St. Alphonsus Liguori: The History of Heresies and Their Refutation

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CHAPTER XI. – THE HERESIES OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY


II. ZUINGLIUS

51. Zuinglius, and the beginning of his heresy.
52. His errors.
53. Congress held before the Senate of Zurich; the decree of the Senate rejected by the other Cantons.
54. Zuinglius sells his Canonry, and gets married; Victory of the Catholics; and his death.



51. Ulric Zuinglius was born of an obscure family in a poor village of Switzerland, called Mildenhausen, some say in Moggi; he was at first Parish Priest of two rural parishes, and was after wards promoted to a parish in Zurich (1). In his early days he was a soldier, but hoping to better his condition, he changed the sword for the gown, and being a man of talent, became a most eloquent preacher. Hearing, in 1519, that Indulgences were to be published in Switzerland, as had been done in Germany, he hoped that would be a favourable occasion for him to acquire notoriety, and advance himself in the estimation of the Court of Rome. But in this he was disappointed; a Franciscan, Father Sampson, was sent by the Pope, to publish the Swiss Indulgences, and with power to prohibit any one else from doing so, unless with his permission. Zuinglius, seeing his hopes frustrated, imitated the example of Luther in Saxony, and began to preach, first, against Indulgences then against the power of the Pope and from that passed on to other errors against the Faith (2).


52. The following were his principal tenets : First The Mass is not a Sacrifice, but only a commemoration of the Sacrifice once offered on the Cross. Second We have no necessity of any intercessor but Christ. Third Christ is our justificator; and here he deduced, that our works are no good as ours, but only as the works of Christ. Fourth Marriage is fitted for all. Fifth Those who make a vow of chastity are held by presumption. Sixth The power which the Pope and Bishops arrogate to themselves, has no foundation in Holy Writ. Seventh The confession made to a Priest is not for remission of sin, but should be made solely to obtain advice. Eighth The Holy Scripture recognizes no Purgatory. Ninth The Scripture knows no other Priests but those who announce the Word of God. He preached other errors regarding free will.

Luther attributed every thing to grace, for salvation; Zuinglius, on the contrary, following the Pelagians, to free will and the force of nature. He broached many other errors regarding the Sacraments, Original Sin, and other points, but his chief blasphemies were against the Holy Eucharist, which turned even Luther against him, who at first called him the strong champion of Christendom, but ended by calling him a heretic. He first said that the Eucharist was a remembrance of the Passion of Christ, but, as Varillas remarks, then came the difficulty, that the Apostle says the Eucharist is to be eaten, but not the remembrance, and he five times changed his mode of explaining the communion; he rejected the Transubstantiation of the Catholics, the Impanation of the Lutherans, and the explanation given by Carlostad (N. 48). He then began to teach, that in the words, “This is my body,” the word is has the same meaning as signifies, that is, this bread signifies the body of Christ; but still the difficulty was not solved, for he could no where find that the word est was used for significat (3), when one morning, at break of day, a spirit, whether a black or white one, he does not remember, spoke to him, and said : ” Ignorant man, read the twelfth chapter of Exodus, where it is said, For it is the phase, that is the passage, of the Lord.” Behold, said he, here the word is stands for the word signifies; and thus he began to teach, that as the Pasch of the Jews was but a mere figure of the passing of the Lord, so the Eucharist was the figure of Christ sacrificed on the Cross. To authenticate this discovery of his, he got the translation of the New Testament printed, and where the text says, ” This is my body,” he inserted, this ” signifies my body” (4). Nothing, however, can be more foolish than this argument, for in Exodus, the explanation is annexed This is the Phase, that is the passage, of the Lord; but surely the text of the Gospel does not give any explanation, that the words ” this is my body,” refers not to the body, but to the figure of Jesus Christ (5). This error we refute at length in the Confutation X., No. 11.


53. Zuinglius printed sixty-seven propositions, by way of doubt, and placarded them in all the towns of the Diocese of Constance. The Dominicans preached against them as heretical, and offered to convince Zuinglius of his errors in a public disputation. Zuinglius accepted the challenge, but the Dominicans understood that it was to take place in the presence of the judges appointed by the Bishop of Constance, while he, on the other hand, insisted it should be held in presence of the Senate of Zurich, composed of two hundred laymen, the majority of whom knew not how to read or write; in this move he was successful, for the Senate thought themselves competent judges in religious matters, and would not yield their pretended right to any one; in effect, the Congress took place in their presence, and the Bishop not being able to prevent it, sent his Vicar-General to try and bring matters to some rational arrangement. This took place, according to Varillas, in 1524, and the Senate commanded all the Ecclesiastics of Zurich to attend. Zuinglius first read his Theses, and explained them without meeting with any interruption; he then asked if any one had any reply to make; the Vicar-General answered, that a great deal of what he set forth was an absurdity. Zuinglius replied in his defence. The Vicar-General answered, that he was sent by his Bishop, neither to dispute nor give decisions, that it was a Council alone should decide, and then was silent; the other Ecclesiastics were asked if they had anything to say; they followed the Vicar-General’s example, and were silent also; the Senate, therefore, gave the palm of victory to Zuinglius, and made a Decree, that thence forward the pure Gospel (according to Zuinglius) should be preached in all Zurich, that no more notice should be taken of traditions, and that the Mass and the adoration of the Eucharist should be abolished (6).

This decree was opposed by the other Cantons, and in the year 1526, another public disputation was held in Swiss Baden (7), between Zuinglius and Ecolampadius, on the one side, and Ecchius and some others, on the Catholic side, in which the arguments of Ecchius were so convincing, that by a formal Decree, the Swiss recognized the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the Invocation of Saints, and veneration of Sacred Images, and Purgatory, and condemned the doctrine of Luther and Zuingluis.


54. In the year 1528, Zuinglius sold his Prebend, and married, shamelessly asserting that he had not sufficient confidence in himself, to resist the vice of incontinence (8), and in the same year, the Canton of Berne united with Zurich in embracing his doctrine. Basle, Schafhausen, St. Gall, and three others, soon followed this example; Lucerne, Switz, Zug, Uri, and Underwalden, remained Catholic, and were soon after obliged to go to war with the heretical Cantons, for the following reason (9). The Catholic party deposed two officers who embraced the Zuinglian doctrines; they were received by the Zuinglians, who provided them with places, and through revenge, prevented the merchants who supplied the Catholic Cantons with corn, as they do not produce enough for their own consumption, from passing through their territories. The Catholics complained of this, as an infraction of the Confederation League, but were told, they were only treated as they deserved, for insulting the new religion. Eight thousand Catholics took the field in October, 1532; fifteen hundred of the Zurich troops were entrenched outside the city; the Catholics assaulted them in that position and put them to flight. Twenty thousand of the Zurich troops then marched out to attack the Catholics, and Zuinglius, against the advice of his friends, insisted on marching at their head. The Catholics with their small number, would have no chance against this army in the open field, so they posted themselves in a narrow pass; they were here assaulted by the Zuinglians, and victory was for some time doubtful, till Zuinglius, while valiantly leading on his troops, was struck to the earth; his followers, thinking he was killed, immediately took to flight, and were pursued by the Catholics with great slaughter, who are said to have killed five thousand Zuinglians, with only the loss of fifteen on their own side (10).

Zuinglius was found by two Catholics, who did not know him, among a heap of the slain, prostrate on his face, but still breathing; they asked him if he wished for a Confessor, but got no answer; another now came up, who immediately killed him, and told their commanders; by their orders he was quartered and burned, and some of his followers collected his ashes, and kept it as a relic (11). He was killed on the 11th of October, 1532, in the forty-fourth year of his age, according to Hermant, but Natalis, Gotti, and Van Ranst, say he was forty years old. The war was not yet ended; five other battles were fought, and the Catholics were always victorious; peace was at length concluded, on condition that each Canton should  freely profess its own Religion, and thus, with few interruptions, it has continued to the present day (12). Before I dismiss this subject, I will mention a few words of a sermon, or letter, of his, to Francis I. of France, in which he speaks of the glory that Kings are to expect in heaven : ” There,” he says, ” you will see the Redeemer and the redeemed; there you will behold Abel, Noe, Abraham, Isaac; there you will see Hercules, Theseus, Numa, the Catos, the Scipios, &c.” This was the language of this new Church Reformer after his apostacy; he places, along with Christ and the Holy Patriarchs, in heaven, the idolaters, and the Pagan gods. Bossuet, in his History of the Variations (13), gives a large extract from this letter.


(1) Nat. Alex. t. 19, sec. 16, art. 11, c. 3, n. 2; Gotti, Ver. Rel. c. 100, s. 2, n. 1; Varillas, t. 1, l. 4, . 155.
(2) Apud. Nat. Alex. s. 3, n. 2; Gotti, loc. cit. n. 1.
(3) Zuinglius, l. de Subsid. Euch.
(4) Hermant, t.1,c. 237.
(5) Gotti, loc. cit. n. 4; Varill. I 7, p. 304; Nat. Alex. loc. cit
(6) Varill. t. 1, 1. 5, p. 214.
(7) Gotti, c. 109, s. 2, n. 11.
(8) Varill. 1. 7, p, 304; Hermant, c. 237; Nat. Alex. c. 19, art. 12, s. 3, n. 2.
(9) Varill. L 8, p. 354; Gotti,loc.  cit. n. 13.
(10) Varill. t. 1, 1. 4, p, 355.
(11) Nat. Alex.loc. cit.; Gotti, n. 13, & Van Ranst, p. 318
(12) Varill. loc. cit. p. 358, & seq. 
(13) Bossuet, Hist, de Variat. l.  2, . n. 19.