Peter Martyr Vermigli, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Peter Martyr Vermigli

Italian Reformed theologian

Date of Birth: 08-Sep-1499

Place of Birth: Florence, Tuscany

Date of Death: 12-Nov-1562

Profession: writer, theologian, university teacher

Zodiac Sign: Virgo


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About Peter Martyr Vermigli

  • Peter Martyr Vermigli (8 September 1499 – 12 November 1562) was an Italian-born Reformed theologian.
  • His early work as a reformer in Catholic Italy and his decision to flee for Protestant northern Europe influenced many other Italians to convert and flee as well.
  • In England, he influenced the Edwardian Reformation, including the Eucharistic service of the 1552 Book of Common Prayer.
  • He was considered an authority on the Eucharist among the Reformed churches, and engaged in controversies on the subject by writing treatises.
  • Vermigli's Loci Communes, a compilation of excerpts from his biblical commentaries organised by the topics of systematic theology, became a standard Reformed theological textbook. Born in Florence, Vermigli entered a religious order and was appointed to influential posts as abbot and prior.
  • He came in contact with leaders of the Italian spirituali reform movement, and read Protestant theologians such as Martin Bucer and Ulrich Zwingli.
  • Through reading these works and studying the Bible and the Church Fathers, he came to accept Protestant beliefs about salvation and the Eucharist.
  • To satisfy his conscience and avoid persecution by the Roman Inquisition, he fled Italy for Protestant northern Europe.
  • He ultimately arrived in Strasbourg where he taught on the Old Testament of the Bible under Bucer.
  • English reformer Thomas Cranmer invited him to take an influential post at Oxford University where he continued to teach on the Bible.
  • He also defended his Eucharistic beliefs against Catholic proponents of transubstantiation in a public disputation.
  • Vermigli was forced to leave England on the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary.
  • As a Marian exile he returned to Strasbourg and his former teaching position.
  • Vermigli's beliefs regarding the Eucharist and predestination clashed with those of leading Lutherans in Strasbourg, so he transferred to Reformed Zürich where he taught until his death in 1562. Vermigli's best-known theological contribution was defending the Reformed doctrine of the Eucharist against Catholics and Lutherans.
  • Contrary to the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, Vermigli did not believe that the bread and wine are changed into Christ's body and blood.
  • He also disagreed with the Lutheran view that Christ's body is ubiquitous and so physically present at the Eucharist.
  • Instead, Vermigli taught that Christ remains in Heaven even though he is offered to those who partake of the Eucharist and received by believers. Vermigli developed a strong doctrine of double predestination independently of John Calvin.
  • His interpretation was that God's will determines both damnation as well as salvation.
  • Vermigli's belief is similar but not identical to Calvin's.
  • Vermigli's political theology was important in the Elizabethan religious settlement; he provided theological justification for Royal Supremacy, the doctrine that the king of a territory, rather than any ecclesiastical authority, rules the church.

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