In the 15th Century, Michael Servitus (Miguel Cervitus?) was burned as
a heretic. John Calvin pleaded a more merciful burning, executing him
first, but the people were in a frenzy. Some time (years?) afterwards,
an obelisk was raised in Geneva, apologizing to the world for the
barbaric burning. Saying in part, it was a sin common to the era. I
saw a photo of it, about 50 years ago, and hoped the 'net' could give
me more info.

I am assuming it is Servitus about whom you want to find out more

Michael Servitus is the Anglo-Latinised name of Miguel Servet. 
According to a web site on the history of the Unitarian faith, he was
Spanish astrologer and theologian and part of the
Iberian/Sephardic/Islamic culture of the "Convivencia" “an urbane,
multi-ethnic, poly-religious culture made up of Moslems, Christians,
and Jews in Spain that existed from roughly the end of the 8th century
until 1492 when the "Moors" and Jews were expelled from Spain by royal
edict, bringing the Convivencia to a close.”  This site says that as a
result of exposure to this multifaceted culture, that Servitus
developed the ideas that made him the first Unitarian. The term,
Unitarian, first appeared in a manuscript in connection with Servitus.
 http://civic.bev.net/uufnrv/jeremy.html

Servitus was also a physician according to a document on ideas and
innovation at the University of Texas
http://www.che.utexas.edu/cache/trc/chapter3.doc


The Engines of Our Ingenuity “is a radio program that tells the story
of how our culture is formed by human creativity”  One of its
broadcasts was about Servitus.  It tells how “In 1546 he wrote a book
on spiritual regeneration. He attacked the doctrine of the Trinity. He
thought the Nicene Creed dishonored the idea of redemption.”  As part
of his theory of regeneration, he described the regeneration (ie
reoxygenation) of blood in the lungs, 85 years before the blood
circulation was “discovered” by William Harvey.  Servitus sent a copy
of his book to Calvin, who was horrified, called him a heretic and
ordered his arrest. “A tribunal sentenced Servitus to burn in a fire
fueled by slow-burning green wood and his own books.” 
http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi689.htm

The site at http://coloquio.com/famosos/servet.html says that Servitus
also studied law, theology, mathematics, astronomy and geography and
gives the title of his controversial book as “Christianism Recovered”.
 It dates this book to 1553 (as opposed to the date of 1546 given
above), and gives his life as being 1511-1553.

A web site in Spanish at
http://www.tol.itesm.mx/~esolisw/servet1.html#Miguel says he was born
in Villanueva de Sigena in Spain within a religious family.  He
studied in Toulouse, where he became interested in theology.  After a
journey to Bologna with his patron, the Franciscan Juan de Quintana in
order to participate in the coronation of Emperor Carlos (Charles) V,
he became disgusted by the pomp and wordly power of the Pope and
church, and travelled alone to Lyons, Geneva, Basle and Strassbourg. 
He got to know the leaders of the Reformation, Ecolampadio (Juan
Hausschein), Martín Butzer y Gaspar Schwenckfeld, whose ideas
influenced his theology.  Already in his books of 1531 (De Trinitatis
erroribus libri vii) and 1532 (Dialogorum de Trinitate libri ii ) he
showed Unitarian thinking.  His works made him unpopular with
Catholics and Protestants.  In 1534, he met Calvin in Paris, but had
to flee the city and did not meet Calvin again until 20 years later
just before his death.

He changed his surname to Villanueva, and went to Lyons, where he
worked as an editor and translator of scientific works such as the
Geography of Ptolemy.  He was friends with a botanist, Leonardo Fuchs,
and with his help studied botany, medicine, physiology, hermetic
philosophy and astrology.  He returned to Paris in 1538 to study
medicine. His studies in anatomy caused him to doubt the teaching of
Aristoteles and Galen, who were considered the authorities of medicine
in those days.  His controversial ideas in medicine, and also in
astrology, made him enemies within the medical faculty, although he
managed to get his degree and managed to escape being denounced as a
heretic.  However, he was too successful as a doctor, and made more
enemies, and so had to start on his travels once more.

He became the physician of the Archbishop of Vienne in France.  There,
he pretended to be a Catholic,  but secretly developed his ideas of
Christian Regeneration, as described above and communicated them to
Calvin, hoping to engage in dialogue.  Calvin told Guillerno Farel
that if Servitus went to Geneva he must not be allowed to leave it
again alive.  Meanwhile, Servitus published La Biblia Sacra ex Santis
Pagani Traslatione  (1542) and then in 1553, secretly in Vienne, 1000
copies of the manuscript he had sent to Calvin. He was tried by the
Inquisition in Vienne and imprisoned. He escaped to Geneva, where he
was caught, sentenced and burned alive.  His execution made a deep
impression on Laelius Sozzini who became one of the founders of the
Unitarian Church.

Here is a bibliography of books about Servitus from the Center for
Socinian Studies http://www.socinian.org/socinian.html

I'm sorry, but I have not managed to find anything about the apology
in stone in Geneva.

Thank you for this question.  It has been fascinating to research it.

---

Clarification of Answer by tehuti-ga on 15 Jul 2002 16:30 PDT

I’ve not been able to stop searching on this topic, although I was
already convinced I had exhausted all resources!

I found that there is a rue Michel-Servet in Geneva, which is the site
of the medical school and related departments of the University of
Geneva.   A page of the Medical School web site advertising a
scientific meeting has a short biography of Servitus and a picture. 
It says the place of his execution was in Champel, a hill close to
Geneva http://www.medecine.unige.ch/ivbm2000/michelservet.htm

Aha!  Now I’ve searched on Champel and Servet, and found the
monument!!!  http://www.geneva-guide.ch/discover/content.asp?category_id=6&recno=24&name=Servet+Memorial

“Standing at a crossways (made by the avenues de la Roseraie and de
Beau séjour) on the fringe of the residential area of Champel and not
far from the Hospital, the Servet Memorial is seldom mentioned in the
numerous guides which have been published on our city. Even more
disturbing is the fact that probably ninety-five Genevese out of a
hundred are not aware of its existence.”  The monument has two
inscriptions, with the one on the back saying “Respectful and grateful
sons of Calvin, our great Reformer, but condemning a mistake, which
was the one of his century, and firmly adhering to liberty of
conscience according to the Reformation and the Gospel, we have
erected this Expiatory Monument on 27 October 1903.”

---

Clarification of Answer by tehuti-ga on 15 Jul 2002 16:33 PDT

I was not aware that other commenters had also found sites relating to
the monument, as I was entering my answer clarification at the same
time.

(question got locked before I could send it 15:39 PDT)

http://www.meetingpoint.org/jc/jcservet.htm
http://www.meetingpoint.org/jc/jcserv2.htm

Many different "versions" of text on the monument.

En 1903, une stèle a été érigée à l'emplacement du bûcher avec ces
mots:
«Fils respectueux et reconnaissants de Calvin, notre grand
réformateur, mais condamnant une erreur qui fut celle de son siècle et
fermement attachés à la liberté de conscience selon les vrais
principes de la Réformation et de l'Evangile, nous avons élevé ce
monument expiatoire». [Le XXVII Octobre MCMIII]
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/herodote/histoire10261.htm

“As reverent and grateful
sons of Calvin,
our great Reformer,
repudiating his mistake, which was the mistake
of his age,
and according to the true principles of the
Reformation and the Gospel
holding fast to the freedom of conscience,
we erect
this monument of reconciliation
on XXVII October MCMIII”
http://www.thirdmill.org/files/english/html/ch/CH.Arnold.RMT.8.HTML

In the year 1900 a monument of expiation was erected to Servetus in
the Place Champel.
http://www.virtualology.com/virtualmuseumofhistory/hallofspirituality/johncalvin.net/

Today there is a monument on Champel, the hill upon which Servetus
perished in the flames. It was erected on the 350th anniversary of the
execution, by followers of Calvin. The inscription reads: As reverent
and grateful sons of Calvin, our great Reformer, repudiating his
mistake, which was the mistake of his age, and according to the true
principles of the Reformation and the Gospel, holding fast to freedom
of conscience, we erect this monument of reconciliation on this 27th
of October 1903.
http://www.ccel.org/c/calvin/institutes/bookiv/bookiv13.htm

(Misinformation?)
In Geneva, Switzerland, there was dedicated in 1912 a monument bearing
the following inscription: "In memory of Michael Servetus--victim of
religious intolerance of his time, and burned for his convictions at
Champel, on September 27, 1553. Erected by the followers of John
Calvin, three hundred and fifty years later, as expiation for that
act, and to repudiate all coercion in matters of faith."
http://www.bibletoday.com/photodrama/chapter9/pd0009.htm

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Servetus

A description and photo of the Servet Memorial may be found here:

http://www.kfwg.net/discover/monuments/monument_description.asp?RECNO=5

The expiatory inscription is in French. Its English translation:

"Respectful and grateful sons of Calvin, our great Reformer, but
condemning a mistake, which was the one of his century, and firmly
adhering to liberty of conscience according to the Reformation and the
Gospel, we have erected this Expiatory Monument on 27 October 1903."

Many years ago I read "Hunted Heretic: The Life and Death of Michael
Servetus, 1511-1553," by Roland H. Bainton, as part of a class on the
history of the Reformation. I highly recommend this book to anyone who
has an interest in Servetus and his times.

The book is currently out of print, but it is likely to be available
at libraries (particularly university libraries.) The reading room of
a Unitarian/Universalist congregation may also be a good place to find
it, since the Unitarians revere Servetus as one of the founders of
their denomination.

Amazon.com helpfully informs us that this book is scheduled to be
reprinted in November 2011.

One more thing--

Ebay has a used paperback copy of the book "Hunted Heretic: The Life &
Death of Michael Servetus" for $6.99:

http://half.ebay.com/cat/buy/prod.cgi?cpid=2826162&domain_id=1856&meta_id=1