Michael Servetus

Spanish church reformer and physician

• Born: September 29, 1511
• Birthplace: Villanueva de Sixena, Spain
• Died: October 27, 1553
• Place of death: Geneva (now in Switzerland)

Servetus was the first to provide a systematic account of Unitarian ideas. As a doctor, Servetus’s greatest achievement was the discovery of the pulmonary circulation of the blood.

Early Life

Michael Servetus (MI-kuhl suhr-VEET-uhs) was the son of Antonio Serveto, alias Reves, and Catalina Conesa, locally prominent community members; his father was raised to the nobility in 1529. Little, however, is known about Servetus’s childhood. It is evident, however, that the young Michael was given a good education. During the years of his youth, Spain was in a period of relative toleration and admiration of Renaissance learning. The works of Humanists such as Thomas More and Desiderius Erasmus were in circulation. The mixed heritage of Spain meant that both Jewish and Islamic literatures were also available, and Servetus had become well acquainted with the Qur՚ān before reaching maturity. His writing suggests that Jewish and Muslim criticisms of the Trinity as polytheistic influenced his own opinion.

On completing his primary education, Servetus studied law at Toulouse in 1528-1529. It was here, in all probability, that he first saw a complete copy of the Bible (the Catholic tradition was that priests studied the Bible and then told communicants about it). Eagerly perusing the Scriptures, he concluded that there was no biblical basis for the doctrine of the Trinity.

Meanwhile, his academic talents led to a position in the service of Juan de Quintana, confessor to Charles V, king of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor. As a servant of Quintana, Servetus was taken to Italy, where emperor and pope were meeting to settle their differences. His observation of the veneration and obeisance paid to the pope and other Church officials during the ceremony in Bologna left a deeply negative impression on the young Servetus.

After leaving Quintana’s employ in late 1529 or early 1530, Servetus visited Johannes Oecolampadius in Basel. Although Servetus was inclined toward the Protestant movement, Reformers such as Oecolampadius, fighting desperately to establish their own sects, were little more tolerant of deviation than were papal authorities. The newcomer’s forthrightness about his Unitarian beliefs led to agreement among the leading Reformers in Switzerland including Huldrych Zwingli, Martin Bucer, and Oecolampadius that if he would not convert to the true faith, he should be suppressed.

Life’s Work

During his time in Switzerland, Servetus wrote his first book, De trinitatis erroribus libri septem (1531). Although his Latin was crude, Servetus’s discussion of the Trinity was erudite, and the work’s publication marked his emergence from obscurity. Later, wishing to respond to some of his critics, Servetus revised and expanded his views in Dialogorum de trinitate libri duo, de justicia regni Christi capitual quatuor (1532).

Trinitarian doctrine, which the Church had adopted as orthodox, was far from simple. God, it stated, had a single essence but existed in three coequal, eternal forms: Father, Word or Son, and Holy Spirit. The Son had both human and divine natures, each of which had all the properties of the other. Despite all these forms and natures, God that is, the single essence was One.

Servetus, who believed that the Church’s teachings should be understandable to all the faithful, regarded Trinitarian thought as a disguised polytheism with no scriptural warrant. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, according to Servetus, were simply the various manifestations of God and not separate entities at all. The Holy Spirit was God’s spirit, which enters all humans and has no independent existence. The biblical Jesus was purely human, though specially infused with the Holy Spirit, as shown by his supernatural origins. He was sent by God, as the prophets had been. Although Servetus never made a clear distinction between the human Jesus and Logos, the Word (he applied the term “Christ” to both), some might judge his Unitarian doctrine simpler and easier to understand than Trinitarian orthodoxy.

Although some Protestants of Servetus’s time were apparently troubled by Trinitarian ideas, they preferred to avoid debate on that point, and Servetus’s assertion that God as the Holy Spirit was in all things sounded too much like pantheism. Accordingly, in 1532 Oecolampadius and Bucer repudiated him, and he fled to France. He was welcomed to his new country by an arrest order from the Inquisition. Warned of the danger, he flirted with the idea of emigrating to the New World, but instead enrolled at the University of Paris as Michel de Villeneuve. Though he made himself unpopular with his haughty behavior and even challenged John Calvin, himself a fugitive, to a debate (Servetus did not appear), Villeneuve was not unmasked. Increasing hostility toward heretics, however, made discretion the better part of valor, and in 1534, still as Villeneuve, Servetus moved to Vienne, just outside Lyons.

Many people around Lyons favored religious reform, and the leading cleric, Archbishop Pierre Palmier, was as liberal as any ecclesiastic of the time. Publishing flourished in the area, and Servetus was quickly employed as editor and corrector for the firm of Trechsel. His first project was a new edition of Ptolemy’s study of geography; he was to correct errors made by previous editors and to update the work, incorporating new discoveries. The 1535 edition was so successful that he was commissioned to do an even more completely revised version that was published in 1541.

Servetus quickly developed a friendship with Symphorien Champier, a local Humanist and doctor. In 1537, presumably on Champier’s advice, Servetus returned to the University of Paris to study medicine. He supported himself by publishing medical pamphlets and lecturing on geography, but when he added astrology, he was soon in trouble. Because of a remark by Saint Augustine that the stars influence the body but not the will, the Church had permitted the use of astrology in medical treatment. It did, however, condemn efforts to foretell the future. Although apparently moderate in his espousal of astrological influence, Servetus was greatly annoyed by criticism of his ideas and wrote Apologetica disceptatio pro astrologia (1538) in response. He was brought before the Parlement of Paris to answer charges that included heresy. Although the court ordered confiscation of all copies of his apology for astrological study, it went no further than to read him a lecture on respect for his university’s faculty. Soon Servetus left Paris, apparently without taking a degree.

Although he did not publish the information until 1553, it was probably in Paris that Servetus made the medical discovery that is most commonly associated with his name: the concept of the pulmonary circulation of the blood. Galen, the second century Greek physician whose ideas still dominated Western medicine, had asserted that blood was created in the liver and consumed as part of the body’s nutritive process. Servetus accepted these ideas but also recognized the blood’s purification in the lungs and return to the heart. The fact that this discovery was published in a theological tract is explained by Servetus’s adoption of the idea that the soul is in the blood. Galen spoke of a vital spirit that flowed through and vivified humans; for Servetus, that spirit was clearly the Holy Spirit. Although Matteo Realdo Colombo is known to have made the same discovery during this period, an unpublished manuscript of Servetus seems to predate Colombo’s work, and it is certain that Servetus published first.

After two or three years at Charlieu, in late 1540 or early 1541, Servetus returned to Vienne; he spent the next twelve years working as physician and editor. He had the patronage of Palmier and aristocratic friends and patients. His second edition on Ptolemy appeared in 1541. The next four years were spent editing the Bible.

Perhaps hoping that Calvin might still be induced to reconsider his doctrine, Servetus initiated a correspondence, but he was haughty and didactic. He enclosed copies of his earlier works on theology, and in 1546, a draft of what would become Christianismi restitutio (1553). Calvin, increasingly exasperated, eventually stopped replying and, despite requests, did not return the books and manuscripts to their author. He did send a copy of his own book, Christianae religionis institutio (1536; Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1561), which Servetus inscribed with sarcastic and critical annotations and returned. Whether out of rage at being ignored or simply out of excessive zeal, Servetus drifted off into apocalyptic prophecy.

In Christianismi restitutio, Servetus attempts to restore the Church to its original nature a common theme for him and most Christian Reformers. Although the Protestants had made a beginning on one of the central tenets that had to be reformed the means of redemption they had done nothing to improve Church doctrine concerning the Incarnation. Servetus expanded his earlier idea that God is manifest in all things, skirting but not quite embracing pantheism. He called for adult baptism, suggesting that the ritual represented a process of redemption and spiritual rebirth that could not occur until the individual was mature in his or her knowledge of good and evil; such maturity was not possible before age twenty. After all, Servetus noted, Jesus deferred baptism until the age of thirty. His position on baptism was much like that of the Anabaptists, but he rejected the social radicalism that marked that group.

Soon after the anonymous publication of Christianismi restitutio in January, 1553, Servetus was betrayed to the Inquisition. Although he did not write the letters of betrayal, Calvin supplied evidence from the correspondence of a few years earlier. Arrested and questioned, Servetus escaped. His whereabouts were unknown until he was arrested by Genevan authorities in August.

Calvin, who argued that Protestants should be no less ruthless than Catholics in the fight against heresy, worked to have Servetus prosecuted. The trial, which was highlighted by direct, though mostly written, confrontation between the two theologians, was also a battleground in the confrontation between Calvin and the Libertine Party for control of the city. The outcome was a triumph for Calvin. Servetus was condemned for heresy and sentenced to the stake. He was burned, dying in agony, on October 27, 1553. Two months later, the Catholic authorities in Vienne burned his effigy. Calvin was never again challenged for control of Geneva.

Significance

Servetus’s intellect penetrated divergent areas of thought. He knew classical and modern languages, theology, mathematics, and medical science. His discovery of the pulmonary circulation of the blood was a significant advance in physiology, and he practiced successfully as a physician. Although not the first to advance a Unitarian theory, Servetus was a key figure in pulling such ideas together and stating them systematically. As such, he is an important forerunner of modern Unitarianism.

Servetus’s failures came in the areas of politics and human relations. He was so convinced that his views were correct that he had no patience with those who disagreed. He died a martyr not only to his faith but also to tolerance and free speech, yet he probably could have avoided that martyrdom by leaving Calvin alone. His ego drove him to proselytize and to become infuriated when his ideas were rejected. His career, then, reflects the best and worst of the Renaissance and Reformation era. As Humanist and scientist, he had great breadth and depth of knowledge. His condemnation to a hideous death by both Protestants and Catholics exemplifies the tension and fear produced by the zealously held religious convictions of the Reformation.

Bibliography

Bainton, Roland H. Hunted Heretic: The Life and Death of Michael Servetus, 1511-1553. Boston: Beacon Press, 1953. Reprint. Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1978. A valuable biography, containing a thorough description of Servetus’s life as well as an analysis of his theology. The account is balanced, well documented, and easy to read. An extensive bibliography is also included.

Bainton, Roland H. “Michael Servetus and the Pulmonary Transit.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 7 (1938): 1-7. A short but helpful discussion of the major medical discovery made by Servetus. This article will be most useful for those interested in Servetus as a doctor.

Durant, Will. The Reformation. Vol. 6 in The Story of Civilization. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1957. Colorful writing and effective storytelling are the hallmarks of Durant’s monumental series about civilization. This volume and its concise biography of Servetus are no exceptions. For the general reader seeking information about Servetus and his era, Durant is a delight. Unfortunately, his work is marked by rather too-frequent factual errors and should be used with care.

Friedman, Jerome. Michael Servetus: A Case Study in Total Heresy. Geneva: Droz, 1978. A biography with an emphasis on the religious elements in Servetus’s career and a tendency to be hostile toward its subject. The analysis of Servetus’s theology and his problems with the Church is interesting but not always convincing.

Fulton, John F., and Madeline E. Stanton. Michael Servetus: Humanist and Martyr. New York: H. Reichner, 1953. A biography that is rather favorable to Servetus. The authors make an effort to establish Servetus’s place in Renaissance Humanism, and the book is most useful for setting that context.

Goldstone, Lawrence, and Nancy Goldstone. Out of the Flames: The Remarkable Story of a Fearless Scholar, a Fatal Heresy, and One of the Rarest Books in the World. New York: Broadway Books, 2002. At once a study of Servetus and a study of the power of books, this text discusses Servetus’s life and ideas, the religious and cultural upheavals of his time, and the role of the printing press in those upheavals. The authors then follow Servetus’s legacy by charting the fates of each of the three copies of Christianismi restitutio that survived the Inquisition. Includes illustrations, maps, bibliographic references, and index.

Hillar, Marian. The Case of Michael Servetus, 1511-1553: The Turning Point in the Struggle for Freedom of Conscience. Lewiston, N.Y.: E. Mellen Press, 1997. This massive study of freedom of conscience devotes its middle third to a biography of Servetus. It begins with a survey of the history of conscience and religious persecution, and it concludes with an extended look at the legacy and intellectual and spiritual descendants of Servetus. Includes bibliographic references and index.

Hillar, Marian, with Claire S. Allen. Michael Servetus: Intellectual Giant, Humanist, and Martyr. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2002. Briefer and more focused than Hillar’s previous book, this text serves as an introduction to the life, influence, and ideas of Servetus, especially his doctrine of justification. With illustrations, map, index of names, and bibliographic references, including a bibliography in chronological order of all works published by Servetus and their translations.

Wilbur, Earl Morse. Socinianism and Its Antecedents. Vol. 1 in A History of Unitarianism. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1947. This standard work on Unitarianism devotes five chapters to the career of Servetus. The focus is on theology and Servetus’s importance in the development of the Unitarian position. Much biographical information is included.

Wilcox, Donald J. In Search of God and Self: Renaissance and Reformation Thought. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1975. Servetus is discussed at length in this book, which provides an excellent background for an understanding of his life and theology. The emphasis is on intellectual history, particularly religion, and the major themes of the era are clearly presented.