Saints and other notable personalities appearing in the Calendar of the
Episcopal Church in May.
Born July 10, 1509 in Noyon, France, Jean Calvin was
raised in a staunch Roman Catholic family. The local
bishop employed Calvin’s father as an administrator in
the town’s cathedral. The father, in turn, wanted John
to become a priest.
At the age of 14, Calvin went to Paris to study at the
College de Marche in preparation for university study.
He changed his name to its Latin form, Ioannis
Calvinus, which in French became Jean Calvin.
Calvin was closely tied to the Roman Church but, 1527, Calvin had
developed friendships with individuals who were reform-minded. These
contacts set the stage for Calvin’s eventual switch to the Reformed faith but,
on his father’s advice he moved to Orleans to study civil law.
The following years found Calvin studying in various places and under
various scholars, as he received a humanist education. By 1532, Calvin
finished his law studies and also published his first book, a commentary on
De Clementia by the Roman philosopher, Seneca.
The following year Calvin fled Paris because of contacts with individuals who
through lectures and writings opposed the Roman Catholic Church. It is
thought that in 1533, Calvin experienced the sudden and unexpected
conversion that he writes about in his foreword to his commentary on the
Psalms.
By 1536, Calvin had disengaged himself from the Roman Catholic Church
and made plans to permanently leave France and go to Strasbourg.
However, war had broken out between Francis I and Charles V, so Calvin
decided to make a detour to Geneva.
Thus began a long, difficult, yet ultimately fruitful relationship with that city.
He began as a lecturer and preacher, but by 1538 was asked to leave
because of theological conflicts. He went to Strasbourg until 1541. His stay
there as a pastor to French refugees was so peaceful and happy that when
in 1541 the Council of Geneva requested that he return to Geneva, he was
emotionally torn. He wanted to stay in Strasbourg but felt a responsibility to
return to Geneva. He did so and remained in Geneva until his death May 27,
1564. Those years were filled with lecturing, preaching, and the writing of
commentaries, treatises, and the Institutes of the Christian Religion.
Calvin, who had made a powerful impact on the fundamental doctrines of
Protestantism, hugely influenced Scotland’s John Knox, and is widely
credited as the most important figure in the second generation of the
Protestant Reformation.
14