The Protestant A refresher on pre-Reformation devotion Acheiropoieta

Man of Sorrows with the arma Christi, 1465, colored woodcut, Germany

Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, 1470, woodcut, German

“O blessed Sebastian, how great is your faith. Pray to our Lord Jesus Christ for me, your servant, that I may be protected from the harm of disease of the plague. Pray for us, holy Sebastian, that we may be worthy of the vow to Our Lord.

Almighty, eternal God, you who through the service and prayers of the holy martyr Sebastian protect mankind so mercifully from the awful affliction of the plague. Grant all those who pray or carry this prayer with them or speak it reverently that they be protected from the disease and that through faith in the same saint we may be relieved of all affliction and torment of the body and of the soul. Amen.” “

Medieval reliquaries: bust of St. Foy and a reliquary designed to house a piece of the Medieval German chalice and paten A traveling mass kit: includes chalice, paten and small container for holy water or wine and the Origins of the Reformation

Luther with Halo and Dove, Hans Baldung Grien, 1521, engraving frontispiece from Acte et Res Gestae by Martin Luther

Martin Luther: 1483-1546 from the title page of one of Luther’s early pamphlets, published anonymously in Augsburg, 1525 It is vain to trust in salvation by indulgence letters, even though the indulgence commissary, or even the pope, were to offer his soul as security.

– Thesis #52 St. Peter’s Church in Rome: building began in1506 and was completed in 1626 Martin Luther’s German Bible – translated from the Hebrew and Greek, published 1534 (the New Testament was published first in 1522)

Key elements of Luther’s critique

(1) Transubstantiation does not occur during the mass—the communion should be a commemoration of Christ, not an attempt to sacrifice Him all over again.

(2) The Church is too materialistic; poor people go hungry while statues are gorgeously clothed.

(3) Everyone should be encouraged to read the Bible and connect with God directly; the are no longer needed as intercessors, nor are corrupt priests.

(4) Worship of the saints, like the worship of a piece of bread, is idolatrous.

** Some of Luther’s followers extended his critique of materialism and idolatry, arguing for a return to aniconism

The war of images

Propaganda

(1) in the Roman , a committee of cardinals, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, in charge of the foreign missions;

(2) any organization or movement working for the propagation of particular ideas, doctrines practices, etc.

(3) the ideas, doctrines practices etc. spread this way,

(4) any systematic, widespread, deliberate indoctrination or plan for such indoctrination: now often used in a derogatory sense connoting deception or distortion

Lucas Cranach the Elder, illustration from Luther’s Passion of Christ and Anti-Christ (1521)

“The Seven- Headed Papacy,” anonymous woodcut, c. 1530 Melanchthon, “The Donkey Pope of Rome,” 1523 Lucas Cranach the Younger

Weimar , 1555

Oil on wood “Seven-Headed Luther,” woodcut by Hans Brosamer, c. 1529 Luther as a Wolf in the Fold, anonymous German artist, 1520s?, engraving

“trick” woodcuts of Martin Luther and a nun (Katarina von Bora?) exposing themselves woodcut, 1535, German

Iconoclasm Image of iconoclasm being carried out in Aesch, Switzerland, 1529

The Annunciation, hand-colored wooodcuts, 15th century

Genesis illustration from medieval bible

There should be neither king nor princes, neither pope nor other ecclesiastic or lay authority. Every one should be a brother to each other, and win his bread by the toil of his hands, possessing no more than his neighbor. All taxes, ground rents, serf duties, tolls and other payments and deliveries should be abolished forever. Forests, waters and meadows should be free everywhere.

- Virgin of Niklashausen, appearing to Hans the Piper, 1471

Albrecht Dürer, design for a monument commemorating the Peasants’ War of 1524-5

They should be knocked to pieces, strangled and stabbed, secretly and openly, by everybody who can do it, just as one must kill a mad dog!’ Therefore, dear gentlemen, hearken here, save there, stab, knock, strangle them at will, and if thou diest, thou art blessed; no better death canst thou ever attain.

- Martin Luther, 1525 A quick primer on John Foxe and the English Reformation Reformation-Era English Monarchs

Henry VIII: 1509-1547

Edward VI: 1547-1553

Mary I: 1553-1558

Elizabeth I: 1558-1603 Key elements of English Reformation

(1) England was one of the few European countries where Catholics, and not just Protestants, were martyred for their faith.

(2) The English people experienced not one but a whole series of cultural upheavals as their monarchs switched from Catholic to Protestant and back again.

(3) As we’ll discuss in more depth with the Dailey article, Elizabeth and her ministers didn’t like the idea of killing people for their religious beliefs so they emended the treason statutes so that she could arrest Catholics because they posed a “security threat.”

John Foxe: 1516-1587 Key elements of Foxe’s martyrs

(1) Their pain is not magically erased; they feel it, and triumph over it

(2) Many of them are ordinary people, not from the ruling class

(3) Foxe’s accounts are full of intimate, realistic, narrative detail

(4) No miracles!

(5) Several of them were able to write or dictate accounts of their torture

(6) Poena, not causa