On 16 February 1553, Michael Servetus while in
Vienne, was denounced as a heretic by Guillaume de Trie, a rich merchant who had taken refuge in
Geneva, and a very good friend of Calvin,
[20] in a letter sent to a cousin, Antoine Arneys, who was living in Lyon. On behalf of the French
inquisitor Matthieu Ory, Michael Servetus and Balthasard Arnollet, the printer of
Christianismi Restitutio, were questioned, but they denied all charges and were released for lack of evidence. Arneys was asked by Ory to write back to De Trie, demanding proof. On 26 March 1553, the letters sent by Michel to Calvin and some manuscript pages of
Christianismi Restitutio were forwarded to Lyon by De Trie. On 4 April 1553 Michael de Villanueva was arrested by Roman Catholic authorities, and imprisoned in Vienne. Servetus escaped from prison three days later. On 17 June, Michel de Villeneuve was convicted of heresy, "thanks to the 17 letters sent by
Jehan Calvin, preacher in Geneva"
[21] and sentenced to be burned with his books. An effigy and his books were burned in his absence.
Meaning to flee to Italy, Servetus inexplicably stopped in
Geneva, where Calvin and his Reformers had denounced him. On 13 August, he attended a sermon by Calvin at Geneva. He was arrested after the service
[22] and again imprisoned. All his property was confiscated. Servetus claimed during this judgement he was arrested at an inn at Geneva. French Inquisitors asked that Servetus be extradited to them for execution. Calvin wanted to show himself as firm in defense of Christian orthodoxy as his usual opponents. "He was forced to push the condemnation of Servetus with all the means at his command."
[22] Calvin's delicate health meant he did not personally appear against Servetus.
[23] Nicholas de la Fontaine played the more active role in Servetus's prosecution and the listing of points that condemned him.
At his trial, Servetus was condemned on two counts, for spreading and preaching
Nontrinitarianism and anti-
paedobaptism (anti-infant baptism).
[24] Of paedobaptism Servetus had said, "It is an invention of the devil, an infernal falsity for the destruction of all Christianity."
[25] In the case the
procureur général (chief public prosecutor) added some curious sounding accusations in the form of inquiries—the most odd sounding perhaps being, "whether he has married, and if he answers that he has not, he shall be asked why, in consideration of his age, he could refrain so long from marriage." To this oblique imputation about his sexuality, Servetus replied that rupture (
inguinal hernia) had long since made him incapable of that particular sin. Another offensive question was "whether he did not know that his doctrine was pernicious, considering that he favours
Jews and
Turks, by making excuses for them, and if he has not studied the
Koran in order to disprove and controvert the doctrine and religion that the Christian churches hold, together with other profane books, from which people ought to abstain in matters of religion, according to the doctrine of
St. Paul."
Calvin believed Servetus deserving of death on account of what he termed as his "execrable blasphemies".
[26] Calvin expressed these sentiments in a letter to
Farel, written about a week after Servetus’ arrest, in which he also mentioned an exchange with Servetus. Calvin wrote:
...after he [Servetus] had been recognized, I thought he should be detained. My friend
Nicolas summoned him on a capital charge, offering himself as a security according to the
lex talionis. On the following day he adduced against him forty written charges. He at first sought to evade them. Accordingly we were summoned. He impudently reviled me, just as if he regarded me as obnoxious to him. I answered him as he deserved... of the man’s effrontery I will say nothing; but such was his madness that he did not hesitate to say that devils possessed divinity; yea, that many gods were in individual devils, inasmuch as a deity had been substantially communicated to those equally with wood and stone. I hope that sentence of death will at least be passed on him; but I desired that the severity of the punishment be mitigated.
[27]
As Servetus was not a citizen of Geneva, and legally could at worst be banished, the government, in an attempt to find some plausible excuse to disregard this legal reality, had consulted with other
Swiss Reformed cantons (
Zürich,
Bern,
Basel,
Schaffhausen.) They universally favoured his condemnation and suppression of his doctrine, but without saying how that should be accomplished.
[28] Martin Luther had condemned his writing in strong terms. Servetus and
Philip Melanchthon had strongly hostile views of each other. The party called the "
Libertines", who were generally opposed to anything and everything John Calvin supported, were in this case strongly in favour of the execution of Servetus at the stake (while Calvin urged that he be beheaded instead). In fact, the council that condemned Servetus was presided over by Perrin (a Libertine) who ultimately on 24 October sentenced Servetus to
death by burning for denying the
Trinity and
infant baptism.
[29] When Calvin requested that Servetus be executed by
decapitation as a traitor rather than by fire as a heretic, Farel, in a letter of 8 September, chided him for undue lenience.
[30] The Geneva Council refused his request. On 27 October 1553 Servetus was
burned at the stake just outside Geneva with what was believed to be the last copy of his book chained to his leg. Historians record his last words as: "Jesus, Son of the Eternal God, have mercy on me."
[31]
Calvin agreed that those whom the ruling religious authorities determined to be heretics should be punished:
Whoever shall maintain that wrong is done to heretics and blasphemers in punishing them makes himself an accomplice in their crime and guilty as they are. There is no question here of man's authority; it is God who speaks, and clear it is what law he will have kept in the church, even to the end of the world. Wherefore does he demand of us a so extreme severity, if not to show us that due honor is not paid him, so long as we set not his service above every human consideration, so that we spare not kin, nor blood of any, and forget all humanity when the matter is to combat for His glory.
[32]
