Festus Hommius
Encyclopedia
Life
He was born into a noted Frisian family. He studied from 1593 at the University of FranekerUniversity of Franeker
The University of Franeker was a university in Franeker, Friesland, presently part of the Netherlands. It was the second oldest university of the Netherlands, founded shortly after Leiden University....
under Sibrandus Lubbertus
Sibrandus Lubbertus
Sibrandus Lubbertus was a Dutch Calvinist theologian and was a professor of theology at the University of Franeker for forty years from the institute's foundation in 1585. He was a prominent participant in the Synod of Dort...
, travelled in 1595 to the Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
stronghold of La Rochelle
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
and completed his studies from 1596 at the University of Leiden. Around 1597 Hommius became preacher of Warmond
Warmond
Warmond is a village and former municipality in the western Netherlands, north of Leiden in the province of South Holland. The municipality covered an area of 14.42 km² of which 4.42 km² is water, and had a population of 4,977 in 2004. Together with Sassenheim and Voorhout, it became...
, near Leiden.
In 1599 he became preacher at Dokkum
Dokkum
Dokkum is a Dutch fortified town in the municipality of Dongeradeel in the province of Friesland. It has 13,145 inhabitants . The fortifications of Dokkum are well preserved and are known as the bolwerken . - History :...
. From 1602 preacher at Leiden, he rapidly became drawn into the conflict around Jacobus Arminius
Jacobus Arminius
Jacobus Arminius , the Latinized name of the Dutch theologian Jakob Hermanszoon from the Protestant Reformation period, served from 1603 as professor in theology at the University of Leiden...
. Hommius became a partisan of Franciscus Gomarus
Franciscus Gomarus
Franciscus Gomarus , was a Dutch theologian, a strict Calvinist and opponent of the teaching of Jacobus Arminius , which was formally judged at the Synod of Dort .-Life:His parents, having embraced the principles of the Reformation, emigrated to the Palatinate in 1578, in order...
, the opponent of Arminius on the Leiden faculty. He published polemical books and attended conferences with Remonstrant leaders such as Johannes Wtenbogaert
Johannes Wtenbogaert
Johannes Wtenbogaert was a Dutch Protestant minister, a leader of the Remonstrants.-Life:Born at Utrecht, he was brought up a Roman Catholic, and attended the school of St. Jerome there. He intended a legal career, but gave it up from 1578 with Catholicism when required to cease hearing the...
.
He was a leading publicist of the Contra-Remonstrants, attacking the Five Articles of Remonstrance
Five articles of Remonstrance
The Five Articles of Remonstrance were theological propositions advanced in 1610 by followers of Jacobus Arminius who had died in 1609, in disagreement with interpretations of the teaching of John Calvin then current in the Dutch Reformed Church...
. He used guilt by association
Guilt by Association
Guilt by Association can refer to:* Association fallacy - sometimes called "guilt by association".* Guilt by Association Vol. 1 - album by Engine Room Recordings.* Guilt by Association Vol. 2 - album by Engine Room Recordings....
in suggesting their connection to free-thinking, Socinianism
Socinianism
Socinianism is a system of Christian doctrine named for Fausto Sozzini , which was developed among the Polish Brethren in the Minor Reformed Church of Poland during the 15th and 16th centuries and embraced also by the Unitarian Church of Transylvania during the same period...
and atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
.
He tried to have Dutch congregations in England represented at the Synod of Dort
Synod of Dort
The Synod of Dort was a National Synod held in Dordrecht in 1618-1619, by the Dutch Reformed Church, to settle a divisive controversy initiated by the rise of Arminianism. The first meeting was on November 13, 1618, and the final meeting, the 154th, was on May 9, 1619...
; this appeal to the Dutch government resulted in the presence of Carolus Liebaert as observer.