HOFMEISTER, SEBASTIAN

born 1476, Schaffhausen, Switz. died June 26, 1533 byname Oeconomus Swiss religious Reformer who was a prominent figure in the debates of the early Reformation. Hofmeister was received into the Roman Catholic order of Franciscans at Schaffhausen, and he subsequently studied several years in Paris, where he was named a doctor of Scriptures (1519). In 1520 he was sent as a lecturer to Zrich and later the same year to Constance. Under the influence of the Swiss Protestant Reformer Huldrych Zwingli, he began openly to preach Reformation doctrines at Lucerne (1522) and was consequently expelled from the town. Returning to Schaffhausen, Hofmeister became the city's principal Reformer before he was forced to flee again (1525), eventually finding safety in Zrich. He enjoyed an active role in the early Reformation debates: at the first Zrich disputation (Jan. 29, 1523); the second Zrich disputation (Oct. 2628, 1523), over which he initially presided; and the disputation of Bern (January 1528). He participated in the Anabaptist (radical Reformers advocating adult Baptism) colloquies at Zrich and supervised the recantation of the Anabaptist leader Hans Pfistermeyer at Bern (April 19, 1531). He also preached in Sankt Gallen and Basel, corresponded with Martin Luther, and wrote several minor works, including an autobiography.