Let's start in
Witmarsum, Province of Friesland, The Netherlands
In A.D. 1496 a boy was born there and baptized in the Roman Catholic Church
as
Minne Symens.
His father's name was Symen therefore he was designated as
"Minne son of Symen".
A patronymic system in use by the Friesians at that time.
Friesians speak a language different from the Dutch.
(The Netherlands is officially bi-lingual).
Minne called his father and mother "Heit"and "Mem".
In the Dutch language it is "Vader" and "Moeder"
more like the German "Vater" and "Mutter".
Minne Symens (referred to as Menno Simons in Dutch) was a
very bright young man and as such the priesthood was in his future.
He was educated in Latin and Greek in a school
near Bolsward and later in Utrecht where he was ordained at age 24.
At age 28 he reports himself to be a Roman Catholic priest
assigned to the parish in the village of Pingjum in Friesland.
A 45 minutes walk from Witmarsum.
According to ancient manuscripts his father hailed from Pingjum.
His father was a well to do dairy farmer.
Minne Symens was not the only priest in the parish.
There was no shortage of priests in those times.
In A.D. 1521 the total population of Friesland was listed as 75,000.
Number of priests 2,000.
Monasteries 50.
As a "vicar" Minne Symens had an easy and good time in Pingjum.
He was sought after as an excellent and popular preacher.
His superior was a man who according to Minne's writings
"was man who did not lift the heavy end of a beam".
As to his appearance:
A contemporary scribe described Minne Symens as
"heavy set, big framed, irregular face and a brown beard,".
It is also mentioned that he had a hard time moving around.
Later in life he desribed himself
as "Menno Symons de Creupele".
("Creupele" translates into "cripple").
In 1531 we find Minne Symens back in Witmarsum as the head of the parish.
He is now called "pastoor".
This meant that he was also overseeing the land holdings of
the local Roman Catholic Church.
He wrote that it was an easy job.
All he had to do was copy what others did.
But changes were afoot.
In 1517 Martin Luther had nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door
of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany thus initiating
the Protestant Reformation and subsequent turmoil in the Holy Roman Empire.
The times were turbulent and warring factions of nobles
caused much suffering and death among the local population.
Minne Symens had never really studied or read the Bible,
but he wrote later that many times when he handled
the bread and wine at Mass he doubted very much
that it was literally the flesh and blood of Christ.
In 1531 Sikke Freerks, a taylor in the city of Leeuwarden (Capital of Friesland)
was beheaded because "he had renewed his baptism".
Minne Symens wrote that he knew of Freerk's faith
and beliefs and that his death stuck a dagger in his heart.
He started studying the Bible and came to the conclusion
that "infant baptism" had no basis in the scriptures.
He wrote that he discovered that he was misled about the Eucharist and Baptism.
As a consequence he broke with the Roman Catholic Church
on January 30th, 1536 after his brother Pieter Symens was put to death
with 300 Anabaptists near Bolsward, Friesland.
The men were beheaded or hanged and the women
were tied into sacks and drowned in the nearby canal.
His brother Pieter was a "Münsterite". See below.
He travelled to Groningen, NL where he was rebaptized
and married Geertruydt Hooyer from Witmarsum.
Subsequently the newlyweds took up residence in
Oldersum, Northwest Germany.
About 100 miles by car from his birthplace.
Google Maps:
http://g.co/maps/yzkzg
In 1525 Anabaptists in Switzerland had started a movement looking for a radical
reformation of the prevailing Roman Catholic social order.
They wanted to introduce baptism at an adult age
and diminish the influence of rulers in the churches.
Menno Simons strongly disagreed with the violent tactics of the Münsterites.
The Anabaptists lacked a strong and educated leader.
Minne Symens (now referred to as Menno Simons) felt he had a calling
to minister to the demoralized and scattered Anabaptists (Wiedertäufer).
He made long and secret voyages to the Anabaptist congregations in
the Netherlands and Northern Germany
preaching, baptizing and serving Holy Communion
He was also a prolific writer.
Even though The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V offered a substantial sum
of golden guilders for the head of Menno Simons he was never caught.
He continued to travel throughout the Netherlands and Germany preaching and writing.
In the process establishing a printing press to circulate Anabaptist teachings.
Menno Simons took the Bible literally, sometimes even legalistically.
The emphasis was on Christian living rather than doctrine.
He defended the doctrine of the Trinity.
However, he refused to use the term because it did not appear in Scripture.
As Menno Simons continued travelling. His family had to flee many times.
In AD 1554 he wrote that he and his family had been refugees for 18 years.
Multiple times he wrote of his wife being "sickly".
She died between 1553 and 1558.
In 1553 he sent greetings from his wife.
In 1558 he sent greetings from his daughters only.
His son (Jan) and his wife were presumably not alive anymore at that time.
The marriage produced one son and at least two daughters.
Only one daughter survived his death in 1561.
In his last years he was occupied with the doctrine of
shunning excommunicated church members.
However, in all his writings (more than 40 exist to this day), he always began
by quoting the Apostle Paul's letter to the Corinthians:
"No other foundation can any one lay
than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
At age 66, he became ill on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his renunciation
of the Roman Catholic Church.
He died a natural death the following day January 31, 1561
in a house at a nobleman's estate located near
Bad Oldesloe, Northern Germany.
Here he had been provided a safe haven several years earlier.
At the end of the 16th century approx. 25% of the Friesians had become Mennonites.
They were awarded limited freedom of religion in 1595.
Small churches were allowed to be built,
but these churches could not be visible from the throroughfares.
The Mennonites built churches with facades looking like regular dwellings.
Monument commemorating Menno Simons in Witmarsum, Friesland.
Today Menno Simons has close to one million folllowers worldwide.
Submitted by George VanderWoude
