Fox's Book of Martyrs

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Aug 1

https://www.biblestudytools.com/history/foxs-book-of-martyrs/

Edited by William Byron Forbush This is a book that will never die -- one of the great English classics. . . . Reprinted here in its most complete form, it brings to life the days when "a noble army, men and boys, the matron and the maid," "climbed the steep ascent of heaven, 'mid peril, toil, and pain." "After the Bible itself, no book so profoundly influenced early Protestant sentiment as the Book of Martyrs. Even in our time, it is still a living force. It is more than a record of persecution. It is an arsenal of controversy, a storehouse of romance, as well as a source of edification."

Fox's Book of Martyrs is in the public domain and may be freely used and distributed.

An Account of Several Remarkable Individuals, Who Were Martyred in Different Parts of Italy, on Account of Their Religion Part 1
John Mollius was born in Rome, to reputable parents. At twelve years of age, they placed him in the monastery of Gray Friars, where he made such rapid progress in arts, sciences, and languages that he was permitted to take priest's orders at eighteen years of age.
He was then sent to Ferrara, where, after pursuing his studies six years longer, he was made a theological reader in the university of that city. He now, unhappily, exerted his great talents to disguise the Gospel truths, and to varnish over the error of the Church of Rome. After some years of residence in Ferrara, he removed to the University of Behonia, where he became a professor. Having read some treatises written by ministers of the reformed religion, he grew fully sensible of the errors of popery and soon became a zealous Protestant in his heart.
He now determined to expound, accordingly to the purity of the Gospel, St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, in a regular course of sermons. The concourse of people that continually attended his preaching was surprising, but when the priests found the tenor of his doctrines, they dispatched an account of the affair to Rome; when the pope sent a monk, named Cornelius, to Bononia, to expound the same epistle, according to the tenets of the Church of Rome. The people, however, found such a disparity between the two preachers that the audience of Mollius increased, and Cornelius was forced to preach to empty benches.
Cornelius wrote an account of his bad success to the pope, who immediately sent an order to apprehend Mollius, who was seized accordingly and kept in close confinement. The bishop of Bononia sent him word that he must recant, or be burnt, but he appealed to Rome and was removed thither.
At Rome he begged to have a public trial, but the pope absolutely denied him, and commanded him to give an account of his opinions, in writing, which he did under the following heads: