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Reformed Church (Name given first)
the name given first to the Helvetic Church, which rejected both transubstantiation and consubstantiation, regarding the communion as simply a commemorative ordinance.
Afterward, the name Reformed Churches was extended to all other religious bodies who held similar sacramental views.
The founder of the Helvetic Church was Ulrich Zwingli, who began to preach reformed doctrines in 1516. Between 1526 and 1532 the movement was com- REFORMED CHURCH municated from Berne; it was at once German and French, and extended to the center of Switzerland from the gorges of the Jura to the deepest valleys of the Alps. In 1532 Geneva took the lead.
Here the Reformation was essentially French. The first or German part of the movement was conducted by Zwingli, till his death at the battle of Cappel (Oct. 11, 1531), the second by various reformers, the third part by William Farel, and then by John Calvin.