A Reformation Debate: John Calvin & Jacopo Sadoleto

Sadoleto’s Letter to the Genevans

Sadoleto’s Letter zyx to the Genevans JACOPO zyxwvuts SADOLETO, BISHOPOF CAFWENTRAS, CARDINAL PRIEST OF THE CHURCH OF ST.C A L I X ~ S , TO HIS DEARLY BELOVED zyxwvut BRETHREN, THE MAGISTRATES, COUNCIL, AND CITIZENS OF GENEVA Very dear brethren in Christ, peace zyxw to you and with us, that is, with the Catholic Church, the mother of all, both us and you, love and concord from God, the Father Almighty, and from His only Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, together with the Holy Spirit, perfect Unity in Trinity; to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen. I presume, very dear brethren, it is known to some of you that I am now residing at Carpentras, havingcome from Nice, to which 1 had attended the Supreme Pontiffon his journey from Rome to mediatebetweenthe Kings.For I love this Churchand city, which it has pleased God to make my spiritual spouse and country;this my people here I embrace with truly parental affection, and am most reluctant zyxw to be separated from them. Butshould the honor of theCardinalship , which was bestowed upon me unexpectedly, and without my knowledge, oblige me to return to Rome (as it certainly will), that I may there serve in the vocation with which God has called me, it will not withdraw my thoughts and my love from a people who willalways remain seated in my inmost heart. Being then at Carpentras, and daily hearing many things o E you which excited partly my grief, and partly, too, some hope, leading me not to despond, that you and I, who 23 A REFORMATION DEBATE zyxwvu were formerly in true religion of one mind toward God,might, by the same God looking more benignlyuponzyxw us, return to the same cordial agreement, it seemed good zyxwv to the Holy Spirit and to me (€or so Scripture speaketh, and assuredly whatsoever things are done with an upright andpious mind toward God are all of the Holy Spirit), it seemed good to me, I say, to write somewhat to you, and declare toyou by letter the care and solicitude of mind which I feel for you. For, dearest brethren,this my affection and goodwill toward you is not new, but ever since the time when by the will of God I became Bishop of Carpentras, almosttwenty-three years ago, and in consequence ‘oEthe frequent intercourse between you and my people, had, though absent, learned much of you and your manners, even then began I to love your noble city, the order and form o E your republic, the worth o E its citizens, and, in particdar,thatqualitylaudedand experienced by all, your hospitality to strangers and Eoreigners; and since vicinity often tends in no small degree to beget love, so in a city contiguous houses, as well as in the world adjacent provinces, lead zyxw to regard among neighbors. Before this time, indeed, you happen not to have derived any benefit from this my affection for zyxw you, or to have had any sign and indication of it. You never needed my aid, which assuredly would have been most readily given, but hitherto no occasion presented itself to us. Now, however, of a truth, not o d y has an opportunityzyx occurred , but necessity is laid upon me to demonstrate in what way 1 feel affected toward you, iE I would maintain my fidelity towardAlmighty God, and Christian charity toward my neighbor. For a€ter it was brought to my ears that certain crafty men,enemies of Christianunityand peace, had, in like manner, as they had previously done in some towns and villages of the brave Helvetii, cast among you, and in your city, the wicked seeds of discord, had turned the faithful people o E Christ aside from the way of their fathers and ancestors, and from the perpetual sentiments of the Catholic SADOLETO’S LETTER zyxwvuts TO THEGENEVANS Church, and filled all places with strife and sedition (such is always the appropriate course of those who seek new power and new honors forthemselves, by assailing the authority of the Church),zyxwvu T declare before Almighty God,who is always present beholding my inmost thoughts, that X was exceedingly grieved and affected with a kind of double pity, when, on the one hand, 1 thought I heard the groans of theChurch our mother, weeping and lamenting at being deprived at once ofso many and so dear...