PIERRE VIRET
THE ANGEL OF THE REFORMATION
A forgotten giant of the 16th century Reformation
In the spring of 1511, within a quiet alpine town buried deep in the heart of French Switzerland, a son was born to the village tailor. He lived his life—not a lengthy one—and died on an unrecorded date in 1561. A man of humble beginnings and an obscure ending, Pierre Viret has lain concealed in the shadows of forgotten history for centuries. Who is this man, and does he really matter?
“I think there has never been in ordinary life a circle of friends so heartily bound to each other as we have been in our ministry,” said Calvin of himself and his closest friends Pierre Viret and William Farel. He did not exaggerate. Throughout the course of John Calvin’s tumultuous and turbulent career, there was one man who stood ever beside him as one of his dearest friends and closest confidantes. Viret, two years Calvin’s junior, was regarded by the older Reformer as the greatest of comrades. Writing of him in 1541, Calvin declared, “should Viret be taken away from me I shall be utterly ruined!” Speaking of their friendship, he wrote, “It will at least be a testimony to this present age and perhaps to posterity of the holy bond of friendship that unites us.” Who was this man of whom Calvin thought so highly and prized so greatly?
For the first time in five hundred years, a full biography of Pierre Viret is now available to the English-speaking world. Packed with fascinating details and bristling with original documents and letters of the Reformers, the history of this forgotten giant of the Reformation is recounted in a fascinating and enthralling way. Known by his contemporaries as the Angel of the Reformation, Viret was truly a radiant light amongst the men of his generation, a light which has finally been uncovered in this our day. May the unveiling of this precious life inspire and equip a new generation of Reformers as they seek to extend God’s glory to every area of human existence!