Reformers in France actively promote for change in Church dogma but choose to do so from within the Church, thereby showing their faith but also risking their lives in doing so.

SYNOPSIS:

EPISODE 14, SYNOPSIS, LES RÉFORMATEURS FRANÇAISE

The French Reformation goes another direction without its reformers leaving the Church.

Reformers, Marguerite Duchess d’Alençon, Guillaume Farel, Gérard Roussel, Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples, professor of theology at the Sorbonne, and Jean Leclerc, form a body of believers known as Le Cercle de Meaux. Marguerite is ‘la patronne’ of the movement.

King of France, Francis, and mother, Louise de Savoie, plan military operations against the Papal States, Castile, and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. The plan involves paying Swiss Mercenaries (Switzers) a sizeable amount in gold.

Marguerite d’Alençon, sister of the King, concocts a plan to sabotage her brother’s war by stealing the gold and saving thousands of lives. She meets with fellow Le Cercle de Meaux members and discloses her risky plan.

The theft is treasonous but conforms with her love for the Church and Christ. The gold mysteriously disappears, and France loses the Battle of Bicocca against papal forces. Thousands die but not as many as it would have been.

Francis solicits the prayers of Marguerite and the reformers in the healing of daughter, Madeline, who has the sweating sickness. Marguerite gives him an important lesson in faith.

In Meaux, France, Guillaume Farel and Gérard Roussel are ordained. Farel delivers a strong sermon against the Church’s teaching on prayers for the dead. The congregation responds in outrage, destroys relics, and sacks the cathedral.

A leader of Le Cercle de Meaux, Cardinal Briçonnét, is arrested by Prime Minister Antoine Duprat and Noël Béda, head of theology at the Sorbonne. Faced with loss of wealth and position, Briçonnét recants of Le Cercle de Meaux reforms. Stunned fellow reformers make plans to leave France to avoid arrest.

Jean Leclerc steps into the gap and preaches strongly against the authority of the Pope. He meets Jean Calvin, an important future leader of the Reformation.

Leclerc is arrested, undergoes three days of barbaric torture, and becomes the first French martyr of the Reformation. Following his death, spirit Résolu escorts him to heaven.