Rudolf Hospinian
Rudolf Hospinian (7 November 154711 March 1626), real name Rudolf Wirth, was a Swiss Reformed theologian and controversialist. Life. He was born in Fehraltorf, Zürich, Switzerland, as son of Adrian Wirth, a minister. He studied in Marburg and Heidelberg in Germany. Returning to Switzerland, he joined the church of Zürich, and was a pastor and schoolteacher. He ministered at Fraumünster from 1594 to 1623, and died in Zurich. Works. His anti-Catholic writing was against the supposed harmony of Catholic doctrines and institutions with the early Church, concentrating on baptism, the Eucharist, church festivals, fasting, religious orders, the  rule of the papacy, and funerals. He wrote: He was a vocal opponent of the Jesuits, and also attacked the Lutheran Formula of Concord. His final work was "Historia Jesuitica" (1619; continued by Ludwig Lucius, 1632). A partial English translation was made. Polemical works against Lutherans included his "Concordia discors, seu de origines et progressu formulæ concordiæ Bergensis" (1607), which was directed against the Formula of Concord. Leonard Hutter answered in his "Concordia concors" (1614). A collected edition of Hospinian's works appeared at Geneva, 1681 (7 vols.), with a life by J. H. Heidegger.