The Poor Man of Toggenburg - Autobiography of Ulrich Bräker

but go walking with her once or twice and had drunk a glass of wine with her, all without any ulterior motive, and certainly without being in love with her. But then it was whispered to my father that I was about to turn Catholic, and to Marianchen's mother that she was about to turn Protestant, and yet neither of us had so much as given a thought to our faiths, let alone thought of changing them. The poor child found herself subjected to a veritable secret inquisition on the subject by spiritual and temporal authorities, told me all about it from beginning to end, and was in great distress. I for my part laughed inwardly over this stupid to-do, all the more as my father had gone more thoroughly to work, examined me kindly but earnestly, but then had taken my word for it, when I told him that I would live and die in my profession of faith as firm and unmoved as Luther or our fellow-countryman Zwingli.

But on Marianchen's side the matter was growing more serious than I thought. The good child was as devoted to me as a dog, and often shed tears over me. I think the foolish little thing would have followed me to the ends of the earth; and however firmly rooted in her heart her childhood faith, I almost think that I should have swayed the balance against it. And now pity overwhelmed me almost as love had done of old. Yet when I thought over all sides of the matter, I was obliged to break it off gradually, and indeed I did so. Here let a tear of compassion fall on the grave of this poor child! She pined away little by little and a few months later she died in the springtime of her young life. God forgive me a great and grievous sin, if ever I bore some of the blame for this death, and can I conceal from myself that I did so?

Zwingli was born on 1st January 1484, into a prosperous peasant family. He received a good education and in 1506 became a parish priest at Glarus. He also acted as chaplain to Swiss soldiers abroad, an experience which led him to condemn mercenary service altogether, a very unpopular opinion. In 1516 he transferred to Einsiedln, a famous centre of pilgrimage, where he began to read the New Testament in Erasmus' translation, and the Church Fathers. By the time he moved to the great Minster Church in Zürich, he was ready to become a reformer. He began by expounding from the pulpit the Gospel of St. Matthew, not the extracts prescribed by the Church but the complete text, and protested against Church ordinances such as fasting in Lent and celibacy of the clergy. In 1523, after a public debate, Zwingli had the city council on his side, and a further large number of customs sanctioned by the Church but not the Bible were discontinued, culminating in the abolition of the Mass in 1525.

Zwingli objected strongly to being cited as a disciple of Luther, saying that his opinions derived not from Luther but from the Bible. Zwingli regarded the Church, even the reformed Church, along with the Papacy, as fallible human institutions, he accepted only the Bible as authoritative in matters of faith. He was very much more radical than the Lutherans on the all-important issue of Holy Communion, saying that it should be held simply as a memorial service for the strengthening of faith; indeed he was heard to say that he wished the word "sacrament" had never been invented. Progress of reform was made easier by the desire of the people of the city of St. Gallen to become independent of the monastery. By 1525 St. Gallen, Appenzell amd the Toggenburg had all accepted the Reformation, but Appenzell and the Toggenburg retained large Catholic minorities.

Zwingli planned an international Protestant league, to include much of Germany, to counteract the Catholic league which included Austria. He was unable to obtain support for this, however, because of a confrontational debate with Luther, held at Marburg in 1529, which did nothing to repair their theological differences. Religion was by now inextricably entangled with politics;

Huldrych Zwingli, one of the leaders of the Reformation, was born at Wildhaus, further up the Thur valley from Wattwil. See note below.