FROESCHEL, fra'shel, SEBASTIAN: German Protestant; b. at'Amberg (35 m. e. of Nuremberg), Bavaria, Feb. 24, 1497; d. at Wittenberg Dec. 20, 1570. From 1514 till 1519 he studied at Leipsic, when he heard the disputation between Luther and. Eck in the latter year and received an impression therefrom which proved decisive for his subsequent career. Ordained deacon in 1520, and priest in 1521, he soon came into conflict with the Roman Church, and, as a result, removed to Wittenberg in the autumn of 1522. While on a visit to Leipsic in Oct., 1523, he preached a series of sermons, which led to his arrest and expulsion from the country as a heretic. After a short ministry at Halls he returned to Wittenberg in 1525 as assistant to Bugenhagen. During the remainder of his life he, served the church at Wittenberg, becoming deacon there, in 1528, and later archdeacon. He was on terms of intimacy with both Luther and Melanchthon. From 1542 to 1566 he frequently assisted in the ordination of foreign ministers at Wittenberg. In his writings he appears as the interpreter of Melanchthon. He published a Latin commentaty on St. Matthew (Wittenberg, 1558; Germ. transl., 1559; reprinted in. CR, xiv.535-1042); Catechismus (1559; 2d. ed., 1560); Von den heiligen Bngeln,vom Tetcfel, and des 3fenschm Seele (15.63); Von der Passion . . Christi (1565); ,Vom Priestatm. (1565); and Vom Kirnigre" Christi (1566). ,

Bibliography: J. C. Erdmsnn, Bioymphie sammaieher Pwtoren .. . . su Witlenbem. P. 11 and Supplement, pp. 65-62, Wittenberg, 1801-08; J. C. 6eidemann, Die Leipsiger Disputation in 1518, pp. 132-134, Dresden, 1848; G. Buchwald, Zur Witlenbemer Stadi- and Uniroeraitdh tidde, Leipsic, 1893.

FROMENT, fra'!mdnl, ANTOINE: One of the men who introduced. the Reformation in Geneva; b. at Mena (25 m. a. Of Grenoble), in Dauphints, 1508; d. in Geneva Nov. 6, 1581. From 1529 he accompanied Guillaume Farel, the pioneer of the Reformed faith and preached the Gospel in western Switzerland. On Nov. 3, 1532, he went to Geneva, where the Evangelicals were still few and timid. He opened a school, and advertised that " a man had come who within a month would teach every one, men and women, great and small, to read French and to write, even if they had never been to school"; if any one did not learn in that space of time, he should have nothing to pay; sled

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he would heal many sicknesses gratuitously. Froment was a capital teacher; he used the Bible as a text-book and crowds of people, old and young, came to him. On New Year's Day, 1533, so many wished to hear him that he was compelled to preach in the market-place. Taking Matt. vii. 15-16 as his text, he criticized the pope, the monks, and the priests as false prophets and denounced their shameful living. He was soon obliged to depart from Geneva, but when the Protestant party became stronger and was supported by Bern he came back (July 1533). The bishop of Geneva, Pierre de la Baume, had just left the city. Froment resumed his Evangelistic work with great success. The Roman Catholic party called a popular preacher, Guy Furbity, a doctor of divinity of the Sorbonne, as Advent preacher. When he spoke violently of the new doctrine in a sermon Froment answered in the church of St. Pierre. A great tumult followed and once more Froment was compelled to leave Geneva. Bern took offense at Fupbity's preaching and threatened to break its alliance with Geneva if an apology was not made (Jan., 1534). Froment and Viret came back with the Bernese deputies. The government of Geneva gave way and the Reformation made steady progress. After Mar., 1534, Froment went to the Waldenses in Piedmont and Dauphin. In 1535 he was in Geneva when the priests, it is alleged, induced a female servant to give a poisoned soup to the Reformers, of which fortunately neither Farel nor Froment partook, but Viret was taken very seriously ill. Meantime Protestantism gained so much ground that the majority of the citizens favored the new doctrine. In Aug., 1535, the mass was abolished and the Reformation practically established. Froment ministered for a time in the Bernese province of Chablais and was deacon at Thonon, but he was busier as a merchant than as a pastor. Then his wife, Marie Denti&re of Tournai, a former abbess, became unfaithful to him, and he had to resign his charge. He acted for a time as secretary to Bonjvard, the former prior of St. Victor and prisoner of Chinon, then (Dec. 31, 1552) he was appointed notary. In 1562 he was put in prison and banished, being convicted of unchastity. For ten years the old man led a poor and miserable life; at last he was allowed to come back to Geneva (1572) and even to resume his place as notary (1574). His most notable work is: Les Aden et gestes merveilleux de la cilt de Gen~w (ed. G. Revilliod, Geneva, 1854), a chronicle of the years 1532-36, very interesting, but not always accuratey.

Eugène Choisy.

Bibliography: E. and É. Haag, La France protmfaate, ed. Henri Bordier, vol. v., Paris, 1886; A. L. Herminjard, Correapondanee des r4ormateura, 9 vols., Geneva, 1866-97; A. Guillot, Les D*uts de la ROormation d Gendve, Geneva, 1885.