Highlights in Zürich

Early and Medieval

The story of Christianity in Zürich begins at the end of the 3rd century with the tale of the city's patron saints, Felix and Regula. The two Roman siblings, threatened with execution because of their faith, fled to Zürich for safety. In spite of their efforts, Felix and Regula were captured and beheaded on the banks of the Limmat River. Miraculously, the siblings are said to have picked up their heads after death and made their way up the riverbank before collapsing, where locals buried their bodies.

Some 500 years later, the story continues, Charlemagne rode through Zürich on horseback. When his horse stumbled over Felix and Regula's grave, the emperor stopped his animal and ordered the saints' burial site be honored with a cathedral, Zürich's most famous, the Grossmünster. The lives and executions of Felix and Regula were depicted by early 15th-century artists in the Grossmünster's crypt and are still visible today. A larger-than-life statue of Charlemagne sits atop the cathedral's south tower; its original 15th-century precursor is protected in the Grossmünster's crypt.

The story of Sts. Felix and Regula is a legend; we can't be certain how much truth is in the account. But medieval Christians believed firmly in its veracity and took great strength from the example of the early Romans' martyrdom. Thousands of European pilgrims made Zürich their destination during the Middle Ages, following a route that included the Wasserkirche, where the saints were martyred; the Grossmünster, where they were buried; and the Fraumünster, where the relics of Sts. Felix and Regula were preserved. Franciscan and Dominican friars located in Zürich to provide pastoral care to the city's residents and pilgrims. And a devout religious life developed the Swiss city.

During medieval times, the Swiss were regularly hired out as mercenaries throughout Europe, and quickly developed a reputation as among the finest soldiers on the continent. As a result, in 1506 Pope Julius II selected as the "Defenders of the Church's Freedom" the Swiss Guard, skilled papal security originally from Zurich and Lucerne. In modern times, young men from throughout Switzerland may be considered for the job.

Reformation

Zürich made its most significant mark on Christian history in the early 16th century with Huldrych Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation. Born just seven weeks after Martin Luther, Zwingli, like his more famous German counterpart, spent his career working for church reforms, having grown disillusioned with the corruption and distortion prevalent in Rome. The Swiss Reformer would never enjoy Luther's notoriety, but his influence would be no less powerful.

Zwingli taught his working-class parishioners to read the Bible and he preached to them in their native Swiss German. He opposed the exploitation of his countrymen through the hiring out of mercenaries. And he publicly denounced the Catholic church's reliance on saints as spiritual mediators. Zwingli and his fellow church leaders led in the destruction of countless religious statues and other artworks, objects which had ceased to serve as inspiration and had instead become distractions to true faith. So engaged were the Zürichers of the early 16th century that they quickly embraced Zwingli's Protestant doctrine, and in 1522 Zürich's City Council elected to become a Protestant city.

Among Zwingli's closest followers were Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz. Grebel and Manz, along with a small band of followers, wanted church reforms to go even farther. The Anabaptists, as they were called, pressed for separation of church and state, adult baptism and a variety of social reforms, including freedom from taxation and military conscription. Zwingli couldn't agree to such radical measures, nor could the Zürich city council. After refusing either to conform or to leave Zürich, the Anabaptists experienced their first martyrdom in 1527 when Felix Manz was executed by drowning. But while Manz was dead, he had begun a movement that would last, spreading throughout Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands, and giving root to the modern-day Mennonite and Amish communities in North America.

Zwingli died near Zürich in 1531 at the Second Battle of Kappel. But the Swiss Reformer's work would continue to change Europe through the work of his predecessor, Heinrich Bullinger. Bullinger was instrumental in writing the Second Helvetic Confession in 1566 which, after the Heidelberg Catechism, is the second most recognized Confession of the Reformed Church. The Zürich Reformers' ideas quickly spread to Berne and Geneva, where John Calvin famously took up their cause.

Today

The tumultuous years of 1520-50 produced a deep wound between the Swiss Reformed Church in Zürich and its spiritual offspring, the Anabaptists. In 2003 over 800 representatives of the two sides bridged their differences at the historic Heal Our Land conference in Winterthur, Switzerland. Swiss Reformed church representatives sought forgiveness for the persecution, torture and martyrdom of their Anabaptist brothers; and Anabaptists from North America and Europe prayed prayers of blessing over the Swiss Reformed church.