Ochino, Bernardino

Ochino, Bernardino (bārnärdē`nō ōkē`nō), 1487–1564, Italian religious reformer. Ochino was a Capuchin friar, a popular preacher, and vicar general of the Capuchins in 1538 and 1541. Influenced by Juan de Valdés and his circle in Naples, Ochino turned to belief in justification by faith alone, gave up his belief in monastic vows, and adopted an independent Protestantism. In 1542 he fled from the Roman Inquisition to Geneva, where he was well received by Calvin. After two years there he went to England, where he was highly respected until the accession of Mary I, when he returned to Switzerland and became (1555) pastor at Zürich. There he rejected such Calvinist doctrines as predestination. Expelled from the Swiss cantons in 1563 by the Calvinists, he spent his last year in Germany and Poland.