Johannes Henricus Jansz. Pistorius

https://gw.geneanet.org/heikeba?n=becker+pistorius&oc=&p=johannes+h...

He was also known as "Jan de Bakker van Woerden" and was a Dutch Catholic Priest who was the first preacher in the Northern Netherlands to be martyred as a direct result of his Protestant beliefs.

Jan's father was a sexton in Woerden and also tenant of the brickworks, and his surname may have been derived from that profession.3 Jan de Bakker was a pupil of Johannes Rhodius (Hinne Rode), headmaster of St. Jerome School of the Brethren of the Common Life in Utrecht, who was a proponent of Sacramentarianism.2 The Dutch Sacramentarians did not believe in the efficacy of the sacraments of the Catholic Church and denied that the host in the Mass was the real body and blood of Jesus Christ.4 They called indulgences and pilgrimages mere idolatry, and were critical of the low moral standards and conduct of the clergy. In 1520 Jan's father called him back to Woerden, because of concerns that those views would be considered to be contrary to the Church's doctrine and could get him in trouble with the authorities. Jan transferred to Leuven, and in 1522 completed his education there.

Jan returned to Woerden, was ordained in Utrecht as priest, and assisted his father as sexton and deacon. Jan started to spread his views, which were considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church at that time, and in May 1523 he and another priest were arrested by the steward of the castle. After a short while they were released, and it is thought that the two travelled to Wittenberg, but there is no evidence he met with Martin Luther. After he returned he continued his preachings, and the conflict with the Roman Catholic Church was further aggravated by the fact that he broke his celibacy, and got married.

In the night of May 9, 1525 Jan was arrested and the next day transferred to The Hague, where he appeared before the Inquisition. He was defrocked and sentenced to death, and on September 15 1525 burned at the stake in The Hague. His widow saved her life by recanting views similar to her husband's, and lived out her life in an abbey.

Johannes Pistorius (Jan de Bakker or Jan Jansz van Woerden), b. 1499, was the first victim of the Inquisition in the Netherlands. He was a Roman Catholic priest who rejected the doctrine of the Mass and other Catholic doctrines. From 11 July to 7 September 1525, Pistorius was interrogated by the inquisitor Ruardus Tapper. He was arrested in May 1525 and imprisoned at The Hague. One of his prison mates was Guilhelmus (Willem) Gnapheus, to whom he dictated the questions of the inquisitors and his own answers and who then wrote a circumstantial account of the cross-examinations of Pistorius. In the sentence he is called a Lutheran, but this means merely that he was a Sacramentist. He was burned at the stake at The Hague on 15 September 1525.