1553. Last work and final days
 When
Servetus published the Restitutio in early 1553 he sent an
advance copy to Geneva. The printed text included thirty of
his letters to Calvin. Soon afterward, at Calvin's behest,
the identity of "Villeneuve" was betrayed to the
Catholic Inquisition in Vienne. After his arrest and interrogation
Servetus managed to escape from the prison. [To
know more]
On his way, perhaps, to northern Italy where, he believed,
there were people receptive to his writings, he made his way
across the border to Geneva.
Recognized at a Geneva church service, he was arrested and
tried for heresy by Protestant authorities. [photo:
St. Peter's Cathedral at Geneva]
The secular officials were unable to establish that Servetus
was an immoral disturber of the public peace. Nevertheless,
he made damaging theological statements in the course of a
written debate with Calvin [Complaint
of Nicolas de la Fontaine against Servetus]. The Council
of Geneva, after receiving the advice of churches in four
other Swiss cities, convicted Servetus of antitrinitarianism
and opposition to child baptism [Letters
from prison]. Calvin asked that Servetus be mercifully
beheaded. The Council insisted he should be burned at the
stake.
Spectators were impressed by the tenacity of Servetus' faith.
Perishing in the flames, he is said to have cried out, "O
Jesus, Son of the Eternal God, have pity on me!" Farel,
who witnessed the execution, observed that Servetus, defiant
to the last, might have been saved had he but called upon
"Jesus, the Eternal Son." A few months later Servetus
was again executed, this time in effigy, by the Catholic Inquisition
in France. [The
execution scene as described by Sir William Osler]
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