His ordination took place at Zerwick on the 29th day of April, 1616, although he continued teaching at Prerau for two years longer, when he was called to the pastorate of the flourishing Moravian church at Fulneck. At the same time, or shortly thereafter, he was elected superintendent of the schools of the town. In this twofold capacity he ministered to the spiritual and educational needs of Fulneck for three years, and passed the only tranquil and happy years of his life. But the year that ushered in this prosperous career witnessed the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War. In 1621 Fulneck was sacked by the Spaniards, and the conquering force gave itself up to destruction that baffles description. Houses were pillaged, including the residence of Comenius, and he lost all his property, including his library and the manuscripts of several educational treatises, on the composition of which he had spent years of labor. From this time on, the Moravian Brethren were exposed to the most relentless persecutions. Many were executed, and others took refuge in caves in the wilderness or on the secluded estates of wealthy sympathizers. For three years Comenius found an asylum on the estate of Karl von Zerotin. The death of his wife and children (for he had married while at Fulneck) added to the afflictions of his exile; but he sought relief from his sorrow in literary work—the composition of a metrical translation of the Psalms, an allegorical description of life, and the construction of a highly meritorious map of Moravia. The persecution of the enemies rendered concealment no longer possible; and, although Karl von Zerotin was held in high regard by Ferdinand II, in 1624 the imperial mandate was issued which banished the evangelical clergy from the country. For a time Comenius and several of his brethren secreted themselves from their merciless pursuers on the Bohemian mountains, in the citadel of Baron Sadowsky, near Slaupna. But the edict of 1627 put an end to further protection of the Moravian clergy by the nobles; and in January, 1628, Comenius and many of his compatriots, including his late protector, Baron Sadowsky, set out for Poland. On the mountain frontier which separates Moravia from Silesia, one gets an excellent view of Fulneck and the surrounding country. Here the band of exiles knelt and Comenius offered up an impassioned prayer for his beloved Moravia and Bohemia. This was his last sad look on his devoted country. He never afterward beheld the land of his fathers, but for more than half a century he lived an exile in foreign regions. Well might he, in his old age, exclaim: “My whole life was merely the visit of a guest; I had no fatherland.” CHAPTER IV CAREER AS AN EDUCATIONAL REFORMER: 1628–1656