John Calvin (1509–1564) exposed the abominable fasting habits of the Catholic Church in his time. Because animal food was forbidden, choice delicacies in abundant supply were consumed in the pretense of abstinence. Some of the most outwardly pious were more gluttonous during seasons of fasting than during the rest of the year. Although Calvin admitted to the wisdom of early Church Fathers, he blamed the sixteenth-century abuses on their extreme praise of abstinence. Fasting is of no value to God