On this day 29 February 1528 The death of Patrick Hamilton, Scottish churchman and an early Protestant Reformer in Scotland.
On this day 29 February 1528 The death of Patrick Hamilton, Scottish churchman and an early Protestant Reformer in Scotland.
He travelled to Europe, where he met several of the leading reforming thinkers, before returning to Scotland to preach. He was tried as a heretic by Archbishop James Beaton, and was burned at the stake in St Andrews.
Patrick Hamilton was born in 1504 in the country of Scotland. He attended the University of Paris in France, and while there became aware of the teachings of Martin Luther. After, he received his Master of Arts in 1520. Upon returning to Scotland, he settled in the center of Catholicism in Scotland, St. Andrews; acquiring a position of teaching at the University of St. Andrews.
The practicing head of the Roman Catholic church in Scotland at the time was Cardinal James Beaton. He was the Archbishop of St. Andrews. It was early in 1527 that Beaton heard of the "heretical" teachings of the young college professor.
When Beaton attempted to have him arrested, Hamilton fled to Germany, where he enrolled as a student in the new University of Marburg. In the autumn of that year he returned to Scotland and began preaching Lutheran ideas.
The following year he began a publication, Patrick's Places, where he introduced Luther's theology. In it he taught against celibacy, and even pressed the point by marrying. He was accused of preaching against pilgrimages, purgatory, prayers to the saints, and prayers for the dead.
He was finally summoned before the council of bishops, and clergy, headed by the Archbishop James Beaton. The council condemned his teachings as heresy against the church, and he was ordered to be burned at the stake outside St. Salvator's Chapel in St. Andrews, literally upon the campus of the University of St. Andrews.
The sentence was to be carried out immediately. His last words were, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." He was burned from noon until 6pm. According to witnesses, the fire went out once before he died, and the young man writhed in pain, much to the despise of the people. The fire was reset. It was said by some that the fire burned so intensely hot that an impression of the face of the young reformer was burned into the rock facing of the building, only a few feet away.
For centuries, people have been to the place where Scotland's first martyr was burned at the stake.

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