Farel, Guillaume - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. V, p. 631

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

FAREL, GUILLAUME. - B. at Gap in 1489, d. at Neuchâtel on Sept. 13, 1565. He studied in Paris, where, attracted by the reformer Le Fèvre (1509), he came into contact with the Lutheran community that had arisen at Meaux

Article illustration — FARFA, BADIA di - Abbeys of F. and S. Salvatore. Property and possessions in the 17th century. Copper engraving by Francesco Busi of Urbino.
(from J. Schuster, L'impartiale abbazia di F., Rome 1821)

and of which he later (1521) became a member. After an attempt at reform in Meaux failed, he set out to become a traveling preacher.

In Basel (Feb. 1524), supported by Oecolampadius, he held a public dispute; invited to leave for having attacked Erasmus, he went to Montbéliard, Strasbourg, and Bern. In 1532 he preached in Savoy; from there he went to Geneva, where he met Calvin. In 1538 he was expelled from Geneva along with Calvin, and settled as a minister of the new cult at Neuchâtel. As Calvin rose to prominence in religious and political events, F. lost importance. In 1558 he married a widow, Maria Torel, who had taken refuge in Neuchâtel for religious reasons.

He had a most tormented and turbulent life. An impulsive and violent character, as even his friends called him, he was the leader of the "Reformation" in Switzerland before Calvin. He was not a theologian, nor do his dogmatic theses, which reflect the commonplaces of Protestant controversy, have any importance.

BIBL.: A. L. Herminjard, Correspondance des réformateurs dans les pays de langue française, sev. vols., Geneva 1878-97; various authors, G. F. (1480-1565), Neuchâtel 1930; R. N. Carew Hunt, Calvino, trad. it., Bari 1939, V. indice; L. Febvre, Le problème de l'incroyance au XVIe siècle. La religion de Rabelais, Paris 1947, V. indice.