Chistianismi Restitutio. 1553
Context
Servetus again felt driven to publish his views for wide
reading, and he was the more strongly impelled to do this
because he was convinced by a passage of Scripture that the
kingdom of Antichrist (the Papacy) was to come to an end in
1585, and he had the conviction that he himself was the Michael
who it was foretold was to put the great dragon under his
feet. A Basel printer friend of his to whom Servetus offered
the manuscript dared not print it, but at length after much
difficulty, and by paying a large bonus, he got it printed
in great secrecy in a vacant house in Vienne, of course with
no indication of place, printer, or author; though he could
not resist the temptation to put his own initials at the end,
and to insert his name in several places in the text. This
work was entitled The Restoration of Christianity (Christianismi
Restitutio). About half of it consisted of a recast of Servetus’s
two earlier books on the Trinity, to which he now added his
thirty letters to Calvin, and an address to Melanchthon, making
in all a book of over 700 pages. It contains Servetus’s
plan for a more thorough and complete reformation of Christianity
than the Protestant reformers had attempted. Though its thought
is more developed, it does not essentially differ from the
earlier works; but it is harsher than before, and while holding
a position something between Catholics and Protestants it
is especially bitter toward the reformers, while it violently
attacks the traditional doctrine of the Trinity with every
weapon to be drawn from reason, history, or Scripture. It
is in this book that Servetus describes the circulation of
the blood referred in the "some excerpts" section.
Servetus theological
beliefs by Peter Hughes
Some excerpts
The following is Servetus' postulation of the secondary circulation
of the blood. He is credited with being the first to publish
this discovery! It was found in his final book, Christianismi
Restitutio:
“Not only because such gifts, but by reason of that
one alone who breathes the divine spirit into us, God is said
to give us his spirit, Gen. 2 and 6. Our soul is a kind of
lantern of God, Prov. 20. It is like a spark of the spirit
of God, a reflection of the wisdom of God, created yet very
similar to that spiritual wisdom, incorporated in it, retaining
the innate light of divinity, the spark of that prime wisdom
and the very spirit of divinity. God himself testifies, in
chapter 6 above, that the spirit of divinity was innate in
man even after Adam's sin. The dispensation of our life is
given and is sustained through grace from his breathe, as
Job says, chap. 10 and 32 and following. God breathed the
divine spirit into Adam's nostrils together with a breath
of air, and thence it remains, Isaiah 2 and Psa. 103. God
himself maintains the breath of life for us by his spirit,
giving breath to the people who are upon the earth and spirit
to those treading it, so that we live, move and exist in him,
Isaiah 42 and Acts 17. Wind from the four winds and breath
from the four breaths gathered by God revive corpses, Ezek.
37. From a breath of air God there introduces the divine spirit
into men in whom the life of inspired air was innate. Hence
in Hebrew "spirit' is represented in the same way as
"breath." From the air God introduces the divine
spirit, introducing the air with the spirit itself and the
spark of the very deity which fills the air. The saying of
Orpheus is true, that the divine spirit is carried by the
winds and enters through full inspiration, as Aristotle cites
in the books, De anima. Ezekiel teaches that the divine spirit
contains a kind of elemental substance and, as God himself
teaches, something in the substance of the blood. I shall
explain this matter at great length here so that you may thence
understand that the substance of the created spirit of Christ
is essentially joined to the very substance of the holy spirit.
I shall call the air spirit because in the sacred language
there is no special name for air. Indeed, that fact indicated
that the divine breath is in the air which the spirit of the
Lord fills.
So that you, the reader, may have the whole doctrine of
the divine spirit and the spirit, I shall add here the divine
philosophy which you will easily understand if you have been
trained in anatomy. It is said that in us there is a triple
spirit from substance of three higher elements, natural, vital
and animal. Aphrodisaeus calls them three spirits. But they
are not three but once again of the single spirit (spiritus).
The vital spirit is that which is communicated through anastomoses
from the arteries to the veins in which it is called the natural
[spirit]. Therefore the first [i.e., natural spirit] is of
the blood, and its seat is in the liver and in the veins of
the body. The second is the vital spirit of which the seat
is in the heart and the arteries of the body. The third is
the animal spirit, a ray of light, as it were, of which the
seat is in the brain and the nerves of the body. In all these
there resides the energy of the one spirit and of the light
of God. The formation of man from the uterus teaches that
the vital spirit is communicated from the heart to the liver.
For an artery joined to a vein is transmitted through the
umbilicus of the foetus, and in like manner afterward the
artery and vein are always joined in us. The divine spirit
of Adam was inspired from God into the heart before [it was
communicated into] the liver, and from there it was communicated
to the liver. The divine spirit was truly drawn into the mouth
and nostrils, but the inspiration extended to the heart. The
heart is the first living thing, the source of heat in the
middle of the body. From the liver it takes the liquid of
life, a kind of material, and in return vivifies it, just
as the liquid water furnishes material for higher substances
and by them, with the addition of light, is vivified so that
[in turn] it may invigorate. The material of the divine spirit
is from the blood of the liver by way of a remarkable elaboration
of which you will now hear. Hence it is said that the divine
spirit is in the blood, and the divine spirit is itself the
blood, or the sanguineous spirit. It is not said that the
divine spirit is principally in the walls of the heart, or
in the body of the brain or of the liver, but in the blood,
as by God himself in Gen. 9, Levit. 7 and Deut. 12.
In this matter there must first be understood the substantial
generation of the vital spirit which is composed of a very
subtle blood nourished by the inspired air. The vital spirit
has its origin in the left ventricle of the heart, and the
lungs assist greatly in its generation. It is a rarefied spirit,
elaborated by the force of heat, reddish-yellow (flavo) and
of firey potency, so that it is a kind of clear vapor from
very pure blood, containing in itself the substance of water,
air and fire. It is generated in the lungs from a mixture
of inspired air with elaborated, subtle blood which the right
ventricle of the heart communicates to the left. However,
this communication is made not through the middle wall of
the heart, as is commonly believed, but by a very ingenious
arrangement the subtle blood is urged forward by a long course
through the lungs; it is elaborated by the lungs, becomes
reddish-yellow and is poured from the pulmonary artery into
the pulmonary vein. Then in the pulmonary vein it is mixed
with inspired air and through expiration it is cleansed of
its sooty vapors. Thus finally the whole mixture, suitably
prepared for the production of the vital spirit, is drawn
onward from the left ventricle of the heart by diastole.
That the communication and elaboration are accomplished
in this way through the lungs we are taught by the different
conjunctions and the communication of the pulmonary artery
with the pulmonary vein in the lungs. The notable size of
the pulmonary artery confirms this; that is, it was not made
of such sort or of such size, nor does it emit so great a
force of pure blood from the heart itself into the lungs merely
for their nourishment; nor would the heart be of such service
to the lungs, since at an earlier stage, in the embryo, the
lungs, as Galen teaches, are nourished from elsewhere because
those little membranes or valvules of the heart are not opened
until the time of birth. Therefore that the blood is poured
from the heart into the lungs at the very time of birth, and
so copiously, is for another purpose. Likewise, not merely
air, but air mixed with blood, is sent from the lungs to the
heart through the pulmonary vein; therefore the mixture occurs
in the lungs. That reddish-yellow color is given to the spirituous
blood by the lungs; it is not from the heart.
In the left ventricle of the heart there is no place large
enough for so great and copious a mixture, nor for that elaborate
imbuing the reddish-yellow color. Finally, that middle wall,
since it is lacking in vessels and mechanisms, is not suitable
for that communication and elaboration, although something
may possibly sweat through. By the same arrangement by which
a transfusion of the blood from the portal vein to the vena
cava occurs in the liver, so a transfusion of the spirit from
the pulmonary artery to the pulmonary vein occurs in the lung.
If anyone compares these things with those which Galen wrote
in books VI and VII, De usu partium, he will thoroughly understand
a truth which was unknown to Galen.
And so that vital spirit is then transfused from the left
ventricle of the heart into the arteries of the whole body
so that which is more rarefied seeks the higher regions where
it is further elaborated, especially in the retiform plexus
situated under the base of the brain, and approaching the
special seat of the rational soul, the animal spirit begins
to be formed from the vital. Again it is more greatly rarefied
by the firey force of the mind, elaborated and completed in
the very slender vessels or hair-like (capillaribus) arteries
which are situated in the choroid plexuses and contain the
mind itself. These plexuses penetrates all the inmost parts
of the brain, internally girdling the ventricles of the brain,
and those vessels, enfolded and woven together as far as the
origins of the nerves, serve to introduce in these last the
faculties of sensation and of motion. Those vessels in a very
remarkable way are woven together very finely, and even if
they are called arteries, nevertheless they are the termination
of arteries extending through the assistance of the meninges
to the origin of the nerves. It is a new kind of vessels.
For just as in the transfusion from the veins into the artery,
so in the transfusion from the arteries into the nerves there
is a new kind of vessels from the tunic of the artery in the
meninx, since especially do the meninges preserve their tunics
in the nerves. The sensibility of the nerves is not in their
soft material, as in the brain. All nerves end in membranous
filaments which have the most exquisite sensibility and to
which for this reason the spirit is always sent. And from
those little vessels of the meninges, or choroid plexuses,
as from a source, the clear animal spirit is poured forth
like a ray through the nerves into the eyes and other sense
organs. By the same route, but in reverse, light images of
things causing sensation, coming from without, are sent to
the same source, penetrating inwardly, as it were, through
the clear medium [i.e., spirit].
From these things it is sufficiently clear that that soft
mass of the brain is not properly the seat of the rational
soul, since it is cold and lacking in sensation. But it is
like a bolster for the aforesaid vessels lest they be broken,
and like a custodian of the animal spirit lest it blow away
when it must be communicated to the nerves; and it is cold
that it may temper that fiery heat contained within the vessels.
Hence also it happens that the nerves serve the tunic of the
membrane in the internal cavity, which is common to the aforesaid
vessels as a faithful guardian of the spirit, and they hold
this [away] from the thin meninx just as they hold another
from the thick. Also those empty spaces of the ventricles
of the brain which puzzle philosophers and physicians contain
nothing else but the spirit. But the ventricles were made
in the first place like a cloaca for the reception of the
purgings from the brain so that they may test the excrementa
received there, from which morbid defluxions arise, and provide
a passage to the palate and nostrils. And when the ventricles
are so filled with pituita that the arteries themselves or
the choroid plexuses are immersed in it, then suddenly apoplexy
is aroused. If a very noxious humor obstructs a part, and
its vapor infects the mind, epilepsy occurs, or another disease,
according to the part into which it settles when it has been
expelled. Therefore let us say that it is the mind which we
clearly perceive to be afflicted. From the immoderate heat
of those vessels, or from the inflammation of the meninges,
obvious delirium and frenzy occur. Whence from the diseases
occurring by reason of site and substance, by force of heat
and because of the ingenious construction of the vessels containing
it, and from the actions of the mind apparent there, we always
conclude that those little vessels must be given first consideration
because all the rest serve them and because nerves of sensation
are tied to them so that they may receive their force from
them. Finally, because we perceive the intellect exerting
itself there when, as a result of concentrated thought, those
arteries are pulsating as far as the temples. He who has not
seen this thing will scarcely understand. Those ventricles
were made for a second reason, that a portion of the inspired
air penetrating through the ethmoid bones to their empty spaces,
attracted by diastole from the vessels of the spirit, may
refresh and ventilate the animal spirit contained within and
the soul. In those vessels are mind, soul, and fiery spirit
requiring constant fanning; otherwise, like an eternal fire
which has been covered up, there would be suffication. As
in the case of ordinary fire, there is required not only fanning
and blowing upon so that it may take fuel from the air, but
also that it may discharge its sooty vapors into the air.
And just as this is common external fire is bound to a thick
earthy body, because of a common dryness and because of a
common form of light, so that which has the liquid of the
body as its food is blown upon, supported and nourished by
the air; thus that fiery spirit and our soul are similarly
bound to the body, making one with it and having blood as
food; it is blown upon, supported and nourished by the airy
spirit through inspiration and expiration, so that there is
a double nourishment for it, spiritual and corporeal.”
Prints
Christianismi restitutio. Totius ecclesiae apostolicae
est ad sua limina vocatio, in integrum restituta cognitione
Dei, fidei Christi, iustificationis nostrae, regenerationis
baptismi, et coenae domini manducationis. Restitutio denique
nobis regno coelesti, Babylonis impiae captivitate soluta,
et Antichristo cum suis penitus destructo. M.D. LIII.
734 pp. 8°. It ends with the initials M.S.V.
There is also a reprint of the fragment of Christianismi
restitutio by Giorgio Biandrata, an Italian physician
who obtained his degree in Montpellier (here he was a fellow
student with Rabelais), became a personal physician of the
Italian-born wife of King Sigismund of Poland. Later he returned
to Italy and was forced to leave Italy around 1553 for his
religious convictions, he returned to Poland and Transylvania.
De Regno Christi Liber primus. De Regno Antichristi Liber
secundus. Accessit tractatus de Paedobaptismo, et circuncisione.
Rerum capita sequens pagella demonstrabit. Ioan. 15. ver 14.
Vos amici mei estis, si feceris quaecunq ego praecipio vobis.
Albae Juliae. Anno Domini 1569.
Translations
Polish: Gregorius Paulus (Grzegorz Pawel), who translated
some chapters into Polish and published them in Pinczów
already in 1568! Okazanie Antychrysta y iego Królestwa
ze znaków iego wlasnych w slowie bozym opisanych, których
tu szescdziesiat. [The advent of Antichrist and his kingdom,
according to his own signs as described in the Word of God,
of which there are sixty.
German: Bernhard Spiess, Wiederherstellung des Christentums,
Wiesbaden. Verlag von Chr. Limbarth. 1892, 1895, 1896, 3 volumes
Spanish: was done in two separate books, one containing only
the Christianismi restitutio, the second, the rest of the
Servetus's book Miguel Servet, Restitución del Cristianismo.
Primera traducción castellana de Ángel Alcalá
y Luis Betés. Edición, introducción y
notas de Ángel Alcalá (Madrid: Fundación
Universitaria Española, 1980). Miguel Servet, Treinta
cartas a Calvino. Sesenta signos del Antichristo. Apología
de Melanchton. Edición de Ángel Alcalá
(Madrid: Editorial<O:P</O:P Castalia,1981).
Portuguese: part of the Christianismi restitutio (De mysterio
Trinitatis, et veterum disciplina, ad Philippum Melanchthonem,
et eius colegas, apologia) Aplogia a Felipe Malnchthon e a
suas colegas sobre o mistério de Trinidade e sobre
os costumes antigos as part of the dissertation by Elaine
Cristine Sartorelli O Programa de Miguel Servet para a Restitução
do Cristianismo; Teologia e Retorica na Apologia a Melanchthon,
presented at Universidade de São Paulo, Facultade de
Filosofia, Letras e Ciencias Humanas (São Pulo, 2000).
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