 Back in France in 1548, Scrimgeour then accompanied his pupil Bernardin Bochetel to Padua.Although a Catholic, he was plunged into the controversies of the Italian Reformation when he visited a young lawyer of Cittadella, Francesco Spiera, who was slowly dying of despair, having adopted the new opinions and then been forced to recant.Scrimgeour wrote an essay on piety, published at Geneva (under the name of Henricus Scotus) by Jean Gerard and with a preface by Jean Calvin dated December 1549, entitled "Exemplum memorabile desperationis in Francisco Spera, propter abiuratam fidei confessionem".