Calvin has apparently joined the so-called Protestant movement begun about 13 years ago at Worms by the German monk Luther. Most of the theology faculty in the University reckon that this movement will be short-lived. Said one of the theologians, “We’ll crush these people just as we did the Cathars. Why do you think we have an inquisition?” The press office of the Holy See said that they were aware of a disturbance in Paris but had little information about Calvin.

 
Dateline Paris, 1534.

© Paris News Service
By Guy LaFontaine

Jean Calvin, 25, of Noyon, a leading scholar of the classics and law student in the University of Paris, has reportedly converted to the evangelical cause. A classicist with a bright future before him, Calvin published a promising work on Seneca’s On Clemency just two years ago.

That future has become considerably cloudier of late. Sources tell us that it was likely young Calvin who wrote the provocative sermon given by Nicholas Cop, rector of the University. Since the so-called Affair of the Placards (during which one of the Protestant radicals actually posted a placard on the chamber door of his Majesty!) the authorities are cracking down on the movement and the evangelicals have scattered. Calvin may be living under an assumed name. There are some unconfirmed reports that he has left Paris and may be heading to Basle, a known haven for the Protestant rebels. When contacted, some of the other so-called “humanistas,” led by the Dutch scholar Erasmus and Jacques LeFevre d’Etaples, are reported to have rejected the new movement as too radical.

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