Young Ulric at Wesen--At Bâle--At Berne--The Dominican
Convent--Jetzer--The Apparitions--The Passion of the Lay
Brother--The Imposture--Discovery and Punishment--Zuinglius
at Vienna--At Bâle--Music at Bâle--Wittembach teaches the
Gospel--Leon Juda--The Curate of Glaris.
The good amman was delighted with the happy presages in his son. He
perceived that Ulric would be able to do something else than herd his
cows on Mount Sentis, singing the shepherd's song. One day he took him
by the hand and proceeded with him towards Wesen. He traversed the
verdant ridges of the Ammon, avoiding the wild and precipitous rocks
which border the lake of Wallenstadt. On arriving at the town, he
called upon his brother the dean, to whom he intrusted the young
mountaineer, in order that he might ascertain what his talents
were.[611] The leading feature in his character was an innate horror
at falsehood and a great love of truth. He himself relates that one
day, when he was beginning to reflect, the thought struck him that
falsehood should be punished more severely than even theft; "for,"
adds he, "veracity is the parent of all the virtues." The dean soon
loved his nephew as if he had been his son; delighted with his
sprightliness, he entrusted his education to a schoolmaster who in a
short time taught him all that he knew himself. Young Ulric, when ten
years of age, having given indications of a high order of
intellect,[612] his father and his uncle resolved on sending him to
Bâle.
[611] Tenerrimum ad fratrem sacrificum adduxit, ut ingenii ejus
periculum faceret. (Melch. Ad. Vit. Zw. p. 25.)
[612] Und in ihm erschinen merkliche Zeichen eines edlen Gemüths.
(Manuscript de Bullinger.)
When the child of the Tockenburg arrived in this celebrated city, with
an integrity and purity of heart which he seemed to have inhaled from
the pure air of his mountains, but which came from a higher source, a
new world opened before him. The celebrity of the famous council of
Bâle; the university which Pius II had founded in 1460; the printing
presses, which revived the master-pieces of antiquity, and circulated
over the world the first fruits of the revival of letters; the
residence of distinguished men; the Wessels, the Wittembachs, and, in
particular, that prince of scholars and luminary of the schools,
Erasmus, rendered Bâle, at the period of the Reformation, one of the
great foci of light in the west.
[Sidenote: ZUINGLIUS AT BALE. AT BERNE. DOMINICAN CONVENT.]
Ulric entered the school of St. Theodore, which was taught by Gregory
Binzli, a man of an affectionate and gentle temper, at this period
rare among teachers. Young Zuinglius made rapid progress. The learned
disputes which were then fashionable among the doctors of universities
had even descended to the youth in schools. Ulric took part in them.
He exercised his growing strength against the children of other
schools, and was always victorious in those struggles which formed a
kind of prelude to those by which the papacy was to be overthrown in
Switzerland.[613] His success excited the jealousy of rivals older
than himself. The school of Bâle was soon outstripped by him as that
of Wesen had been.
[613] In disputationibus, quæ pro more tum erant inter pueros usitatæ,
victoriam semper reportavit. (Osw. Myc. Vit. Zw.)
Lupulus, a distinguished scholar, had just opened at Berne the first
learned school that was founded in Switzerland. The bailiff of
Wildhaus and the curate of Wesen resolved to send their child thither,
and Zuinglius, in 1497, quitting the smiling plains of Bâle, again
drew near to the high Alps, where he had spent his childhood, and
whose snowy tops, gilded with the rays of the sun, he could see from
Berne. Lupulus, a distinguished poet, introduced his pupil to the
sanctuary of classic literature, a sanctuary then unknown, only a few
of the initiated having passed the threshold.[614] The young neophyte
ardently breathed an atmosphere rich in the perfumes of antiquity. His
intellect was developed and his style formed. He became a poet.
[614] Ab eo in adyta classicorum scriptorum introductus. (Ibid.)
Among the convents of Berne, that of the Dominicans held a
distinguished place. These monks were engaged in a serious quarrel
with the Franciscans. The latter maintained the immaculate conception
of the virgin, while the former denied it. In every step the
Dominicans took--before the rich altars which decorated their church,
and between the twelve pillars on which its arches were
supported--they thought only of humbling their rivals. They had
observed the fine voice of Zuinglius, and heard of his precocious
intellect, and thinking that he might throw lustre on their order,
strove to gain him.[615] With this view they invited him to remain in
their convent till he should make his noviciate. The whole prospects
of Zuinglius were threatened. The amman of Wildhaus having been
informed of the bait to which the Dominicans had had recourse,
trembled for the innocence of his son, and ordered him forthwith to
quit Berne. Zuinglius thus escaped those monastic enclosures into
which Luther rushed voluntarily. What happened afterwards may enable
us to comprehend the imminent danger to which Zuinglius had been
exposed.
[615] Und als er wol singen kœndt lœkten Ihn die prediger
Mœnchen in dass Kloster. (Bullinger, M.S.)
[Sidenote: JETZER. APPARITIONS.]
In 1507 great excitement prevailed in the town of Berne. A young man
of Zurzach, named John Jetzer, having one day presented himself at
this same Dominican convent, had been repulsed. The poor youth in
despair had returned to the charge, holding in his hand fifty-three
florins and some pieces of silk. "It is all I possess," said he, "take
it, and receive me into your order." He was admitted on the 6th
January among the lay brothers. But the very first night a strange
noise in his cell filled him with terror. He fled to the Carthusian
convent, but was again sent back to that of the Dominicans.
[Sidenote: IMPOSTURE.]
On the following night, being the eve of the feast of St. Matthew, he
was awoke by deep sighs, and perceived at his bedside a tall phantom
in white. "I am," said a sepulchral voice, "a soul escaped from the
fire of purgatory." The lay brother trembling, replied, "God save you;
for me, I can do nothing." Then the spirit advanced towards the poor
friar and, seizing him by the throat, indignantly upbraided him with
his refusal. Jetzer in terror exclaimed, "What then can I do to save
you?" "Flagellate yourself for eight days till the blood comes, and
lie prostrate on the pavement of the chapel of St. John." So answered
the spirit, and disappeared. The lay brother gave information of the
apparition to his confessor, a preacher of the convent, and by his
advice submitted to the discipline required. The rumour soon spread
throughout the town that a soul had applied to the Dominicans to be
delivered from purgatory. The Franciscans were deserted, and every one
ran to the church to see the holy man lying prostrate on the ground.
The soul from purgatory had intimated that he would reappear in eight
days. On the night appointed it in fact did appear, accompanied by two
other spirits that were tormenting it and howling horribly. "Scotus,"
said the spirit, "Scotus, the inventor of the Franciscan doctrine of
the immaculate conception of the Virgin, is among those who like me
are suffering these fierce pains." At this news, which soon spread
over Berne, the partisans of the Franciscans were still more alarmed.
The spirit on disappearing had announced a visit from the Virgin
herself. In fact, on the day appointed, the astonished friar saw Mary
herself appear in his cell. He could not believe his eyes. She
approached him kindly, gave him three of our Saviour's tears, three
drops of his blood, a crucifix, and a letter addressed to Pope Julius
II, "who," said she, "was the individual chosen by God to abolish the
festival of her pretended immaculate conception." Then coming still
closer to the bed on which the friar lay, she announced, in a solemn
tone, that a great grace was to be conferred on him, and drove a nail
into his hand. The lay brother uttered a loud shriek, but Mary wrapt
up his hand in a piece of linen which her Son, she said, had worn
after his flight into Egypt. This wound was not sufficient to make the
glory of the Dominicans equal to that of the Franciscans. Jetzer must
have the five wounds of Christ and of St. Francis in his hands, feet,
and side. The four others were inflicted, and then, after giving him a
draught, he was placed in a hall hung with pictures representing our
Saviour's passion. Here having spent whole days fasting, his
imagination soon became heated. The doors of the hall were then thrown
open from time to time to the public who came in crowds to contemplate
with devout astonishment the friar with his five wounds, stretching
out his arms, bending his head, and by his positions and gestures
imitating the crucifixion of our Lord. Sometimes, out of his wits, he
foamed, and seemed about to breathe his last. The whisper went round,
"He is enduring the cross of Christ." The multitude, eager for
miracles, continually thronged the convent. Men worthy of high esteem,
among others Lupulus himself, the master of Zuinglius, were overawed,
and the Dominicans, from the height of the pulpit extolled the glory
which God was bestowing on their order.
This order had for some years felt the necessity of humbling the
Franciscans, and of augmenting the respect and liberality of the
people by means of miracles. Berne, "a simple, rustic, and ignorant
town," as the sub-prior of Berne described it to the Chapter held at
Wimpfen on the Necker, had been selected as the theatre of their
operations. The prior, sub-prior, preacher, and purveyor of the
convent, had undertaken to perform the leading characters, but they
wanted the talent necessary to perform them to the end. A new
apparition of Mary having taken place, Jetzer thought he recognised
the voice of his confessor, and having said so aloud, Mary
disappeared. She soon made her appearance again, to censure the
incredulous friar. "This time it is the prior," exclaimed Jetzer,
rushing forward with a knife in his hand. The saintess threw a pewter
plate at the poor friar's head, and likewise disappeared.
[Sidenote: ZUINGLIUS AT VIENNA AND BALE.]
In consternation at the discovery which Jetzer had thus made, the
Dominicans tried to disencumber themselves of him by means of poison.
He perceived it; and, having taken flight, disclosed the imposition.
They put on a good countenance, and sent deputies to Rome. The pope
committed the decision to his legate in Switzerland, and the bishops
of Lausanne and Sion. The four Dominicans being convicted, were
condemned to be burnt alive; and on the 1st May, 1509, were consumed
by the flames, in presence of more than thirty thousand spectators.
The affair made a noise throughout Europe, and by unveiling one of
the worst sores of the Church, prepared the Reformation.[616]
[616] Wirz, Helvetische Kirchen Gesch. vol. iii, p. 387. Aushelms
Cronik, iii and iv. No event of the period of the Reformation has
given rise to so many writings. See Haller's Biblioth. der Schw.
Gesch. iii.
Such were the men into whose hands Ulric Zuinglius had nearly fallen.
He had studied literature at Berne; he behoved now to devote himself
to philosophy, and with this view repaired to Vienna. A youth from St.
Gall, named Joachim Vadian, whose genius gave promise to Switzerland
of a distinguished scholar and a statesman; Henri Loreti, of the
canton of Glaris, commonly called Glarean, and apparently destined to
shine among poets; John Heigerlin, son of a forgemaster, and hence
surnamed Faber, of a versatile temper, fond of honour and glory,
possessing all the qualities indicative of a courtier--such were
Ulric's fellow-students and companions in the capital of Austria.
Zuinglius returned to Wildhaus in 1502; but on revisiting his
mountains he felt that he had drunk of the cup of science, and could
no longer live amid the songs of his brothers and the bleating of
their flocks. He was eighteen years of age, and repaired to Bâle,[617]
to engage again in literary pursuits, and thus at once master and
pupil he taught at the school of St. Martin, and studied at the
university; from this time he was able to dispense with assistance
from his father. Shortly after, he took the degree of master of arts.
An Alsatian, named Capito, nine years older than he, was one of his
best friends.
[617] Ne diutius ab exercitio literarum cessaret. (Osw. Myc. Vit. Zw.)
[Sidenote: WITTEMBACH. ZUINGLIUS AND LEO JUDA.]
Zuinglius devoted himself to the study of scholastic theology; for,
being called one day to combat its sophisms, he behoved to explore its
obscure labyrinth. But the light hearted student of the mountains of
Sentis was often seen suddenly to shake off the dust of the school,
and, substituting amusement for his philosophic toils, seize the lute,
or the harp, or the violin, or the flute, or the tympanon, or the
cornet, or the hunting horn, extract joyous sounds from these
instruments as in the prairies of Lisighaus, and make his lodgings, or
the dwellings of his friends, re-echo with the airs of his country,
accompanying them with his voice. In regard to music, he was a true
child of the Tockenburg, superior to all.[618] In addition to the
instruments we have already named, he played several others. An
enthusiast in the art he diffused a taste for it in the university,
not from any desire of dissipation, but because he loved thus to relax
his mind when fatigued by serious study, and fit himself for returning
with greater zeal to difficult labours.[619] None had a gayer humour,
a more amiable disposition, or more engaging conversation.[620] He
was a vigorous Alpine tree which developed itself in all its
gracefulness and strength, and which, never having been pruned, threw
out strong branches in all directions. The time was coming when these
branches would turn vigorously in the direction of heaven.
[618] Ich habe auch nie von Keinem gehört der in der Kunst Musica ...
so erfahren gewesen. (B. Weysen, Füsslin Beyträge zur Ref. Gesch. iv,
35.)
[619] Ut ingenium seriis defatigatum recrearetur et paratius ad solita
studia redderetur ... (Melch. Ad. Vit. Zw.)
[620] Ingenio amœnus, et ore jucundus, supra quam dici possit,
erat. (Os. Myc. Vit. Zw.)
After he had forced an entrance into scholastic theology he left its
arid tracts fatigued and disgusted, having found nothing in it but
confused ideas, vain babbling, vain glory, barbarism, and not one
sound idea of doctrine. "It is only a loss of time," said he, and
waited for something better.
At this time, (November, 1505,) arrived at Bâle Thomas Wittembach, son
of a burgomaster of Bienne. Wittembach had till then taught at
Tubingen, side by side with Reuchlin. He was in the vigour of life,
sincere, pious, skilled in the liberal arts, and mathematics, and well
acquainted with the Holy Scriptures. Zuinglius and all the academic
youth immediately flocked around him. A spirit hitherto unknown
animated his lectures, and prophetic words escaped from his lips: "The
time is not distant," said he, "when scholastic theology will be
abolished and the ancient doctrine of the Church restored."[621] "The
death of Christ," added he, "is the only ransom of our souls."[622]
The heart of Zuinglius eagerly received these seeds of life.[623] At
this period classical studies began every where to supplant the
scholastics of the middle age. Zuinglius, like his preceptors and
friends, threw himself into this new course.
[621] Et doctrinam Ecclesiæ veterem ... instaurari oporteat.
(Gualterus, Misc. Tig. iii, 102.)
[622] Der Tod Christi sey die einige Bezahlung für unsere Sünde....
(Füslin Beyr. ii, p. 268.)
[623] Quum a tanto viro semina quædam ... Zuingliano pectori injecta
essent (Leo Jud. in Præf. ad. Ann. Zw. in N. T.) When the great man
had deposited some seeds in the breast of Zuinglius.
Among the students who followed the lessons of the new teacher with
the greatest enthusiasm was a young man of twenty-three, of small
stature, and a feeble sickly appearance, but whose eye bespoke at once
gentleness and intrepidity. This was Leo Juda, son of an Alsatian
curate, and whose uncle had fallen at Rhodes, fighting in defence of
Christendom, under the standard of the Teutonic knights. Leo and Ulric
were on intimate terms. Leo played the tympanon, and had a very fine
voice. The joyous melodies of the young friends of the arts were often
heard in his lodgings. Leo Juda, at a later period, became the
colleague of Zuinglius, and even death could not destroy their sacred
friendship.
[Sidenote: ZUINGLIUS BECOMES CURATE OF GLARIS.]
At this time the office of pastor of Glaris having become vacant,
Henry Goldli, a young courtier of the pope, and groom of the stable to
his holiness, obtained the appointment from his master, and hastened
with it to Glaris. But the Glarian shepherds, proud of the antiquity
of their race, and of their battles for freedom, were not disposed to
bow implicitly to a piece of parchment from Rome. Wildhaus is not far
from Glaris; and Wesen, where Zuinglius' uncle was curate, is the
place where the market of the district is held. The reputation of the
young master of arts of Bâle had penetrated even into these mountains;
and the Glarians, wishing to have him for their priest, gave him a
call in 1506. Zuinglius having been ordained at Constance by the
bishop, preached his first sermon at Rapperswil, read his first mass
at Wildhaus on St. Michael's day, in presence of all his relations and
the friends of his family, and towards the close of the year arrived
at Glaris.