CALVIN, JOHN

(1509-64), Prot. Reformer; b Noyon, Picardy. Destined for the R.C. Church, he was appointed, 1521, to a chaplaincy in the cathedral of his native town. Later he continued his education in Paris, achieving brilliant succe in his grammatical and_philosophical studies. In 1527 he received curacy of St.-Martin-de-Marteville, and - later that of Pont-l’Evéque, near Noyon. A year later Calvin decided to withdraw himself from the Church, and went to study law at Orléans and later at Bourges. Here also he began to study Greek under Melchior Wolmar, and first imbibed the doctrines of the Reformation. In 1531 he was again in Paris, where, in support of the ‘new religion,’ he pub. book—a Latin commentary on Before long, the persecution of the Protestants began, and he had to flee to Basel, where he produced his Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1536. At twenty-five he had sacrificed all other interests for the Reformed faith, and his influence became very great. In 1536 he moved to Geneva, where he was followed by his chief supporters, and here they i ued a Prot. Confe ion of Faith, through the influence of which a strict morality took the place of loose living. Within two years, however, owing to a reaction against his severe rule, Calvin had to take refuge in Str as bourg, where he was appointed pastor of a church and prof. of theol. In 1540 he attended the Diet of Worms, and in 1541 that of Ratisbon, where he was introduced to Me lanch thon. He returned to Geneva, 1541, where, except for a brief interval, he lived for the rest of his life, Through Calvin’s influence now increased year by year, he was continually engaged in fierce controversies with enemies of the new faith, one of the most notable being that with regard to election and predestination with Albert Pighius. Calvin ism, in the extreme form which it a umed in the 17th cent., has long been losing ground both in Scotland and in a Quatercentenary celebrated in F Ger. chronologist; pub. Opus Chronologicum, Leipzig, 1605. tine historian; wrote number of books relating to history of the South Amer, republics; Minister at Berlin, 1885.