Peter Martyr Vermigli

Who was Peter Martyr Vermigli?

Peter Martyr Vermigli was an Italian theologian of the Reformation period who converted from Roman Catholicism to Protestantism. He was a very influential figure in the early development of Reformed theology and in the English Reformation. Born in Florence, he entered the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine religious order and was influenced by reading Protestant theologians such as Martin Bucer and Ulrich Zwingli. To avoid persecution he was forced to flee Catholic Italy for the Reformed safe haven of Switzerland. Thomas Cranmer invited him to assist in the nascent English Reformation and he was appointed to a professorship at Oxford University where he was influential in the development of the theology of the Eucharist in Protestant England and in modifications of the Book of Common Prayer. Vermigli was forced to leave England on the ascension of Queen Mary I. He was engaged in several controversies with Lutherans and Reformed theologians over the Eucharist and predestination in Strasbourg and Zurich. He lived his final days teaching theology in Zurich.