Taken from the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada's Homepage

A Martyr

"We... renew the previous imperial law... that... every Anabaptist and rebaptized man and woman of the age of reason shall be condemned and brought from natural life into death by fire, sword, and the like..."

Imperial Mandate (April 23rd, 1529)

 The young monk sat in a dank corner of his prison cell. The walls were made of stone and dripped with moisture, covered in a slimy layer of mildew. The prison was in the bowels of the Schlossberg Castle, overlooking the river Inn in Northern Austria. He shivered in his torn and weathered tunic, secured by a chain to the wall and unable to move more than a couple feet.

 His life wasn't always so fraught with peril, misery and hardship. Born to a well-to-do family in Vocklabruck, a small village in Upper Austria, he had been raised in the Roman Catholic Church and educated in Vienna. Still in his teens, he joined the Bare Footed Order of the Franciscan Monks; devoted to his faith, his brethren, and his God.

 But the times were filled with change in early Sixteenth Century Europe. In 1517, on the eve of All Saint's Day, Martin Luther, professor of theology at Wittenberg University in Saxony, posted his "Ninety-five Theses" on the burg's church door. This was a direct challenge against the excesses and authority of the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope.

 In 1521 Ulrich Zwingli, the People's Priest of Zurich, formed a study group of future Anabaptist leaders. He believed in faith through the Scriptures and refused to follow many of the Roman Catholic traditions. This cultural study group was thoroughly versed in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; and conducted an extensive study of the New Testament.

 Zwingli's cultural group's findings became the basis for the Anabaptist Movement. These were that infant baptism, mandated by the church, was groundless in the Scriptures and should only be performed by mature believers who could fully comprehend their decision. The Reformation was underway, and the battle lines had been drawn.

 Zwingli resigned his priesthood in 1522 and was immediately hired by the Zurich City Council as an Evangelical Pastor at the same post. Many members of Zwingli's study group became traveling ministers of this new faith. One of these new "Radicals," Balthasar Hubmaier, later came into conflict with Zwingli over the Anabaptist's fundamental stance on infant baptism. Zwingli, like Luther, remained on the side of the church on this issue, largely due to political reasons.

The final division between the Anabaptists and the Canton of Zurich occurred on January 21st, 1525. The City Council of Zurich had allowed Zwingli to resign his position with the Roman Catholic Church in order to bring his authority directly from the city government. The City Council accepted the teachings of the Reformation in order to severe ties with the Pope. Subsequently, the Mayor and City Council, through Zwingli, issued three "disputations," or decrees, from 1523 to 1525.

 It was on this Third Disputation in January of 1525 that brought the dispute between Zwingli and the members of his group to a head. These decrees were as follows:

· First Council decree, January 18th, 1525

"All infants must be baptized eight days after birth and those who do not bring infants to baptism will be banished from the city."

· Second Council decree, January 21st, 1525

 Forbade all opponents of infant baptism from meeting together and Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz, two outspoken members of Zwingli's group, from speaking in public. Those of the study group not native to Zurich were banished from the city.

 That evening the group met in the house of Felix Manz, in direct defiance of the Third Disputation. The group went into prayer, after which one of the members, George "Blaurock" Cajacob, asked Grebel to baptize him. Once baptized, Blaurock baptized all the others present. Thus the Anabaptists were officially born.

 Our young imprisoned monk, however, was oblivious to these happenings until early in 1526. Six years before he appeared before the provincial minister in Vienna, having been referred by a Brother of the Franciscan Order. After careful examination of his faith and beliefs on church doctrine, he was taken into the order. As a Franciscan, he had taken the oath outlined in the original Rules for the Ordo Fratum Minorum, or "The Order of Lesser Brothers," submitted to the Pope in 1223 by St. Francis. He voluntarily took a vow of chastity and gave all of his temporal possessions to the poor. For the next six years he would study and live his life in the monastery of Vienna.

 After a time, the young monk's studies of the Scripture began to conflict with his observations of church doctrine. He had heard of the Reformation, for who hadn't with ears to listen in those days? The strict and rigid life of a Franciscan Monk, devote in their following of Catholic tradition, was in direct conflict with what he'd heard. Could these heretics, these outlawed "Radicals," be right in their interpretation of God's Word? He made his decision to find out for himself.

 But our monk could not just leave without a fear for his very life. Once he completed his year of probation, he was received into obedience of the life and rule of the Franciscan Order. It was absolutely forbidden to leave the order, as the rule quoted the Scripture as saying "no one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God." So he made his escape in the middle of the night, and left his life and brethren behind.

 On the road towards Vocklabruck, he happened upon a gathering near a mountain stream. He noticed that the man addressing the gathered crowd of men, women and children was not a minister of the church or a representative of the provincial clergy. The monk sat on a large stone and listened intently.

 "I tell you, my fellow man, that God and his son the Lord Jesus Christ do not reside in the house of the Roman Catholic Church. He has given us the Scriptures to guide our lives; yet they have wandered far from that path of righteousness first tread by the Lord. They tell us we must follow their rituals, that their word is greater than His. But I tell you, the path they follow leads not to salvation, but to eternal damnation!"

 The gathered crowd was evidently moved by the evangelist's sermon. They shouted their agreement and pressed closer to him just to be nearer his persona. Then our young monk witnessed something he'd never seen before, the eloquent preacher began to baptize members of the crowd in the stream, once they had professed their faith.

 He waited through the afternoon as the preacher baptized over twenty-five souls. When he had the opportunity, he approached the older man as he gathered his belongings to continue his journey.

 "Excuse me, Sir, but can we talk?"

 The evangelist observed the younger man with curiosity. He appeared to be a member of the Franciscans by his clothing. Caution must be observed, he thought, as many of the mendicants had been appointed inquisitors for the church's all-out assault on heresy: the Inquisition.

 "Certainly, friar, what can I assist you with?"

 And so the two began to walk toward Vienna and the way the monk had just traveled from. The conversation continued; the friar completely engaged by this new Reformation Teaching. The friar had met Balthasar Hubmaier, a meeting that would forever change the course of his life.

 Soon after he met with Hans Hut, another leader of the new Anabaptist religion, who was conducting secret meetings back in Vienna. These services followed a pattern first started during that fateful week after the Third Disputation: First, a Bible reading; next, an exposition which challenged the hearers; then, baptism in the name of the Trinity; and last the observance of the Lord's meal. Ever in danger of being recognized and seized by the Franciscans, he traveled in disguise as much as possible while nearer to Vienna.

 The City Council of Zurich, in the meantime, showed that they could be just as brutal as the Roman Catholic Church. The Council opened an inquisition in February of 1527 on Felix Manz, Jacob Falk, and Henry Reiman; the latter being two leaders in the movement in and around Zurich. All three were sentenced to death by drowning, carried out shortly thereafter. The cynics of the day termed this punishment "the third baptism."

 Around May of 1527, our young monk began to preach on his own at Steyer in the province of Upper Austria. He baptized converts to the new faith; just like he had first observed done by Hubmaier in the mountain stream along the road to Vocklabruck.

 He continued with a vigor as a missionary of his new faith, travelling through the northern provinces of Austria and southern Bavaria. Many of his peers were being imprisoned in increasing numbers by the Catholic Church; many drowned, burned and beheaded. But our young missionary continued on, despite the perils, forced to spread the word of his faith "underground" in caves and cellars. Much like the early Christians, constantly in fear for his very life, but now from a Christian Roman Empire.

 As the leaves of the forrest began to turn the brilliant hues of death, the mountain trails covered with their crunching underfoot, the first snowfall of the year fell on the Tyrolean Alps. The missionary pulled his hooded cape tighter over his face to shield bare skin from blowing snow as he made his way down the path to the village of Rotenburg (Rattenberg).

 He was making for the house of a brethren that he had been told of, someone to provide a bed and a meal and a gathering place for their prayer meetings. The small village sat on the banks of the River Inn. He made his way under the shadow of the massive Schlossberg Castle to the cobble stone streets and snow covered cottages below. Knocking on the door, he was asked the challenge. Caution had become a way of life for the followers of Conrad Grebel and the late Felix Manz. With a proper response, the door was open to a warm, however small, family room.

 The fireplace glowed red as our missionary sipped his broth and warmed his hands nearby. The room was full of believers waiting to begin their meeting. Just then, a loud boom came to the door, which soon splintered under the force of several heavily booted soldiers.

 "There they are!" One shouted as they stormed into the room. At sword point, our young friar turned radical was now a prisoner. Held against the wall, he watched as a hooded figure came in behind the soldiers. This new figure wore the robes of a Franciscan, and our poor monk's heart sunk in his chest. It was the same provincial minister who had interviewed him so many years ago. The recognition was instant.

 "So, we have a traitor amongst this group." He spoke directly toward the ex-Franciscan. "Captain, take the rest of this group to the river and give them their baptism. Take this one to the tower so I may deal with him later."

 With that, he was drug off in chains to the Biener Tower of the Schlossberg Castle. The date was November 25th, 1527.

 His execution did not come as immediately as he would have presumed. A moderate had appeared on the scene in Rattenberg in the form of one Pilgrim Marpeck. Born about 1495 to a wealthy and influential family, Marpeck had recently become Mining Magistrate of Rattenberg, following a three year term as city Mayor. He had effectively blocked the young missionary's execution and had treated him fairly well as a prisoner.

 That was until his escape attempt, which ended in an injured guard and a severe beating for our Anabaptist preacher. Christmas came and went and the official mood was taking a turn for the worse. Despite the harsh and brutal stance of the Church, this new movement continued to spread like wildfire in the rural areas. Pilgrim Marpeck, as concerned with the course of these new events as he was, could do nothing to stop the inevitable.

 On the 14th of January, 1528, the near starved and frozen convert, once a humble monk from a good family, was dragged from his cell in the tower to the castle courtyard. His sentence of death was now upon him. His head was placed on the block, cheek to the cold and frozen wood. He thought about his youth, about the last time he'd seen his poor mother. The axe rose higher above him in the executioner's hands. He wondered about his father, getting older and less able to get along in his fields. So few winters ahead of the old man now. There was no pain as the sharpened axe separated flesh and bone. The head rolled in an oblong circle around the chopping block, the lifeless body of the "Radical," heretic traitor of the Church, fell silently to it's side.

 So passed the life of Leonard Schiemer, Martyr.

 Afterwards, the body was burned along with several other of the heretic brethren. Pilgrim Marpeck could only watch from the window of his Magistrate's office. Under the flickering light of a candle, the magistrate dabbed his quill in the inkwell and set about finishing his letter of resignation.

Leonard Schiemer's Martyr's Hymn
from the "Ausbund"

Thine holy place they have destroyed
Thine altars overthrown
And reaching forth their bloody hands,
I have foully slain thine own.
And we alone, thy little flock
The few who still remain,
Are exiles wandering through the land,
In sorrow and in pain.

We are alas, like scattered sheep,
The shepherd not in sight,
Each far away from home and hearth,
And, like the birds of night,
That hide away in rocky clefts,
We have our rocky hold,
Yet near at hand as for the birds,
There waits the hunter bold.

We wander in the forests dark,
With dogs upon our track;
And like the captive, silent lamb
Men bring us prisoners back.
They point to us amid the throng,
And with their taunts offend;
And long to let the sharpened axe
On heretics descend.

 Return to the Shimer Family History Page Newsletter, Vol. 2, No. 2.

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