In middle school, I remember so vividly studying all day and night about Martin Luther. As a Protestant myself, I found it so fascinating that he posted 95 reasons summarizing why the Roman Catholic Church should abolish indulgences, to the church's door for all citizens to see. Was such a bold and risky move for him to make, but he did it anyway creating a building step for the Protestant Revolution.
On October 31st, 1517, a protestant, Martin Luther, the father of Protestantism, posted a page, the 95 Theses also known as the "Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences", to the Catholic Church's door in Wittenburg, Germany. This sparked the Protestant Revolution. As history.com says "The reality was probably not so dramatic; Luther more likely hung the document on the door of the Church matter-of-factly to announce the ensuing academic discussion around it that he was organizing.".
Martin was born in Eisleben, Germany, in 1483, and went to become one of the most significant figures in Western history. It wasn't until 1517 that he became to be wary of the Roman Catholic Church. For the reason of selling "indulgences" to absolve sin. Think of indulgences as basically paying for the soul of your loved one to be released to heaven. That was later to be known as a con. A person could never, buy his way out of hell with indulgences, buy indulgences for sins not yet committed, buy forgiveness with indulgences, or even buy an "indulgence" at all. It was also believed that an indulgence would shorten your time in purgatory by a fixed number of days, also a myth (Catholic Answers). The corrupt practice of indulgences made people believe that if they didn't pay tithes for their loved one's soul to be released, they would be stuck in purgatory. Basically the middle of heaven and hell (nowhere); a place no one wanted to be.. said by the church of course. Now tithes on the other hand were mandatory to all, to pay 10% of your earnings within the Catholic church's territory towards indulgences.
"The Pope cannot "remit any guilt", was one of the many complaints listed on his page. In other words, The Pope cannot assume or know when God's going to answer. As a protestant myself, confessing my sins for example to a "pope" or person in a box is not how you would determine what will happen to you. I tell God about my sins and know that God is listening. In his 95 Theses, Luther used the term "remit" quite often. Because to Protestants, a Pope can never cancel or undo any sins or guilts, etc. God does.
Someone who was known for selling indulgences was Johann Tetzel.
He was a German Dominican friar and preacher. The awareness and knowledge of people like him, sparked Martin Luther to expose the church for its wrongful actions, which was a very dangerous thing to do. So you may question: where did the money from this deceitful scam of a so-called "indulgence" go towards? The money raised went straight to the Church and to the Vatican. "These holy relics were keenly sought after as the people saw their purchase as a way of pleasing God. It also showed that you had honoured Him by spending your money on relics associated with his son.", says historylearningsite.co.uk.
The Pre-Reformation
In a basic summarization of words, the Reformation grew in the fertile ground of religious feeling. One ingredient, almost constant in medieval history, was anticlericalism. A second ingredient was an appetite for spiritual experiences, among clerics and educated people.
Start of the Reformation
Who: Martin Luther
What: a movement within Western Christianity in the 16th-century that posed a religious and political challenge to the Roman Catholic Church and the papal authority in particular
Where: began when Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg Germany on October 31, 1517 (list of 95 complaints)
When: October 31, 1517 (started)-1648
Why: (same as the 'What' section) frustration, protest and complaints
With this, you must keep in mind is that Martin Luther would never have broken the Church of Rome. Without Luther, another fire could have easily started. Creating possibly, and who knows, a far worse situation.
The Counter-Reformation
The Church Responds
At first, the Catholic response to Luther was seemed to have been slow to come. There were reasons; reformers, both inside and outside the Church, that sought changes in both doctrine and practice that were not easily absorbed. The popes hesitated to call a general council of the Church though, as Emperor Charles and many others wanted.
But in the 1540s, some two decades into the Reformation, a Catholic response gathered steam. Under Paul III (seen above), a general council finally met at Trent, an Italian-speaking alpine town just inside the boundaries of Charles's empire. Trent did make changes, and it ended up strengthening their cities authority. Remember though, not all Catholic counter measurements came from Trent.
Three of the changes made at this council stand out as:
1) The Roman Inquisition (seen on right)
> a tribunal of medieval origin designed to root out heretics
> they revived in 1542 to police Italian orthodoxy
2) The Roman Index of Prohibited Books (1559) (seen on the right)
> both of these institutions were quite successful
3) Jesuits or Society of Jesus
> founded in 1534 but finally chartered in 1540 by the Spanish mystic Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556)
Social Control
Despite the hostility, Catholicism, and Protestantism they all still had things in common. And there were problems with this. As followed below:
>Absenteeism of bishops
>Careerism
>And patronage networks
What also didn't help, was the slow response, in 1545-1563 the Council of Trent, as I mentioned above, occurred but it was conservative which meant there wasn't much change. It was in Latin. It noted that it included the Medieval Church law vs Protestant "scripture only". Along with Church worked vs. Protestant "faith only". And as also mentioned above, the Church's response focused on the Roman Inquisition, the Roman Index of Prohibited Books and the Jesuits.
To put it in a better viewpoint: the Roman Index of Prohibited Books was a book that all Catholics within the Church's territory knew about. If a book had either anti-clerical, heretical, morals beliefs/ subjects in it, it went straight to censorship to prevent different beliefs from spreading. Catholics were not to be caught reading or owning a single book on the list in this book or else they would be tortured or killed by the Church. It's said, the reason for the creation of this book was because the Church didn't want any other beliefs interfering with theirs. They strictly wanted their own beliefs and that was it.
Ignatius Loyola and the Jesuits (or Jesus) were founded in 1534 but finally chartered in1540 by the Spanish mystic Ignatius. This group, of the many within the Roman Catholic Church, was also known as "God's soldiers". It was a military organization that was very strict and professional. The Jesuits stood out for their efficiency, skill, effective propaganda, and highly regarded schools. The tuition there was free and open to all, including Protestants that may come as surprising at first.
From Renaissance to Reformation
There were concerns that came with these new countermeasures. People began to question the methods of the Church. They were investigating the bible themselves and abandoning Dogma. For those who may not know; Dogma in Catholic Church was basically a truth and word of God.
Along with this was Christian Humanism, then there was a printed press that promoted many languages. So as you would assume, this spread opinions. It all fell into a Crisis of Faith also known as anti-clericalism as noted before.
Someone who was well known for challenging the Church was John Wycliffe (1320-1384).
(As pictured on the left), John was also known for translating the bible to Vernacular languages, as well as gathering followers to thinking the Church was too worldly. Following John's beliefs, benefited rulers who were actually less controlled by the Church. Wycliffe was condemned as a heretic; meaning further over that he held beliefs that were strong at variance from others (specifically the Catholics). This is how Mr. Wycliffe became to be so well known. Doing such things as challenging the church was seen as a very bold and risky move.
People grew off of Wycliffe's ideas, including John Hus (1369-1415). Hus created a movement off of Wycliffe's ideas. In Hus' movement, he introduced laypeople to the Church economy along with contradicted Dogma. Very sadly, Hus was burned at the stake as a heretic. Why you may ask? Well for the same reason I said before. The Church, in all caps, hated heretics. Hus and Wycliffe both introduced different beliefs and thoughts for others. They didn't support the Catholic Church and contributed to witchcraft. The Catholic Church wasn't a huge fan of this because, with this, people were questioning the Church. So, to rid of this problem, they burned the trouble makers at the stake, as a traditional form.
From the transformation of the Renaissance to the Reformation, began the Counter-Reformation with Henry VIII, which I will continue in a blog to come soon along with the Protestant Revolution. For now, that concludes this blog.
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