“Moreover, because
the preceding errors and many others are contained in the books or writings of
Martin Luther, we likewise condemn, reprobate, and reject completely the books
and all the writings and sermons of the said Martin, whether in Latin or any
other language, containing the said errors or any one of them; and we wish them
to be regarded as utterly condemned, reprobated, and rejected.”
~ Pope Leo X, Exsurge Domine, June 15, 1520
Martin Luther
was born on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, County of Mansfeld in the Holy Roman
Empire. He was baptized the next morning on the feast day of St. Martin of
Tours.[1]
On 2 July 1505, while returning to university on horseback after a trip home, a
lightning bolt struck near Luther during a thunderstorm. Later telling his
father he was terrified of death and divine judgment, he cried out, “Help! Saint Anna, I will become a monk!”[2]
He came to view his cry for help as a vow he could never break. He left
university, sold his books, and entered St. Augustine's Monastery in Erfurt on
July 17, 1505. Luther dedicated himself to the Augustinian order, devoting
himself to fasting, long hours in prayer, pilgrimage, and frequent confession.[3]
On April 3, 1507, Bishop Jerome Schultz, the Bishop of Brandenburg, ordained Martin
Luther in Erfurt Cathedral.[4]
He received a bachelor's degree in Biblical studies on March 9, 1508, and
another bachelor's degree in the Sentences by Peter Lombard in 1509. On 19
October 1512, he was awarded his Doctor of Theology and, on 21 October 1512,
was received into the senate of the theological faculty of the University of
Wittenberg, having succeeded Staupitz as chair of theology. He spent the rest
of his career in this position at the University of Wittenberg.[5]
Martin Luther spent thirty-seven years as a Catholic. In 1511 he visited Rome
on Monastic business, but he did not lose his faith because of any abuses he
saw there. He returned to Germany as strong in his Catholic faith as he had been
prior to his visit. In reality, letters written by Luther after his return from
Rome speak of the Pope with the utmost respect.
The crisis in
his life came with the publication of the Papal Bull of Indulgences, granted to
those who would subscribe towards the building of St. Peter's in Rome. He made
that an excuse for an attack on the whole penitential system of the Church, and
on all ecclesiastical authority. Thanks to Pope for initiating the construction
of the magnificent temple of God in the Vatican. The building of the beautiful Basilica of St.
Peter is very important because it tries to foster and display beauty to draw
souls closer to God, and to offer even the poorest of the poor an opportunity
to behold beautiful masterpieces. Church buildings have a responsibility to
reflect God's beauty. If we visit St. Peter’s Basilica, we will be blown away
by the absolute beauty of the church. The sprawling arches of the building
itself. The depictions of various biblical scenes across each and every nook
and cranny. The beautifully crafted statues of the saints, and of course, our
Lord Himself are found in various side altars and behind the rows of votive
candles. Beauty is important, especially when it leads us to a greater
contemplation of God.[6]
Martin Luther had no idea of the momentous events that he
was about to unleash when he nailed the 95 theses to the door of All Saints'
Church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517. His dangerous ideas started
the Reformation, the birth of the Protestant churches, vicious European wars,
the Enlightenment, even modern democracy. Martin Luther started the idea that
the Bible can be understood by anyone, and therefore Christians must be able to
interpret it for themselves rather than just accept the teaching of the
Catholic Church. It introduced the central ideas of modern liberal democracies
and; the priority of the individual.[7] The theses spread rapidly
across Europe. Luther’s ideas were less like a seed, developing on orderly
lines, and more like a virus, capable of rapid mutation and adaptation but
beyond control. He declared that the Catholic Church had fallen into doctrinal
error. He denied that the Church was ever meant to be a visible Institution. He
rejected the existence of any special priesthood in the Church. He insisted
that the Bible must be the only Rule of Faith. Moreover, according to Luther,
each man has the right to interpret the Bible for himself. Justification is
attained by faith without works. The justified soul is granted a personal
assurance of salvation. The Christian Faith neither needs, nor can have, any
rational foundation. The errors of Luther were solemnly condemned by Pope Leo X
in the bull “Exsurge Domine” on June 15, 1520, and Luther’s
excommunication followed a few months later.
Martin Luther developed his theology and expounded
the “five solas” and those are Grace alone, Scripture alone,
Faith alone, Christ alone, and God alone. With the words “Grace Alone” he
rejects the role of free-will, but in doing so he rejects Grace also, because
sanctifying Grace (apart from the case of Infant Baptism) is essentially a
collaboration with free-will. With the words “Scripture Alone”, he
rejects the role of the Church regarding Holy Scripture, but in rejecting the
role of the Church, he rejects Holy Scripture itself because the Church
furnishes its true meaning. With the words “Faith Alone”, he
rejects the role of good works, but in rejecting good works he also rejects the
Faith, because Faith without works is dead (James 2:17). With the words “God
Alone” he rejects the role of the Church, but in doing so he also
rejects God, because the Church gives us access to God, and the Church is, in a
certain sense God, in the form of the Mystical Body of Christ.[8] Martin Luther insisted that salvation can be attained, not
through good works, religious rituals, or scholastic reasoning, but rather
through heartfelt faith in Jesus Christ and his atoning death on a cross.[9] He went as far as to
create his own ‘Bible’ by removing several books from the
Catholic Bible, in order to justify his agenda. Clearly, the original Bible
divinely inspired by God was not good enough for him. He rebelled against the
Catholic Church founded by Christ Himself, rebelled against the Vicar of Christ
in the Seat of St. Peter, and rebelled against God Himself. Following His
rebellion marked the beginning of the Protestant movement; over 20,000
different denominations have been created. When we consider the fact that the
original founders of Protestantism did not even
agree with each other on major points of doctrine, such denominational
chaos should not be a
surprise. Protestantism is man-made religion, in which each person ultimately
determines for himself what he thinks the Bible teaches. They all claimed to
follow the Bible. All of these thousands of non-Catholic denominations claim to
follow the Bible, even though they disagree with each other on crucial
doctrinal matters. The disunity of these denominations constitutes an
irrefutable proof that their doctrine is not the doctrine of the Bible and the
Apostles. The Protestant Revolution has caused unspeakable damage since its
inception and is the philosophical and theological forerunner of such errors as
Naturalism, Liberalism and Modernism.
I do not deny that a reformation was necessary. There were
many abuses to be corrected. Any abuses amongst the members of the Church will
always cry out urgently for reform. But Protestantism was not a movement of
real reform. It made prevalent abuses an excuse to abandon the Church
altogether, instead of remaining with it, and trying to effect the conversion
of its lax members to better ways. Moreover, Protestantism retained many of the
very abuses, and merely sought to justify them by denying that they were wrong.
Many of the church members had fallen from her standards of virtue, and this
was made an excuse by multitudes to abandon the faith for heresy. Luther did
not introduce a movement of real reform. He made prevalent abuses an excuse to
leave the Church altogether, instead of remaining in it and trying to effect
the conversion of its lax members to better ways. Moreover, he retained many of
the very abuses, merely seeking to justify them by denying that they were
wrong, and sanctioned yet further departures from the standards of true
Christianity. In 1525 he married Catherine von Bora, an ex-nun. 
St. Francis of
Assisi, whom Jesus commanded to “rebuild”
his Church, and Martin Luther had very divergent approaches to reform. Saint
Francis of Assisi is one of the best examples of patience in the cause of
reform. When St. Francis went to Rome to seek recognition from Pope Innocent
III, the Pope dismissed him impatiently and told him to go “lie down with the pigs.”[10]
After a little while, St. Francis returned smeared with swine feces and
stinking to high heaven. When the Pope objected, Francis answered, “I obeyed your words and merely did as you
said. I lay down with the pigs.” [11]Suddenly the Pope realized
that this was a holy man who was willing to obey even in the face of
humiliation. The Pope listened to St. Francis’ vision for renewal and the rest
is history. When rebuffed by the pope, Saint Francis could have appealed to
Sacred Scripture, showing his pattern of life was poor and lowly like that of
Christ.[12] He might even have
contrasted his own “biblical life”
against the extravagance of the Papal court. St. Francis may even have rightly
rebuked the abbots, bishops, and cardinals for lacking evangelical witness.
Instead, St. Francis followed the path of Christ. He allowed himself to be
misunderstood and maligned, knowing that God would bring about his vindication and
God always does. Unlike St. Francis of Assisi, Luther did not visit Rome for
confirmation of his cause, nor did he respect the structures of the Church. In
fact, Cardinal Cajetan met privately with Luther and explained how Luther might
modify his message so that Cajetan could have it approved by the Roman Curia.
If Luther had moved more slowly and charitably, he may have become one of the
Catholic saints. Unfortunately, Luther was adamant and stiff-necked. He would
not attempt compromise. If the Pope would not agree with him, then he would
reject the papacy. Luther would not tolerate any authority that failed to
support him immediately and without question.[13] Consequently, when the
papal bull arrived, Luther burned it publicly and began to curse the pope as
Antichrist. Note the difference between Francis and Luther. St. Francis of
Assisi moved slowly and humbly. Martin Luther acted independently and rashly.
Consequently, the history of Protestantism is marked by rash and hasty
division.[14]
And there are now thousands of Protestant denominations. Martin Luther was not
a reformer but a rebel. He should have remained in the true Church and labored
to reform lax Catholics within it. He was a man passionately convicted of his
own rightness, so convinced that he thought anyone who disagreed with him was
either ignorant, stupid, or evil.
In God's Providence, Martin Luther's revolt forced the
Catholic Church to undertake the work of reform. God permitted the disaster and
made use of it, drawing good out of the evil. God permits moral and natural
evil only as a means of drawing some greater good out of it.[15] God permitted the
defection from the Church of Martin Luther, and made use of his revolt to bring
Catholic leaders to a sense of responsibility. But the true reform was
accomplished, not by Luther, but by others. It was accomplished not only
without Luther, but against Luther. In response to Martin Luther’s heresies,
the Church convened the Ecumenical Council of Trent, which ushered in the
Catholic Counter-Reformation, and also led to the publication of the Roman
Catechism, also known as the Catechism of the Council of Trent. The Roman
Inquisition, an agency established in 1542 to combat heresy, was more
successful in controlling doctrine and practice than similar bodies in those
countries where Protestant princes had more power than the Roman Catholic
Church. The Index Librorum Prohibitorum (“Index
of Forbidden Books”) was established in 1559 in an attempt to combat the
spread of some of the writings of the Protestant Reformation. Important saints
during this troublesome period include Pope St. Pius V, St. Charles Borromeo,
St. Thomas More, St. John Fisher, St. Robert Bellarmine, and St. Francis de
Sales.[16] The
Counter-Reformation greatly revived faith and piety. Education was foremost in
the minds of many of the leaders of the Counter-Reformation. Capable priests
were needed for the education of the faithful, and, thus, seminaries multiplied
to prepare the clergy for a more austere life in the service of the church. Such
reforms included the foundation of seminaries for the proper training of
priests in the spiritual life and the theological traditions of the Church. 
[1]
Martin Brecht, Martin Luther. tr.
James L. Schaaf, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985–93), 1:3–5.
[2]
E.G. Schwiebert, Luther and His Times,
(St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1950), p.136.
[3] James
Kittelson, Luther The Reformer, (Minneapolis:
Augsburg Fortress Publishing House, 1986), p.79.
[4] Le
Roy Edwin Froom, The Prophetic Faith of
our Fathers, (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association,
1948), p.249.
[5] Scott
H. Hendrix, Martin Luther: Visionary
Reformer, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2015), p. 45.
[6] Nicholas
LaBanc, How Sacred Architecture Conveys
Gospel Truth and Beauty, June 18, 2018.
[7] Bernhard
Lohse, Martin Luther An Introduction to
His Life and Work, (Fortress Press, September 5, 2000), p. 223.
[8] Dyron
Daughrity, Martin Luther: A Biography for
the People, (Abilene Christian University Press, September 12, 2017), p.
132.
[9] Lohse,
Martin Luther An Introduction, p. 225.
[10] Augustine
Thompson, Francis of Assisi: A New
Biography, (Cornell University Press; 1st edition, April 20, 2012), p.76.
[11] Thompson,
Francis of Assisi, p.87.
[12] Thompson,
Francis of Assisi, p.87.
[13] Elizabeth
Vandiver, Ralph Keen, Thomas D. Frazel, Luther's
Lives: Two Contemporary Accounts of Martin Luther, (Manchester University
Press: December 25, 2003), p. 356.
[14]
Taylor Marshall, How St. Francis Differed
from Martin Luther, October 4, 2016.
[15] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 312.
[16]
Bob Lord, Penny Lord, Defenders of the
Faith: Saints of the Counter Reformation, (Journeys of Faith, October 1,
1998), 155.
[17] Lyle
N. McAlister, Spain and Portugal in the
New World, 1492-1700, (University of Minnesota Press: December 1, 1984),
p.450.
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