Day 4, John Calvin 's home

One of the delights of Europe's cities and towns is that it is not unusual to hear Church bells ringing morning, noon and night. As I began this blog the bells of the local church in this village called Pierrefonds began to ring. It's a beautiful little village. As we drove into the village we caught sight of this magnificent castle -


I plan on taking a walk after breakfast (when I'm writing this) and walking around it.
We are very near John Calvin's birthplace of Noyon, France. Noyon is notable for more than Calvin as it was a contested battle field place in WWII. The church John Calvin grew up in has pieces of the side of the church that show the affects of bombings and machine gun fire.

I had recently read a biography of Calvin by a man name Godfrey that I would heartily recommend. He is well versed in Calvin's life. Calvin was born in 1509, just 8 years old when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg. His father was a church administrator, essentially working for the local Bishop. The church was also an Abbey, which meant Monastics lived in one section of the church grounds. The old cloister (covered walkway) still exists, and this picture is from the rear of the church which shows the original posts and beams made of wood that the cloister would have been made from.


Calvin was a church kid. Because of the buying and selling of offices, at age 12 he was made a Chaplain. This was probably an arrangement between his Father and the local Bishop to raise money for Calvin's education. His mother died when he was a young boy - tragic to us, but all too common in those days.
His birthplace is modest, and now reconstructed as a museum.


This is only his birthplace and not the place where his reform passions began. That would occur when he would leave home and travel to Paris to get his education at age 14. By the time he was in his early 20's he would be converted and begin the writings that would cause him to become hunted by the Catholic authorities and cause him to flee to Switzerland.

One notable act of his early days was after he was converted. In his early 20's he came back to his hometown of Noyon. He went to the Bishop who had given him his chaplaincy to make his money, and he would tell him that he wanted to give all of it back to him. He gave to the Bishop all the money he had been given, and penniless walked away to continue the reform he felt God had called him too.

Jesus said "you cannot serve God and money..." and Calvin knew this all too well.

Peace