This Week in Christian History: Billy Graham, St. Augustine, and French Persecution

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, August 27, 2017

Swiss Protestant Preacher Pierre Viret Ordered to Leave France — Aug. 27, 1565

This week marks the anniversary of when popular Swiss preacher Pierre Viret was ordered to leave France due to his spreading of Protestantism.

A native of Orbe, Switzerland, Viret started out as a devout Catholic who in 1527 moved to Paris to study for the priesthood.

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However, by 1530, Viret had joined the nascent Protestant Reformation and preached his first sermon in his hometown at age 20.

France enacted an edict in 1565 banning all foreign born clergy. On Aug. 27, 1565, Viret was given notice that he had a few days to leave the city of Lyon, where he had been preaching.

Viret's expulsion was part of a growing hostility between Catholics and Protestants in France, which led to what was later dubbed the "Second War of Religion."