Sebastian castellio biography

French theologian (1515–1563)

Sebastian Castellio (also Sébastien Châteillon, Châtaillon, Castellión, and Castello; 1515 – 29 December 1563) was a Frenchpreacher and theologian; and one of the first Reformed Christian proponents of religious toleration, freedom of conscience and thought.

Introduction

Castellio later wrote that he was deeply affected and moved when he saw the burning of heretics in Lyon by the French Inquisition, and at the age of twenty-four he decided to subscribe to the teachings of the Reformation.

In the spring of 1540, after witnessing the killings of the early Protestant martyrs, he left Lyon and became a missionary for Protestantism.

Early career

In 1543, after the plague struck Geneva, Sebastian Castellio was one of the only divines in Geneva to visit the sick and console the dying.

Though Calvin himself did visit the sick, others among the Genevan ministers did not.

For his outstanding work, the Geneva City Council reco