This week in Christian history: Bill Gothard resigns, Navigators founded, Pierre Viret appointed pastor
Pierre Viret appointed pastor at Geneva — March 2, 1559
This week marks the anniversary of when prominent Swiss Protestant Reformation preacher Pierre Viret became lead pastor of the church of Geneva, Switzerland.
A native of Orbe, Switzerland, Viret had previously played an active part in reforming Geneva alongside John Calvin. He served as pastor until 1563, taking an extended leave of absence in 1561 during that time for health reasons.
In 1561, Viret left Geneva when he was called to lead a church in Lyon, France. A couple of years later, however, he was expelled from France after an edict was issued banning foreign clergy.
“Viret does not stand next to John Calvin, Guillaume Farel, Theodore Beza, and John Knox in Geneva’s Reformation Monument, but one suspects that had a fifth figure been added, it would have been Viret,” wrote historian Michael Bruening in 2008.
“Viret’s activity in Geneva, together with his close personal relationship with John Calvin, made him in some ways a minister of Geneva his entire adult life. Indeed, the Reformation in Geneva would not have taken the form that we know it without him.”
