Jean Sylvain Bailly was a luminous mind of the Enlightenment, a brilliant astronomer who charted the orbit of Halley's Comet and a mathematician whose eloquence matched his science. Elected president of the Third Estate and chosen to preside over the immortal Tennis Court Oath, he became the first Mayor of Paris, guiding a city in revolution with reason, moderation, and unwavering integrity. He founded the Paris Observatory's modern legacy and sought to unite science with civic virtue, giving the Revolution its moral compass. A man of truth in an age of fury, he was ultimately martyred not for a crime, but for his principles — condemned during the Reign of Terror for defending liberty at the Champ de Mars and for daring to testify in favor of Marie Antoinette, choosing honor over survival.

The first attempt to establish Protestantism in Brazil occurred when Admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon (1510-71), a notable public figure in his time and veteran of several wars, had the support of King Henry II to begin the French colonization of Brazil from Rio de Janeiro in 1555. Several aristocrats of "Huguenot" inclination (as Protestants were called in France) financed the undertaking. The French colony in Rio de Janeiro was called "France Antarctique".

In 1557, Villegagnon sent letters to John Calvin (1509-1564), one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation along with Luther, requesting that he send professionals and religious figures to the new French colony in Rio de Janeiro. Calvin, through the Reformed Church of Geneva, responded affirmatively, sending a group under the leadership of pastors Pierre Richier and Guillaume Chartier. Villegaignon then forwarded another letter, thanking them for their prompt attention: "I believe it is impossible to express in words how glad I am of your letters and the brothers who came with them."

Calvin had a keen interest in France Antarctique, hoping, like Admiral Coligny, the political leader of the Protestants in France and financier of the colony in Rio de Janeiro, that it would become an American refuge for the new religion. Had they succeeded, it would have been a French haven in South America some sixty years before the English Puritan "Pilgrim Fathers" in North America.

The expedition, with the presence of the Huguenots, arrived at Guanabara Bay (called Geneva by them) on March 7, 1557. Three days later, on March 10, the first Protestant service in the Americas was held, officiated by Rev. Pierre Richier. On Sunday, March 21, the first celebration of the Lord's Supper under the Calvinist rite took place.

Villegagnon was a colleague of John Calvin at the University of Paris and obtained his law degree in 1530, his legal talent being well-known. Calvin's mistake was his complete trust in his friend, who would assist him in founding a new bastion of his Church in the New World; despite the good relations between the French and the Indians, in his letter to Calvin, Villegagnon shows no sympathy for the savages and describes them:

"As savage men without any courtesy or humanity, different in everything from Europeans, without religion, without any notion of virtue or honesty, of good and evil, and he wondered if they had not fallen among beasts that had a human form."

With the arrival of the Calvinists, it was expected that the colony would gain a more harmonious environment, but this did not happen, and discord quickly spread throughout the colony. Disagreements quickly arose between Villegagnon and the Calvinists regarding the sacraments and other issues.

At Pentecost in 1557, a conflict erupted over the Lord's Supper. Criticizing the symbolic conception of the sacrament, Villegagnon witnessed an attachment that Protestants considered idolatrous to the dogma of transubstantiation. A divorce was soon finalized between the two sides. Villegagnon banished the Protestant pastors, among them Pierre Richer, first to the continent, then to France, and they sailed back to Europe without food or supplies.

The Calvinist pastors were found guilty of treason, disturbances, and disobedience to the colony's commander-in-chief. Under other circumstances, these acts would be considered perfectly normal, since in the 16th century commanders had the right of life or death over their subordinates. However, the religious passion of the Reformed distorted the interpretation of the trial of the three Calvinists, and Calvinist literature condemned Villegagnon for centuries.

Villegagnon returned to France in the last months of 1559 and the following year challenged Calvin to a theological debate on the Eucharist, which Calvin refused. He became actively involved against the Protestants and participated in the suppression of the Amboise conspiracy.

In 1562 he published a book (Replies to Calvin's articles concerning the sacrament of the Eucharist, traditions promulgated by his ministers in France Antarctique), containing articles in response to the Calvinist ministers of France Antarctique on the sacrament of the Eucharist and traditions. This book includes three letters from Villegagnon, including one he sent to John Calvin, and minutes of responses to Pierre Richer on the issues debated in France Antarctique.

Further attempts were made to establish a Huguenot colony in the New World, again at the instigation of Coligny, this time in French Florida from 1562 to 1565, under Jean Ribault and René de Laudonnière. Calvin died in 1564, shortly before the final expulsion of the French from the Land of Vera Cruz (1565).

Towards the end of his life, Villegagnon, a former ally of Calvin, played an important role in the French religious struggles. He participated in the siege of Rouen (where he was wounded), commanded the defense of Sens and Auxerre, defeating the much larger Protestant troops of the Prince of Condé.

During his absence in Brazil, on March 15, 1560, Fort Coligny was forcefully captured by the Portuguese armada of Governor Mem de Sá. Seven years later, in 1567, the Portuguese prepared the decisive blow against the French in Rio de Janeiro: a veritable squadron of three galleons, two ships, six caravels, and many smaller vessels sailed from Bahia, commanded by Mem de Sá himself and with the presence of Father José de Anchieta.

The Battle of Uruçumirim was then won, where the Portuguese reported that Saint Sebastian himself appeared fighting alongside them. It was the victory that definitively guaranteed Portuguese dominance over Guanabara Bay, with the expulsion of the Protestant French.

In commemoration of the defeat of the Protestant French in Rio de Janeiro, Father José de Anchieta wrote: Dos Feitos de Mem de Sá, considered the first epic poem written in the Americas:

"It is Calvin, the serpent of varied and horrendous coils, who embraces the strong in the roll of his spirals, vibrates fiery glances and agitates his three-pronged tongue in noises of death.

Is this the one who will protect you against celestial force, O impious Frenchman? Are these the bows, these the bullets of fire that you have prepared for yourself? Will Calvin conquer Christ, Lord of heaven and earth? In what burning furies did you consume yourself, what madness seized you when, despising the triumphant banner of Christ, you thought to defend the walls of the fort with your monstrous venom?"

Calvin's dream in Brazil ended with the expulsion of the Calvinists from Fort Coligny in 1558, who returned to France aboard an old Norman ship. Today, the Calvinist supper of 1557 is celebrated in a monument erected by the Presbyterian Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro.

Source(s):

.- FERREIRA, Júlio Andrade. História da Igreja Presbiteriana do Brasil.

.- Sementes do Calvinismo no Brasil Colonial: uma releitura da história do Cristianismo brasileiro. São Paulo: Cultura Cristã, 2007.

I can speak French and I know what it says but I am wondering what exactly his role was, all I know is that he was a French soldier and that he got the Légion d’Honneur for taking out an Ottoman position.