VERMIGLI, Pietro Martire (1500-1562), commonly known as Peter Martyr, a Reforming theologian of the 16th century, came of a good Tuscan family, and was born at Florence on 8th September 1500. In 1516 he entered the house of the Augustinian canons regular at Fiesole, and from 1519 onwards studied at Padua, where he heard lectures on the Aristotelian philosophy and taught himself some Greek. In his twenty-sixth year he was sent out as a preacher, in which capacity he visited various Italian cities,—among them Bologna, where a Jewish physician gave him lessons in Hebrew. While prior of St Peter ad Aram in Naples he was introduced to Juan de Valdes’s circle, and also became intimate with Bernardino Ochino. At Lucca, whither he had gone to be prior of San Frediano, the “evangelical” tone of his preaching attracted the attention of the Inquisition, and he was compelled to quit Italy (1542). After short halts at Zurich and Basel he settled in Strasburg as professor of Old Testament exegesis, and in 1547 he removed to England, mainly at Cranmer’s instance. During the next six years he taught exegesis as a professor in Oxford, conducted public disputations, took part in the adjustment of the Book of Common Prayer, and was generally active in the theological discussions of the time. The accession of Queen Mary in 1553 obliged him to leave England, and he resumed his former duties at Strasburg. From 1555 till his death in the autumn of 1562 he taught in Zurich. He took a prominent part in the abortive conference of Poissy in 1561....