The movements for reform of the church in early 16th-century Europe, to the extent that they produced institutional divisions and sparked new ecclesial identification, brought on a kind of ecclesiological crisis for many Christians. At the heart of concern, for many, was the question: What is the (true) Church? The Nicene Creed (as revised in 381 CE) had spoken of the church as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. These four modifiers served as unofficial “marks” of the church. But the visible state of the visible institution(s) raised questions about what, in fact, qualified as church on these terms. Reformers in the line of Martin Luther—Philipp Melanchthon, in particular, who drafted The Augsburg Confession of 1530—suggested two practical marks to discern the genuine church: word and sacrament. More precisely, the suggestion was that, wherever the message of scripture (‘the word’) was preached and the two sacraments of baptism and eucharist (the rites most Protestants identified as legitimate sacraments) were celebrated in accordance with Jesus’ or the Bible’s teaching, the church of Christ could be said to exist.
In the context of Protestant-Catholic controversy, this was generally taken as a definition that excluded “unreformed” expressions of the Catholic church (the churches aligned with Rome); and yet it was an attempt to name the church in a relatively expansive or inclusive way. This expansiveness becomes clearer when we compare the Lutheran-Augsburg definition with Radical—specifically Anabaptist—inclinations to restrict the (true) church to voluntary gatherings of genuinely believing, repentant, followers of Christ: disciples whose manner of living and separation from “worldliness” distinguished them from a pseudo-Christianity of compromised living. With their emphasis on separation and holiness enforced by church discipline (see The Schleitheim Articles’ discussion of ‘the ban’), Radicals set themselves apart from the magisterial approaches of reformers who continued to hold on to a ‘Christendom’ model—the paradigm that saw Christian culture molding the whole of society from the center of civil-religious polities. Radicals (mostly, although with some 16th-cenntury exceptions) believed Christian integrity and transformation were paramount, essentially trumping the traditional Catholic emphasis on expansiveness and cultural centering.
Jean Calvin (1509-1564), the chief reformer of the city state of Geneva, was not a Radical reformer and, like Luther and other Protestants, generally held to the traditional Catholic tenets that sought broad cultural influence for the church (rather than separation from the world). And yet certain elements of his practical reforming approach seem to associate him with aspects of radicalism. For Calvin, the Lutheran-Augsburg definition of church was his basis. However, when he spoke of the church as the place where the Bible (“the word”) was purely preached “and reverently heard,” he seemed to be pointing toward a question Radicals often wondered about: Was the church really church if it failed to make a real, transformative difference in the life of people?
Calvin insisted on an organization of church in the city of Geneva that empowered a board of lay elders (in French speaking areas, this would be called the consistory; in Dutch, classis; in English, presbytery) to have oversight of the mores, morals, spiritual life, and general behavior of all people in the community/church. The following excerpts are notes/minutes made from the first year of the Genevan consistory’s meetings. The introduction to Geneva of a new paradigm of Christian worship (Protestant as opposed to traditional or Catholic) was still relatively new, and the cases taken up often had to do with folk suspected of resistance to new ways and fidelity to the old. Later cases would bring up more examples of perceived moral irregularities, including what were defined as sexual sins or patterns of domestic violence. Discipline imposed was not corporal or civil, but limited to (temporary) exclusion from the sacrament of the eucharist (excommunication). These minutes are often sketchy, but they give invaluable insight into practical ecclesiology and suggest how common folk were engaged with and sometimes resistant to patterns of religious change.
Source: Registers of the Consistory of Geneva in the Time of Calvin. Volume 1, 1542-1544. Gen. Ed. Robert M Kingdon; eds. Thomas A. Lambert, Isabella M. Watt, Jeffrey R. Watt; trans. M. Wallace MacDonald. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2000, pp. 26-33, 90-92.
Thursday, March 30, 1542. Postponed to Friday, the next day, last of March.
Lord Egrege Porralis. Calvin, Viret, Henri, Champereaulx. Gerbel, Rages, Pensabin, Tacon, Frochet, Britillion, Blandin, the officer Vovrey.
Jaques Emyn.
Summoned to render an account of his faith. He responded that he had made a little progress and said the Pater, “Our Father, etc.,” and a few words of the creed. The Consistory advise, having given him proper admonitions, that he find a teacher who will instruct him in the faith and explain what the words mean and make him understand what concerns God. And that he be admonished a little later to go every day or more often to the preaching for his better profit. And that he come close to the pulpit to hear the Word of God better and that he be refused Holy Communion unless he acquits himself otherwise. And that he be given a respectable teacher, and if he does not render a better account of his faith before Easter…[99]
Jaquemaz, widow of Claude Camparet.
Asked about frequenting of sermons, etc., and about the child her son has had by her maid. Answers that she has put the child out to nurse. Asked about her faith, she says the Pater in the new Reformed manner, but does not know the Credo. And that she has nursed her husband six years in illness and that her son…[100] And that she was at the sermon Sunday morning and that she believes it was Monsieur Calvin. And that she does not know about her son. The Consistory ordered her to frequent the sermons and…[101]
Master Tyvent Laurent, called Echaquet, citizen.[102]
Asked about the wizard he had in his house and why. Answers he never had one, except a man from Challex who attended his wife[103] who was sick, and he said he would cure her. And that he often came to his house and would give him herbs to dissolve in wine, which was not done at his house. And that the man owed him money and that he came for no other reason. And he goes to the sermons when he can and gave an explanation of his faith and creed, Pater and Credo, and says he wants to live and die in the Word of Our Lord. The lords preachers having given him proper admonitions and given him leave, he was asked about those who go to his house for… [104] They are Michiel Du Mur[105] and Aymé Tacon and others.
Donne Jane Pertennaz.[106]
Asked about her faith and why she has not received Holy Communion and whether she has heard and gone to Mass every year. And she said her faith and that she believes in one God and wants to live in God and the holy church and has no other faith. And she frequents the sermons on Sunday.
She recited her Pater in French: “I believe in God the Father, omnipotent, etc.” Answered that Our Lord knows our hearts and that she believes as the church believes. Asked what that is. Answers that she does not …[107] except as the church believes. Asked if there is a church in this city. Answers that she knows nothing; she believes that the Word of God is…[108] And that she wants always to live as a Christian and that there is only one God. And whether the sacraments of Our Lord are administered. Answers that it is preached and that Communion is taken, and she believes in Holy Communion as God said: “This is my body, and do this in my memory.”[109] And that where the Word of God is, God is, and that she conforms to the Word of God and that the Word of God is here. And she said she wanted to live and die in it, and it has the administration of the sacraments according to the Word of God and nothing else. Asked why she is not satisfied with the Communion celebrated in this city but goes elsewhere. Answers that she goes where it seems good to her. And that there is talk of princes who are not in accord in what they do openly, but they must be obeyed. And that Our Lord will not come here well-clothed or shod[110] and that where His Word is, His body is a word [sic]. Our Lord said that ravenous wolves would come, and therefore she does not know who these ravenous wolves are or where there are false prophets and…[111] Remanded as outside the faith and to appear day by day. And she did not want to renounce the Mass.
Puvellaz.[112]
Said that she prays to God and recommends herself to God and the Holy Spirit. Said the Lord’s Prayer in a general way, with various errors, but not her creed or confession of faith, as last time, and could do nothing else. Remanded to Monday before the Council and at the request of the lords preachers to Thursday.
Charriere.[113]
Said her Pater fairly well, the creed very little. Remanded to Thursday.
The sheath-maker’s wife.[114]
Said she has a daughter who knows her faith better than she, and she did not know it except in Latin as in former times, and in the French language she could not say her creed; in Latin in a general way. And she does not know it in another language and does not understand it otherwise, and as for the sermons she has not frequented them. And that she could not come last Thursday because she had to look after someone in childbirth. The Consistory remanded her to Thursday.
Thibaud versus and [sic] De Murro’s maid.
Remanded to Monday to bring his witnesses.[115]
Mermeta Jappaz.
Said she is pregnant by the son of Berthelomier Fouson, named Bezanson,[116] and she already felt the child at Christmas, and this was at the said Fouson’s house. And she did not say her Pater well, and she goes to sermons on Monday and other days not. And she wants to give it to its father, and her mother knows nothing, and she has had another child. And the other child was put to nurse and died. Remanded to …[117] The Consistory advises that she abstain from taking Communion because of her serious fornication. Remanded to Thursday.
To be summoned:
Tallabard[118] and Bezanson Fouson; Françoys Gerin’s maid;[119] Arthauda and her daughters on the Bourg du Four; Aymo Lemballioz; Catherine from the Molard; the barber on the Molard; [120] Pierre Baud to know why he does not send his people to the sermons; Jana, maid of Jehan
Tacon[121] the haberdasher.
Tuesday, April 4, 1542
Lord Porralis. Calvin, Viret, Champereaulx, Henri. Du Molard, Pensabin, Girbel, Frochet, D’Orsieres, the officer.
Donne Janne Pertennaz.
Recalled and asked why she displays no efforts to admonish herself and lead herself to the faith. Answers that she has not taken the Host. The said Janne asks if the Holy Scripture has now fully arrived. Lord Calvin admonished her from the Word of God. She said it was true that last Sunday there were some Germans who spoke to her maid, and there was one who came to the said Donne Jane, a respectable German, who asked her (in marriage), saying he wanted her very much. And she told him she was married. And the said German asked how she prayed. She answered that here they do not want you to say the “Virgin Mary, pray for us.” She answered that she went nowhere at Christmas because she was ill. Asked what faith she held toward God. Answers that she keeps the faith in good earnest and believes there is one God. Said that the lords preachers should know better than she what concerns God, and that she puts all her reliance on God. Said that Our Lord, by the merit of his passion, will pardon her and that she has given her heart to God and that he will guard her from all dangers. And that she will never follow another than God and that she is not a cleric like them and that there is no other God for her than God. She was asked in what manner she takes Holy Communion. Answers that she does not want to be an idolater or hypocrite; she leaves the faith as it is. Said that the Virgin Mary is her advocate. Said the Virgin Mary is a friend of God and that the Virgin Mary is the daughter and mother of Jesus Christ. And she understands that no one will be damned if it pleases God and that she does not know anything about the church. Said her faith is good and she does not know whether the faith of others of others [sic] is good. And that she never had another faith than the faith of Jesus Christ and that Our Lady is a gentle woman and that God is our advocate before God the Father and that none can pardon except Our Lord, and that she wants to live in the faith of the holy church, and she said that if the lord syndic was a heretic she would not want to be one.
The Consistory advises that she be made to speak once more to learn her will; afterwards that she be remanded before the Council or corrected in an evangelical manner, or remanded to another Thursday, and depending on what is found that she either be remanded to Friday before the Council or forbidden Communion, so that she will not go elsewhere to worship idols. And that she be admonished to go to the sermons every day. She says she is subject to the Seigneurie of Geneva.
Asked if she believes. She believes that everywhere where the Word of God is, she believes in that. Remanded to Thursday to learn first if she is united with us in Holy Communion. That there is only one mediator God, Jesus Christ; as for the saints, that one should do like them. Secondly whether she does not believe that Jesus Christ is our advocate and whether the sacraments administered in this [city] are from God or not and whether Jesus Christ is [or] is not in the Holy Communion and that we have no other advocate than Jesus Christ before God the Father. Believes that Jesus Christ is in heaven; has heard that God sees all and is all. Also always has and always will believe as she has said. Remanded to Thursday to respond firmly without doubt. Answered that she wanted to give for the love of God on Maundy Thursday and that on such a day he made his Communion, and that Our Lord fasted 40 days.
We declare that she cannot be received at Communion and we deprive her of it from now until the Lord touches her heart, and she is declared outside the church. Answered that in the time when the Jews were expelled from this city, that the time was coming when the Jews would be throughout the city.[122]
Catherine, from the Molard.
Said that she believes in God and that he is our advocate and in Jesus Christ. The Pater and the faith she knows little or not at all. And that she received Communion last Christmas at St. Peter’s. The Consistory having learned her poverty has given her leave to learn the faith and receive Communion.
Noble Donne…,[123] wife of Noble Jehan de Pesmes.
Said that she was at the sermon on Sunday. She came to this city about six weeks ago. And [asked] if she believes as in the past in the papal ceremonies, that it is great idolatry and that the Mass is abominable, and if she believes in Holy Communion. Answered that she has received Communion and believes in the Gospel and intends to receive it like others according to the Reformation and…[124] The Consistory admonished her to frequent the sermons. Said that she knows how to read and has a Bible. And at this given leave.
Arthaudaz from the Bourg du Four.[125]
Said that she wants to live according to God and that she has no o faith than in Jesus Christ and that she has no rosary or Ave Maria and receives Communion and goes to sermons when she can. She could not say Pater well, and the creed even less. Admonished to abstain from songs and other things that are not proper and to instruct her daughters honorably, that they should not insult one another as they do and have done, and at this she departed. And to frequent the sermons and learn the faith.
Monsieur Pierre Baux.[126]
Concerning frequenting of sermons by him and his family. Answered that he wants to live according to the Reformation and the sacrament of Communion. Said that he knows the Pater, but the Credo only in Latin. That he would teach it to his family in the current mode. And at this he departed. That he instruct his family.
Pierre, the barber on the Molard.
Answered that he goes to sermons, and that he was there Sunday morning and believes that it was Calvin, and that he preached from St. John; and after dinner he does not know who, but he preached from John. He said his Pater; the faith he could not say, nor the commandments of God. Believes that the Word of God is here and that we have only one God. Admonished to frequent the sermons and instruct his family in the Word of God; otherwise…[127]
Françoys Mermiez, from Choully, and his wife. Thursday.
Jehan Du Nant, host of the Stag.
Thursday, July 13
Lord Syndic Rozet. Calvin, Viret,[380] Bernard, Henri, Champereaulx. Girbel, Britillion, Pensabin, Orsieres, Blandin, Frochet, the officer Vovrey.
…
Donne Jane Pertennaz.
She was admonished because of certain crosses and darts in her hemp-field. [387] And has received Holy Communion where she was ordered, and that she has obeyed the Seigneurie where she is and lives and that she puts her faith in God. And that she has not put out the crosses or darts, and much more. Answers that she always believed in God and His Word, and where the holy Word of God is, she believed.388 And that she always has faith in her God and that she is not excommunicated and separated from the church, and she opposed this, and no one will ever know her faith but God and herself. Presented a certain paper on which were certain Gospel words in the Latin language[389] which someone gave her. And that she should know who gave it to her. Answers that it was a village woman and she does not know her name. Remanded at once to the City Hall because of her rebelliousness.[390] The Consistory advises that she appear every Thursday at the Consistory, or otherwise, and every day at the sermons until her profiting is apparent, and that she be remanded before the Council, which will admonish her more sharply, and that she confess who gave her this Gospel paper. Or, before she is remanded before the Council, that she be summoned once a week for remonstrances to see whether she can be converted to the Holy Gospel, and that someone be assigned to admonish her, and that she go to catechism, and that she come here Thursday.
Notes
99. Incomplete sentence.
100. Incomplete sentence.
101. Incomplete sentence.
102. The cobbler Tyvent Laurent, called Exchaquet, still in the CC in November 1529, had left the city during the war of the Gentlemen of the Spoon [translator: a name the “Peneysans” gave each other because they swore mutual fealty at a banquet). Because of the measures taken against the Mamelus, Laurent was at risk of having his goods confiscated for having left the city in time of war. Therefore he returned to Geneva in December 1530 and, although put in prison and threatened with the loss of his bourgeoisie, he was reestablished on paying 20écus [R.C. XI, p. 335 (November 7, 1529); ibid., pp. 501, 512, 513 (November 8, December 6 and 9, 1530); R.C. 30, f. 77 (October 27, 1536); see also MARTIN, Genève, pp. 187-190].
103. Possibly “Jane, widow of Tivent Laurent, bourgeois of Geneva, living on [the Rue du] Peron… dead of a long illness, aged 60 [E.C., Morts 5, f. 98 (December 8, 1562)].
104. Incomplete sentence.
105. Michel Du Mur, cobbler, from Landecy (GE), admitted to the bourgeoisie on June 8, 1535 (R.C. XIII, p. 235). He was a member of the CC, curial of Peney in 1542 and died before March 23, 1567 [Mss. Galiffe 46, f. 49; E.C., Morts 7, p. 65 (ad diem, death of Janne, his widow)].
106. Jana, mother of the syndic Claude Bonna, called Pertemps, widow of Jean Bonna, called Pertemps, and later of Claude Tornier [R.C. XI, pp. 130 and 236 (October 6, 1528, and April 8, 1529); see also Mss. Galiffe 40, f. 77].
107. Word omitted by the scribe.
108. Incomplete sentence.
109. Luke 22:19.
110. Reference to Matthew 11:7-8 or Luke 7:24-25 (same text).
111. Incomplete sentence. She cites Matthew 7:15.
112. Pernete Puvel, widow of Pierre.
113. Myaz Cherrier.
114. The wife of Louis Pyaget.
115. Thibaud Gauthier and Loyse Bozonet. On April 18, 1542, the Council ordered: “Concerning the statement that marriage had been contracted between Tybaud and Loyse, the consent of the said Tybaud’s father was always reserved, as is shown to us by the confessions of both parties. Also at the said marriage the parents of the two parties were not asked, of whom Françoys Gauthier, father of the said Tybaud, has said in person he does not want to consent to such an affair. Concerning this we have ordered the said marriage to be held null and invalid, freeing both parties respectively from it with license to contract marriage elsewhere when it seems good to them” (Jur. civ. R1, f. 1; see also R.C. 35, f. 562, ad diem).
116. Besanson Fouson was the son of Peronette and Barthélemy Fouson. The father was an apothecary “of Monreale, received bourgeois on August 31, 1509, member of the LX in 1527, councillor in 1531. He left Geneva in 1535 because of his attachment to Catholicism, returned in 1536 and died on September 6, 1550” (R.C. XII, p. 127, n. 3; L. GAUTIER, Médecine, p. 447; also ibid., p. 20).
117. Incomplete sentence.
118. Pierre Bertet, called Tallabard.
119. Possibly Jana Bouvier. Françoys Gerin, saddler, was elected to the CC for the Rue du Boule from 1539 on, and died before 1551 [R.C. 37, f. 11v (February 9, 1543); Mss.
Galiffe 38, f. 430; E.C., Morts 1, p. 36 (May 19, 1551, death of Pernette, his widow)].
120. He was named Pierre.
121. Jean Guenet (Guinet), called Tacon. There were two, father and son, both haberdashers. Jean the son was elected to the LX for the Poissonnerie, and it was probably e who was a member of the CC at this time [R.C. XIII, pp. 147 (February 12, 1535) and 155 (February 22, 1536); R.C. 35, f. 490 (February 7, 1542)].
122. In the Middle Ages the Jews of Geneva lived in a quarter at the bottom of the Rue des Granges and of the Grand Mézel which in the sixteenth century was still called the Juiverie. Under the influence of a preacher, the syndics decided on December 23, 1490, to expel the Jews of Geneva: “vellent omnes Judeos ab hac civitate expellere secundum doctrinam moderni predicatoris” {they wish to expel all Jews from this city, according to the doctrine of a recent preacher} (R.C. IV, p. 321). They demanded that the Jews quit the city within ten days [ibid. (December 28, 1491; n.s. 1490)]. See also GINSBURGER, Juifs, pp. 122; GALIFFE, Genève historique, pp. 164-167.
123. Name omitted. This is probably Donne Jeanne, daughter of the late Noble Etienne Nycoud of Gex, wife of Noble Jean de Pesmes. Jean de Pesmes was 36 in 1534, was elected to the LX in 1535, and died on November 3, 1552. He was the brother of the Mamelu Percival de Pesmes. Already in the fifteenth century the Pesmes were one of the most illustrious families of Geneva [GALIFFE III, PP. 397-398; NAEF, Origines II, p. 402; MARTIN, Genève, p. 70; R.C.XIII, p.146 (February 12, 1535)].
124. Incomplete sentence.
125. She was a hospitissa (innkeeper) on the Bourg du Four in 1531 [R.C. XII, p. 21 (September 4, 1531)].
126. One of the most common names in Geneva at this period. This is probably Pierre Baud, son of Jean (syndic in 1519 and 1523). Pierre Baud was a citizen, an ironmonger, a member of the CC in 1529 and of the L in 1535. He died in 1558 [GALIFFE I, pp. 44-47; SORDET, Dictionnaire, pp. 74-75; E.C., Morts 2, p. 43 (July 26, 1558)].
127. Incomplete sentence.
128. Mermetaz Jappaz.
129. Jaques Furbi.
…
387. Translator: This is what the text appears to say. The meaning is not very clear, but possibly she was accused of some sort of magical practice to protect her hemp crop.
388. Struck out in the margin: “and that it is the word of Jesus Christ.”
389. These were probably some prayers taken from the Bible which she carried with her and read in the manner of a small book of Hours.
390. There are hardly any minutes of the Council for this day, the Council having considered only the case of fornication between Jehan Benez and Janne Grenier (R.C. 36, f. 68v); see below.
History of Christian Experience II 