Escape from Paris

Soon after his breakthrough the breach with the Roman Catholic Church followed. Calvin’s friend Nicolas Cop, rector of the University of Paris, preached on 1 November 1533 a Reformed address. This address was probably written by his friends. It was based on the tekst: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’. In a short summarize, he said: ‘The poor in spirit have faith in the grace of God. They know that they are not able to earn eternal life by doing good works. They are made righteous by the work of Jesus Christ. Those who teach differently, are heretics and contradict God’. It was a public challenge to the Roman Catholic Church. When King Francis I heard about this challenge, he ordered that ‘the cursed Lutheran sect’ should be exterminated. Calvin and Cop could only safe their lives by fleeing from Paris.