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KF5JRV > TODAY 31.10.18 12:56l 47 Lines 2463 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 24046_KF5JRV
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Subj: Today in History Oct 31
Path: IW8PGT<IR2UBX<IZ3LSV<IK6ZDE<F1OYP<KE0GB<KF5JRV
Sent: 181031/1135Z 24046@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.16
On this day in 1517, the priest and scholar Martin Luther approaches the
door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and nails a piece of
paper to it containing the 95 revolutionary opinions that would begin
the Protestant Reformation.
In his theses, Luther condemned the excesses and corruption of the Roman
Catholic Church, especially the papal practice of asking payment—called
“indulgencesö—for the forgiveness of sins. At the time, a Dominican
priest named Johann Tetzel, commissioned by the Archbishop of Mainz and
Pope Leo X, was in the midst of a major fundraising campaign in Germany
to finance the renovation of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Though Prince
Frederick III the Wise had banned the sale of indulgences in Wittenberg,
many church members traveled to purchase them. When they returned, they
showed the pardons they had bought to Luther, claiming they no longer
had to repent for their sins.
Luther’s frustration with this practice led him to write the 95 Theses,
which were quickly snapped up, translated from Latin into German and
distributed widely. A copy made its way to Rome, and efforts began to
convince Luther to change his tune. He refused to keep silent, however,
and in 1521 Pope Leo X formally excommunicated Luther from the Catholic
Church. That same year, Luther again refused to recant his writings
before the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V of Germany, who issued the
famous Edict of Worms declaring Luther an outlaw and a heretic and
giving permission for anyone to kill him without consequence. Protected
by Prince Frederick, Luther began working on a German translation of the
Bible, a task that took 10 years to complete.
The term “Protestantö first appeared in 1529, when Charles V revoked a
provision that allowed the ruler of each German state to choose whether
they would enforce the Edict of Worms. A number of princes and other
supporters of Luther issued a protest, declaring that their allegiance
to God trumped their allegiance to the emperor. They became known to
their opponents as Protestants; gradually this name came to apply to all
who believed the Church should be reformed, even those outside Germany.
By the time Luther died, of natural causes, in 1546, his revolutionary
beliefs had formed the basis for the Protestant Reformation, which would
over the next three centuries revolutionize Western civilization.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
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