Biography
Michael Sattler was born around 1490, in Stauffen, in the Breisgau region of southwestern Germany. Little is known of his early life. He entered the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter, in the Black Forest, and rose to the post of prior. He was a man of education, who studied the Scriptures and the church fathers. He was known as a monk with a serious mind. In 1525, at the time of the Peasants' War, he left the monastery. He had been struck by the reading of the letters of Paul, and he had come to see that the monastic life was not in accord with the Bible. He was also moved by the cause of the poor.
He went to Zurich, in Switzerland, where he came into contact with the Anabaptists, a group that had broken with the reformer Huldrych Zwingli over the question of baptism. They held that baptism should be given only to those who had made a personal confession of faith, and that the church should be a community of believers, separate from the state. Sattler was convinced by this view and was baptized as a believer in 1525. He soon became a leader among them. He was driven from Zurich with other Anabaptists and began a wandering life, preaching in various places in southern Germany.
In February 1527, he presided at a meeting of Anabaptist leaders at Schleitheim, in the canton of Schaffhausen. They came together to settle differences and to set out the basic beliefs of the movement. Sattler drafted a statement, which was adopted by the meeting. It is known as the Schleitheim Confession, or the Brotherly Union. It has seven articles. It dealt with baptism, the ban or church discipline, the breaking of bread, separation from the world, the office of the pastor, the refusal of the sword and the refusal of oaths. It was a clear statement of the Anabaptist position and was widely circulated. It is a foundational text for the Mennonite and Amish churches and other peace churches.
Soon after the meeting, he was arrested. In May 1527, he and his wife, Margaretha, and a number of others were seized at Horb, in the territory of the Catholic Habsburgs. They were taken to Rottenburg and put on trial. He was charged with heresy, with refusing to take oaths and with preaching against the sacraments. He was also accused of saying that if the Turks invaded, one should not resist them. He defended himself calmly, using the Bible. He said that he would not abandon his beliefs. He was offered a pardon if he would recant. He refused.
He was condemned to a terrible death. On May 20, 1527, he was taken to the market place at Rottenburg. He was bound to a cart, and his tongue was cut out. Pieces of flesh were torn from his body with red-hot tongs, at five places. He was then taken to the place of execution and burned at the stake. While he was being burned, he prayed for his persecutors. It is said that the ropes that bound his hands were burned through, and that he raised two fingers as a sign to the brothers. He was about thirty-seven years old. His wife was drowned in the Neckar River a few days later, after refusing to recant.
His death caused a great stir. His trial was written up and was circulated among the Anabaptists. He became one of the first martyrs of the movement. He was a man of gentle spirit, with a conviction that Christ must be followed in every part of life. His life shows the cost paid by the early Anabaptists for their refusal to bear the sword. The Schleitheim Confession is his lasting legacy.