Theologian and physician, born in Tudela, N Spain. He studied law, worked largely in France and Switzerland, and while studying medicine at Paris discovered the pulmonary circulation of the blood. In his theological writings he denied the Trinity and the divinity of Christ, and angered both Catholics and Protestants. He escaped the Inquisition, but was burnt by Calvin in Geneva for heresy.
Michael Servetus (also Miguel Servet or Miguel Serveto;
His interests included many sciences: astronomy and meteorology;
He participated in the Protestant Reformation, and later developed an anti-trinitarian theology.
Early life and education
Servetus was born in Villanueva de Sijena, Huesca, Spain, in 1511 (probably on September 29, his patron saint's day), although no specific record exists. Servetus had two brothers: one who became a notary like their father, and another who was a Catholic priest. Servetus was very gifted in languages and studied Latin, Greek and Hebrew. At the age of fifteen, Servetus entered the service of a Franciscan friar by the name of Juan de Quintana, an Erasmian, and read the entire Bible in its original languages from the manuscripts that were available at that time.
In 1529, Servetus traveled through Germany and Italy with Quintana, who was then Charles V's confessor in the imperial retinue.
In these books, Servetus built a theology which maintains that the belief of the Trinity is not based on biblical teachings but rather on what he saw as deceiving teachings of (Greek) philosophers.
Servetus affirmed that the divine Logos, which was a manifestation of God and not a separate divine Person, was united to a human being, Jesus, when God's spirit came into the womb of the Virgin Mary. For this reason, Servetus always rejected that Christ was the "eternal Son of God", but rather that he was simply "the Son of the eternal God". Under severe pressure from Catholics and Protestants alike, Servetus somehow modified this explanation in his second book, Dialogues, to make the Logos coterminous with Christ.
He took on the pseudonym Michel de Villeneuve (i.e., "Michael from Villanueva"), in order to avoid persecution by the Church because of these religious works.
Career
After his studies in medicine he started a medical practice. While he practiced medicine near Lyon for about fifteen years, he also published two other works dealing with Ptolemy's Geography. Servetus dedicated his first edition of Ptolemy and his edition of the Bible to his patron Hugues de la Porte, and dedicated his second edition of Ptolemy's Geography to his other patron, Archbishop Palmier. While in Lyon, Symphorien Champier, a medical humanist, had been Servetus' patron, and the pharmacological tracts which Servetus wrote there were written in defense of Champier against Leonard Fuchs.
While also working as a proofreader, he published a couple more books which dealt with medicine and pharmacology. He had years earlier sent a copy to John Calvin, initiating a correspondence between the two. In this correspondence Servetus initially used the pseudonym "Michel de Villeneuve." Calvin wrote to Servetus, "I neither hate you nor despise you; In time their correspondences grew more heated until Calvin ended it. He developed a bitter hatred based not only on the unorthodox views of Servetus but also on Servetus's tone of superiority mixed with personal abuse. Calvin stated of Servetus, when writing to his friend William Farel on 13 February 1546, "si venerit, modo valeat mea autoritas, vivum exire nunquam patiar" ("If he comes here, if my authority is worth anything, I will never permit him to depart alive").
Imprisonment and execution
On 16 February 1553, Servetus, while in Vienne, was denounced as a heretic by Guillaume Trie, a rich merchant who took refuge in Geneva and a very good friend of Calvin, in a letter sent to a cousin, Antoine Arneys, living in Lyon. On behalf of the French inquisitor Matthieu Ory, Servetus as well as Arnollet, the printer of Christianismi Restitutio, were questioned, but they denied all charges and were released for lack of evidence.
On March 26, 1553, the book and the letters sent by Servetus to Calvin were forwarded to Lyon by Trie.
On April 4, 1553 Servetus was arrested by the Roman Catholic authorities, and imprisoned in Vienne. On June 17, he was convicted of heresy by the French inquisition, "thanks to the 17 letters sent by Jehan Calvin, preacher in Geneva" and sentenced to be burned with his books.
Meaning to flee to Italy, Servetus stopped in at Geneva, where Calvin and his Reformers had denounced him. On August 13, he attended a sermon by Calvin at Geneva.
Unfortunately for Servetus, at this time Calvin was fighting to maintain his weakening power in Geneva. Calvin's delicate health and usefulness to the state meant he did not personally appear against Servetus. Also Calvin's opponents used Servetus as a pretext for attacking the Geneva Reformer's theocratic government. It became a matter of prestige for Calvin to be the instigator of Servetus's prosecution. "He was forced to push the condemnation of Servetus with all the means at his command." However 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). Of paedobaptism Michael Servetus had said, "It is an invention of the devil, an infernal falsity for the destruction of all Christianity" Whatever the cause of them, be it irritation or mistreatment, his statements that common Christian traditions were "of the devil" severely harmed his ability to make allies. Nevertheless, Sebastian Castellio denounced his execution and became a harsh critic of Calvin due to the whole affair.
In the case the Procureur General, who was not Nicholas, 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 of unchastity Servetus replied that rupture had long since made him incapable of that particular sin. More offensive to modern ears might be the question "whether he did not know that his doctrine was pernicious, considering that he favors 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."
Although Calvin believed Servetus deserving of death on account of his "execrable blasphemies", he nevertheless hoped that it would not be by fire, as he was inclined toward clemency. Calvin expressed these sentiments in a letter to Farel, written about a week after Servetus’ arrest, in which he also mentions an exchange between himself and Servetus. Calvin writes:
…after he [Servetus] had been recognized, I thought he should be detained.
As Servetus was not a citizen of Geneva, and legally could at worst be banished, they had consulted with other Swiss cantons (Zurich, Bern, Basel, Schaffhausen), which universally favored his condemnation and execution. Servetus and Philip Melanchthon had strongly hostile views of each other. Most Protestant Reformers saw Servetus as a dangerous radical, and the concept of religious freedom did not really exist yet. The Catholic world had also imprisoned him and condemned him to death, which apparently spurred Calvin to equal their rigor. On 24 October Servetus was sentenced to death by burning for denying the Trinity and infant baptism. When Calvin requested that Servetus be executed by decapitation rather than fire, Farel, in a letter of September 8, chided him for undue leniency, and the Geneva Council refused his request. On 27 October 1553 Servetus was burned at the stake just outside Geneva.
Modern relevance
Due to his rejection of the Trinity and eventual execution by burning for heresy, Servetus is often regarded as the first Unitarian martyr.
Servetus was the first European to describe pulmonary circulation, although it was not widely recognized at the time, for a few reasons. Further, most copies of the book were burned shortly after its publication in 1553.
User Comments Add a comment…