Rudolf Hospinian (7 November 154711 March 1626), real name Rudolf Wirth, was a Swiss

Reformed theologian Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calv ...

and controversialist.

Life

He was born in

Fehraltorf Fehraltorf is a municipality in the district of Pfäffikon in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. History Fehraltorf is first mentioned between 1265-87 as ''Rueggesaltorf'' and also as ''Altorf de Chiburg''. Around 1670 it was mentioned as ' ...

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

, Switzerland, as son of Adrian Wirth, a minister. He studied in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

in Germany. Returning to Switzerland, he joined the church of Zürich, and was a pastor and schoolteacher. He ministered at

Fraumünster The Fraumünster (; lit. in en, Women's Minster, but often wrongly translated to urLady Minster) is a church in Zürich which was built on the remains of a former abbey for aristocratic women which was founded in 853 by Louis the German for h ...

from 1594 to 1623, and died in Zurich.

Works

His

anti-Catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its Hierarchy of the Catholic Church, clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestantism, Protestant states, ...

writing was against the supposed harmony of Catholic doctrines and institutions with the early Church, concentrating on

baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

, the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

, church festivals,

fasting Fasting is the abstention from eating and sometimes drinking. From a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (see " Breakfast"), or to the metabolic state achieved after ...

religious order A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practi ...

s, the rule of the

papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

, and

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

s. He wrote: * ''De origine et progressu rituum et ceremoniarum ecclesiasticarum'' (Zurich, 1585); * ''De templis, hoc est de origine, progressu et abusu templorum, ac omnia rerum omnium ad templa pertinentium (1587; revised ed., 1603); * ''De monachis, seu de origine et progressu monachatus ac ordinum monasticorum, equitum militarium tam sacrorum quam sæcularium omnium'' (1588; 1609); * ''De festia Judæorum et Ethnicorum, hoc est de origine, progressu, ceremoniis et ritibus festorum dierum Christianorum'' (2 vols., 1592-93; enlarged and revised, 1611 and 1612); * ''Historia sacramentaria'' (2 vols., 1598-1603). The first volume was directed against the Catholic view of the sacraments, and the second treated the sacramental dispute among Protestants, under the title ''De origine et progressu controversiæ sacramentatiæ de cœna Domini inter Lutheranos et orthodoxos quos Zwinglianos et Calvinistas vocant, exortæ ab anno 1517 usque ad annum 1612.'' He was a vocal opponent of the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

, and also attacked the Lutheran

Formula of Concord Formula of Concord (1577) (German, ''Konkordienformel''; Latin, ''Formula concordiae''; also the "''Bergic Book''" or the "''Bergen Book''") is an authoritative Lutheran statement of faith (called a confession, creed, or "symbol") that, in its t ...

. His final work was ''Historia Jesuitica'' (1619; continued by Ludwig Lucius, 1632). A partial English translation was made.''The Jesuits Manner of Consecrating Persons and Weapons Employ'd for the Murdering Kings, and Princes, by them Accounted Heretics'', London, 1678; Dublin, 1681. Polemical works against Lutherans included his ''Concordia discors, seu de origines et progressu formulæ concordiæ Bergensis'' (1607), which was directed against the Formula of Concord. Leonard Hutter answered in his ''Concordia concors'' (1614). A collected edition of Hospinian's works appeared at Geneva, 1681 (7 vols.), with a life by J. H. Heidegger.

Notes

External links

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hospinian, Rudolf 1547 births 1626 deaths Swiss Calvinist and Reformed theologians Swiss writers 16th-century Swiss writers 16th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians