10 Facts About Johannes Oecolampadius

Johannes Oecolampadius was a German Protestant reformer in the Calvinist tradition from the Electoral Palatinate.

Johannes Oecolampadius was the leader of the Protestant faction in the Baden Disputation of 1526, and he was one of the founders of Protestant theology, engaging in disputes with Erasmus, Huldrych Zwingli, Martin Luther and Martin Bucer.

Johannes Oecolampadius was born as Johannes Heussgen in Weinsberg, then part of the Electorate of the Palatinate.

Johannes Oecolampadius attended school at Weinsberg and Heilbronn, and then, intending to study law, he went to Bologna, but soon returned to Heidelberg and took up theology.

Johannes Oecolampadius became cathedral preacher at Basel in 1515, serving under Christoph von Utenheim, the evangelical bishop of Basel.

In Basel, Oecolampadius became an editorial assistant and Hebrew consultant to Erasmus' first edition of the Greek New Testament, and wrote that edition's epilogue in praise of his master.

At last Johannes Oecolampadius was able to refrain from some practices he believed to be superstitious.

Johannes Oecolampadius was respected even among Catholic scholars of his time and was quoted over forty years after his death by the Jesuit St Peter Canisius in his work De Maria Virgine.

Johannes Oecolampadius is considered an example of Protestant Marian piety of his time, largely in light of his sermons.

Johannes Oecolampadius calls Mary the mediatrix or mediator of all graces, to whom the Lord had entrusted the treasure of Grace Thesaurus gratiarum.