On This Day, October 11 1531

Ulrich Zwingli Dies For His Beliefs

Khen Lim



Image source: reformationanglicalism.blogspot.com

Born Jan 1 1481, the world Ulrich Zwingli entered was in a state of flux amidst the religious and political forces that were at play, but one in which he would become a prime mover. Although he was excellent at his studies and music, he felt a calling by God and was duly ordained as a priest by the age of 23.

Zwingli knew all of the Apostle Paul’s letters written in the original Greek by heart. And because he was also impressed by Erasmus’ reform writings, Zwingli had actually pursued Reformation well before Luther ever did. As a priest of Einsiedeln, a city whose income derived from pilgrimages, he preached against these very pilgrimages, calling them a corruption; so much so that whenever an indulgence was sold in Switzerland, one could predict that Zwingli would denounce it outright.

On the first day of 1519, Zwingli came to Zurich, the city of his life’s work. There he continued his battle, ravaging against indulgences to the extent that the Pope recalled the seller. Emboldened by his zeal to keep Scripture pure and unadulterated, he also announced that he would not comply with the prescribed lessons but instead, he would choose to preach from the Book of Matthew. When he did so, he poured forth his objections to how the Church used images, in the masses and in other practices, all of which he considered to be in error and conflict with God. For Zwingli, Christ Himself and alone is sufficient for salvation.

It is one of the interesting characteristics of the Swiss Reformation that local leaders actually voted on doctrine, making religious decisions for their constituents. This practice of Zurich was so inspiring that they were followed by other Swiss Protestants and became one of the stages that paved the way to the creation of modern democracy.

Zurich’s town leaders took to heart Zwingli’s teachings so much so that the town took the initiative to press his concerns to the papacy for him. Therefore it was they, and not him, who ordered that the Holy Scripture be taught “without human additions,” who then challenged the theologians to convict Zwingli of error but only if they could and who eventually ordered all images to be completely removed from all Swiss churches.

Without a doubt, Protestants and Catholics in Switzerland remained at odds with one another. With the impending build-up of protests and challenges, the pressure was on to resolve it and invariably, resolution would come by the force of arms. By then, the Protestants had formed a blockade that would threaten the Catholics with starvation.

In 1531 the Catholic cantons finally decided to march against Zurich. Zurich responded by issuing orders to their forces to place Zwingli in the field proudly bearing their banner. The Swiss had 1,500 men at the ready but the cantons poured in four times that number. At 6,000 strong, the challenge became ominous and furthermore, under weak generalship and on a badly chosen ground near Kappel, the critical errors would put paid to the outcome even before the battle began.

Image source: skepticism.org

By 4:00pm on the day, October 11 1531, at the Battle of Kappel, the Catholics began their assault. Hardly half an hour later, the entire Protestant army was pulverised. In the strewn battlefield, there laid the thousands perished and among them was Zwingli, dead; his body quartered and ignominiously mixed with dung.

When informed of the tragic news, Martin Luther, whose dislike for Zwingli is well documented, laconically said, “All who take the sword die by the sword.”