Huldrych Zwingli

Huldrych Zwingli was born in the Toggenburg valley of Switzerland, the son of a farmer who was the village headman. He became a priest and admired Erasmus. As a chaplain to Swiss mercenary troops in Italy, he saw the battle of Marignano in 1515 and turned against the mercenary trade. In 1519 he became the people's priest at the Great Minster in Zürich, where he began preaching straight through the Gospel of Matthew from the Greek text. In 1522 some of his followers broke the Lenten fast by eating sausages, and Zwingli defended them, arguing that only Scripture could bind Christians. After public debates in 1523, the Zürich city council adopted his reforms. Images were removed from churches, the Mass was replaced with a simple communion service, and monasteries were closed. At the Marburg Colloquy in 1529 he met Martin Luther but they could not agree on the Lord's Supper, which Zwingli saw as a memorial. When war broke out between Protestant and Catholic Swiss cantons, he went with Zürich's troops as chaplain and was killed at the Battle of Kappel in 1531.

Faith: Founder of the Reformation in Switzerland. Source: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)