Pope Pius IV on the Death of John Calvin

[VirginiaHuguenot]

The strength of that heretic, consisted in this, that money never had the slightest charm for him. If I have had such servants my dominion would extend from sea to sea.

 

[Scott1]

Something else we might observe about Mr Calvin's godly character- he never tried to draw undue attention to himself, or venerate himself, and even insisted on humble burial.

 

[Davidius]

Cool! Whence does that quote stem?

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

This quote, said to be spoken by the Pope upon hearing of Calvin's death, has appeared in just about every biography of John Calvin that I have read. Philip Schaff references it in History of the Christian Church and The Creeds of Christendom. In the latter he cites Francois Guizot, Great Christians of France, p. 361.

 

[Zeno333]

I have often wondered what would happen to the RC Church if God changed the heart of a current Pope, and he became Reformed and stepped down from the papacy?? A great "what if"...

 

[TsonMariytho]

Willem Balke's Calvin and the Anabaptist Radicals relates an anecdote of interest on page 197. Apparently a Baptistic purveyor of tracts was arrested, and out of desperation in his defense accused Calvin of greed. It's not clear exactly how he expected this charge to be received, but the response was that everyone started laughing. Apparently, the town had recently offered Calvin an increase in his stipend, which he had refused on the strongest terms -- even swearing that he would refuse to preach anymore if they gave it to him!

The only other person I've ever read who accused Calvin of greed was a Church of Christ member on a web forum. It may not be a coincidence; I wonder if the unbiblical practices of some CoC / Mormon / etc. groups in not providing their pastors with official financial support stems from some of these early roots.

While the ultimate disposition of the case is hard to approve of, that part of it was interesting, and a very good testimony of Calvin in contrast to the Roman church of his day.

 

[TimV]

We still have Calvin's will in Geneva's achives. Otto Scott copied it in one of his books, If I recall correctly The Great Christian Revolution. So we know exactly what he had, and it wasn't much.