Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss priest and mercenary, debates Church intelligentsia, the leader of the French Reformation defects, and France produces its first martyr.

SYNOPSIS:

EPISODE 15, SYNOPSIS, NO TEARS IN HEAVEN

It is still 1521, and Swiss reformer, Father Huldrych Zwingli presents his case before the Zurich town council to end the celebration of Lent, which is not Biblically supported. He loses but appeals and ultimately prevails in debate against Bishop Hugo Hohenlandenberg.

In Meaux, France, members of Le Cercle de Meaux Guillaume Farel and Gérard Roussel are ordained. Farel delivers a strong sermon against the Church’s teaching on prayers for the dead. The congregation responds in outrage against the Church, destroys relics, and sacks the cathedral.

Swiss reformers celebrate Lent with a mock celebration and trade limericks and sausages. This day is marked as the beginning of the Swiss Reformation. At that event we learn that Father Zwingli and Anna Reinhard have secretly married, an act outlawed for clerics by the Church and the Zurich town council.

Back in France, Cardinal Briçonnét, who leads the French Reformation is arrested by Noël Béda, head of theology at the Sorbonne, and Prime Minister Antoine Duprat. Faced with loss of wealth and position, Briçonnét recants. Fellow reformers are stunned and make plans to leave France and avoid arrest.

Fellow reformer, Jean Leclerc, steps into the gap and preaches strongly against the authority of the Pope. He meets Jean Calvin, an important future leader of the Reformation.

Leclerc is arrested, undergoes three days of barbaric torture, and becomes the first French martyr of the Reformation. Following his death, angelic figure Résolu escorts him to heaven.

In Rome, Cardinal Adrian Boeyens, who never wanted to be pope, walks on foot into Rome to accept the papacy. He arrives just as the plague begins and realizes the bad omen he faces.

In Wittenberg, Martin Luther and fellow reformers visit the local printer. Martin sees his German New Testament in book form for the first time. He is overcome by the honor of seeing the results of his translation.

There is a second meeting in Heaven between Pedro de Ayala, James IV, King of Scots, and his son, Alexander. They are joined by French Knight, Labatie, important characters in the series.

They review progress of the Reformation and preview the Battle of Rhodes, a pivotal moment in the history of Christendom and the last episode in Season Two.