Christ’s death is the only ransom for our souls. The time is not far distant when the old scholastic theology will be swept away and the ancient doctrines of the Church revived.”
One of Zwingli’s fellow students and lifetime friend, Leo Jud, wrote of Thomas Wittembach: “Zwingli and I enjoyed his instructions at Basel in 1505. Under his guidance we passed from polite literature2 to the more earnest study of the Holy Scriptures. Whatever of thorough knowledge we possess we owe it to him, and must remain his debtors as long as we live.” Zwingli, Jud and two others, Capito and Pellican, who studied under Wittembach were all to play prominent parts in the Swiss Reformation. Zwingli graduated Master of Arts from Basel but he never made use of the title. He used to say, “One is our Master, even Christ”.
Glaris (1506-16).
In the autumn of 1506 Zwingli was appointed parish priest of Glaris, a parish 43 miles south-east of Zurich. The Pope had actually awarded the living to an aristocrat who, although rejected by the people of Glaris, insisted on being their priest and receiving all the revenues. Only when it was agreed that Zwingli should pay the man an annual sum of money did he withdraw. Zwingli was a layman when he received the call, but his MA probably exempted him from further theological studies and he was ordained by the bishop in Constance. He read his first mass in his home village of Wildhaus and then went to Glaris.
As priest, Zwingli saw at first hand the corrupt lives that many led. The Swiss were reputed to have no regard for the Seventh Commandment. Their soldiers had learned bad habits abroad and returned to lead an idle and dissipated life at home. The clergy were little different; it would have been difficult to find one who lived in a real state of celibacy. Many were secretly married and had families. Zwingli’s parish was very large and he was hard pressed to correct the sins of the people, but he laboured with great zeal. He afterwards wrote, “Young as I was, the office of the priesthood filled me with greater fear than joy, for this was ever present with me, that the blood of the sheep, who perished through any neglect or guilt of mine, would be required at my hands”.
At this time Zwingli was a stalwart supporter of the papal cause and insisted that the Confederate mercenaries should align themselves with the papacy and not with its enemies. On three occasions he went to Italy as chaplain to the Glaris contingent of the mercenaries. His zeal for the papal cause was such that he was courted by the Pope and cardinals, who saw this energetic and influential young priest as a useful ally. The Pope made him the papal pension agent for Glaris and gave him a considerable annual grant, something which caused him trouble and embarrassment when his religious convictions shifted.
Zwingli’s involvement with the mercenaries resulted in his becoming very disillusioned with the shedding of Swiss blood on foreign soil, particularly following the battle of Marignano in 1515 where the slaughter of his fellow countrymen could have been avoided had it not been for the warmongering of Cardinal Schinner, who urged the Swiss to immediate battle, promising them the enormous profits of victory – with disastrous effect. Thereafter Zwingli began to preach against the hierarchy of Rome.
After his return to Glaris, Zwingli discovered an old liturgy which he compared with the one in current use. Among other differences, it showed that, in the mass, wine should be given to the people as well as bread. When he compared this with Scripture, he saw that the Lord had intended that both bread and wine should be administered and that the Church had departed from the truth. He discovered the liturgy had changed over the centuries in other ways too, which showed that Rome’s claim to be always the same was false.
There was no German-Swiss translation of the Bible at the time, so Zwingli learned Greek and used his familiarity with Latin to study the Scriptures closely and preach from what he learned. His initial policy was not to attack Rome but to teach the truth in the belief that the people would soon discern what was false. He did, however, begin to point out error in order to make the truth more manifest. “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God.” Seeking for the touchstone of truth, I find none other than that stone which is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to all who after the manner of the Pharisees, set their own commandments in the place of God’s”. While in Glaris, Zwingli became acquainted with Erasmus of Rotterdam, for whom he formed a high regard; this had the effect of turning him even further against scholastic theology in favour of searching the Scriptures.
In 1516 Zwingli came to see that the money he was taking from the Pope was not a genuine pension but a bribe to keep him from preaching against Rome. He publicly professed repentance for this sin. At this time the King of France wished to form an alliance with Switzerland which would require Swiss young people to enter French service. Zwingli, with a clear conscience, could now rebuke the men of Glaris for receiving bribes from anyone, whether the French or the Pope; he had come to the conclusion that, as a warrior, the Pope was no different from other princes.
Those in Glaris who were keen to ally themselves with the French made Zwingli’s life difficult and, hearing of this, the Administrator of the large monastery of Einsiedeln invited him to become his assistant. Zwingli accepted this for two reasons: firstly, because it would give him time for study, and secondly, because pilgrims came to Einsiedeln from all over Switzerland and Europe, and he hoped that, if they were taught aright, he could use them to spread the gospel. The people of Glaris were reluctant to part with their priest and made it known that they hoped he might yet return to them.
Zwingli believed 1516 was the year the Reformation began in German-speaking Switzerland. This, of course, is one year before Luther posted his theses on the church door at Wittenburg. D’Aubigné, however, says, “Perhaps Zwingli did preach the gospel a year previous to the publication of Luther’s theses, but Luther himself had preached the gospel for four years before that.”
Zwingli stoutly maintained that he was preaching the gospel before Luther’s name was even known in Switzerland. He said that even “the Romish cardinals, who were at that very time in Zurich, never reproached me as a Lutheran until they had declared Luther as a heretic”. (At which point, in order to undermine Zwingli’s influence, they began to call him a Lutheran.) Wherever precedence lies, it is certain that Ulrich Zwingli acted independently from the German Reformer. There were others, of course, who were preaching the same truths without knowledge of one other, for example Lefèvre in Paris and Farel in French-speaking Switzerland – proof, if any were needed, that the Reformation was wholly of God.
Einsiedeln.
There is a Benedictine monastery in the village of Einsiedeln in the canton of Schwyz. The abbey was built in the tenth century in honour of the Virgin Mary and for centuries was a major resting point on a pilgrim route. Pilgrims who visited were promised complete absolution from the punishment due to sin. At Einsiedeln, Zwingli was not required to involve himself in the normal daily activities of monastic life but was employed as a preacher and as the peoples’ priest.
Zwingli was filled with righteous indignation when he saw the dishonour done at Einsiedeln to the name of God and the Saviour. He grieved for the people and told them that, when they worshipped Mary, they dishonoured God. He said that the greatest honour they could give to Mary was to believe and trust in her Son. He also preached against the hypocrisy of the Pope, who, he said, “exalts himself in the place of Christ”.
Zwingli’s fame as an uncompromising advocate of the truth spread throughout Switzerland and prepared the hearts of many for the message of salvation which God called him to preach. He regarded the Pope as antichrist and spoke fearlessly to cardinals and bishops, proving from Scripture the false foundations of the papacy. “I shall see to it”, he said, “that the arrogance and fraud of the Bishop of Rome be brought to light and put an end to.”
Rome, which threatened Luther and sought to frighten him into submission, tried a different tack with Zwingli. Cardinal Puccius and the papal legate Ennius offered him a further pension. He was given the honourable title of “Acolyte Chaplain of the Holy Father”, and advised that the way was open for higher privileges of the Roman court, but he would not be bought. “I am resolved”, he said, “to preach the pure gospel to the people whatever may occur, even if Rome totter”.
It was at this time, August 1518, that Pope Leo X, who was looking for ways of raising money to pay for building St Peter’s in Rome, sent a Franciscan monk called Samson from Germany to sell indulgences in the canton of Schwyz. Samson’s boast was, “I can forgive all sins; heaven and hell stand under my dominion; I sell the merits of Jesus Christ to each and every one who is willing to pay cash for an absolution”. Zwingli heard of him and his response was, “Jesus Christ the Son of God has said, ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’. Is it not audacious folly and shameless impudence for a man to say, Buy a ticket of absolution; give money to the monks, make sacrifices to the priests, and I will pronounce you free from all sin? Can your gifts save you? No; Jesus Christ is the only sacrifice, the only gift, the only way. Those who sell the remission of sins are companions of Simon the magician, friends of Balaam and the ambassadors of Satan.” The people realised that Samson was a cheat and a robber and he left Schwyz to find more superstitious customers in the next canton.
2Light reading, as distinct from scholarly treatises