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Welcome

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back to another episode of Five Minutes in Church

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History. We are continuing our

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Confessing Like It's 1559 series. We've

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been in Paris and we've been in Poland and

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on this episode, we will be in Calvin's

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Geneva, but the particular

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confession we are talking about is in

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Italian. It is the

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Formulario by Letizio

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Ragnoni. Ragnoni was born

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in Siena in 1509. When

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he was 21 going on 22, he

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had his law degree in hand and

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he began with a prominent position

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in Siena's town government and was

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on quite an upward trajectory.

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But then he met up with Bernardino

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Ocino and by 1542, both Ocino and Ragnoni

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were convinced of

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the Reformation position against

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the Roman Catholic position on

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the doctrine of justification and

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on the Lord's Supper. Ocino

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went to Geneva in 1542

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and for the next four years, he pastored

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a congregation of Italian

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refugees there in the city

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of Geneva. In 1545,

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1546, he went on to Augsburg and

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pastored an Italian refugee

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congregation there at

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Augsburg. In 1551, Ragnoni

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arrived in Geneva. By 1557,

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he was appointed to be pastor of

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this Italian church and the congregation

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there. He was preaching and he was

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organizing the congregation. He had very

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significant skills as a jurist

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and brought all of those skills to his work as

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a pastor. It was during his

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brief time as pastor

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that many missionaries were

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sent from Geneva to

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the Volgograd.

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Aldensian communities that

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were scattered throughout Italy.

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There was also some challenges for

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the Italian congregation. A number of

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the refugees who came in from Italy were

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Unitarians. They were denying the doctrine

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of the Trinity. And so as

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the end of the year 1558 rolled

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around, Ragnoni and Calvin

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had a conference together and decided it was time

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to write a doctrinal confession

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for the Italian congregation

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there in the city of Geneva. It

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was released in January of 1559. It

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was entitled The Formulario,

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or we would say the different doctrinal

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formulas. And it

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was only a month later, February

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16th, 1559, that Ragnoni would die. This

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confession that he wrote was the

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first reformed, first Protestant

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confession in the Italian

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language. I want to read just a few

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sections of it for you. In

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the section on Christ being the sole

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mediator and advocate before

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the Father, Ragnoni wrote,

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�It is therefore not possible,

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nor allowed, to come to God by

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any other means, as there

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is no other name, given

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to invoke and beseech him, or

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ask any grace or benefit from him,

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and pray him, or asking him, any grace

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or benefit. For Christ alone

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is our true mediator and advocate.

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Christ alone is the head. The

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sumis pontifex. Now

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that title of course was used by the

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Pope, the pontificus maximus,

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or the highest priest. Well

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Ragnoni reminds us, no, it�s not

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the Pope, it�s not any priest. It

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is Christ who is the supreme

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high priest of his church. He

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goes on to say, �Christ alone

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is the one in whom the Father is holy, please.� And

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in Christ alone, the Father

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placed the whole treasure

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of His blessings, establishing

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that in Christ alone, they should

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be dispensed and communicated

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to us so that outside of

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Christ there is no salvation nor

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any good, but only condemnation

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and curse." Well, it's in that last

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line that Ragnoni is referring

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to these, the treasury, the

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merits of grace that the

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church would dispense through the

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sacraments. But here we

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are in the Reformation and realizing

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that indeed it is salvation

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alone through Christ

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alone. Well, that is Letunzio

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Ragnoni and his formulario

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from Geneva in 1559.

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And I'm Steve Nichols, and thanks for listening to 5 Minutes

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in Church History. God

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Bless.