Elector Frederick III, sovereign of the Palatinate from 1559 to 1576, appointed Zacharius Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus, to write a Reformed catechism according to input from either a leading Reformed scholars of the period. One of its aims was to counteract a teachings of the Roman Catholic Church regarding theology, basing each statement on the text of the Bible.

A Catechism was divided into fifty-both sections, for each of these to become taught one Sunday of the season. A Synod of Heidelberg approved the catechism within 1563. In a Netherlands, a National Synods of the sixteenth century adopted it when one of the 3 Forms of Unity, making it required for Elders & Deacons to subscribe, & ministers to teach.