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PROMPT: What are Martin Luther’s main issues with the Catholic church, according to his writings? Are these big issues, or small issues? Why do you feel that these became the issues around which the Protestant Reformation was built? And in what ways do these issues affect individual identity?
IAH 221B-730
Summer I 2016
16th Century English Laws Regarding Religion
The Act of Supremacy, 1534 – issued by King Henry VIII
Albeit the King’s Majesty justly and rightfully is and ought to be the supreme head of the Church of England, and so is recognized by the clergy of this realm in their Convocations, yet nevertheless for corroboration and confirmation thereof, and for increase of virtue in Christ’s religion within this realm of England, and to repress and extirp all errors, heresies and other enormities and abuses heretofore used in the same:
Be it enacted by authority of this present Parliament that the King, our sovereign lord, his heirs and successors, kings of this realm, shall be taken, accepted and reputed the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England, called Anglicana Ecclesia; and shall have and enjoy, annexed and united to the imperial crown of this realm, as well the title and style thereof, as all honors, dignities, pre-eminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits and commodities to the said dignity of supreme head of the same Church belonging and appertaining; and that our said sovereign lord, his heirs and successors, kings of this realm, shall have full power and authority from time to time to visit, repress, redress, reform, order, correct, restrain and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offenses, contempts and enormities, whatsoever they be, which by any manner, spiritual authority or jurisdiction ought or may lawfully be reformed, repressed, ordered, redressed, corrected, restrained or amended, most to the pleasure of Almighty God, the increase of virtue in Christ’s religion, and for the conservation of the peace, unity and tranquillity of this realm, any usage, custom, foreign law, foreign authority, prescription or any other thing or things to the contrary hereof notwithstanding.
The Second Statute of Repeal, 1555 – issued by Queen Mary
Whereas, since the twentieth year53 of King Henry VIII of famous memory, father unto your Majesty, … much false and erroneous doctrine hath been taught, preached and written … , by reason whereof as well the spiritualty as the temporalty of your Highness’s realms and dominions have swerved from the obedience of the See Apostolic and declined from the unity of Christ’s church, and so have continued until …, your Majesty being … raised up by God and set in the seat royal over us …, the Pope’s Holiness and the See Apostolic sent hither … the most reverent father in God, the lord Cardinal Pole, legate de latere,54 to call us home again into the right way …; and we … , seeing by the goodness of God our own errors, have acknowledged the same unto the said most reverend father, and by him have been … received and embraced into the unity and bosom of Christ’s church … , upon our humble submission and promise … to repeal and abrogate such acts and statutes as had been made in Parliament since the said twentieth year of the said King Henry VIII against the supremacy of the See Apostolic… [therefore, such legislation is repealed] .
And finally, where certain acts and statutes have been made in the time of the late schism concerning the lands and hereditaments of archbishoprics and bishoprics, the suppression and dissolution of monasteries, abbeys, priories, chantries, colleges, and all other the goods and chattels of religious houses; since the which time the right and dominion of certain lands and hereditaments, goods and chattels, belonging to the same be dispersed abroad and corne to the hands and possessions of divers and sundry persons who by gift, purchase, exchange, and other means, according to the order of the laws and statutes of this realm for the time being, have the same; for the avoiding of all scruples that might grow by any the occasions aforesaid or by any other ways or means whatsoever, [we ask that] it may please your Majesties to be intercessors and mediators to the said most reverend father … that all such causes and quarrels as by pretence of the said schism or by any other occasion or mean whatsoever might be moved, by the Pope’s Holiness or See Apostolic or by any other jurisdiction ecclesiastical, may be utterly removed and taken away; so as all persons having sufficient conveyance of the said lands and hereditaments, goods and chattels, … may without scruple of conscience enjoy them …
The Second Act of Supremacy, 1559 – issued by Queen Elizabeth I
And for the better observation and maintenance of this Act, may it please your Highness that it may be further enacted … that all and every archbishop, bishop, and all and every other ecclesiastical person, … of what estate, dignity, pre-eminence or degree soever he or they be or shall be, and all and every temporal judge, justice, mayor and other lay or temporal officer and minister, and every other person having your Highness’s fee or wages, within this realm or any your Highness’s dominions, shall make, take and receive a corporal oath upon the evangelist,55 before such person or persons as shall please your Highness, your heirs or successors under the great seal of England to assign and name to accept and to take the same, according to the tenor and effect hereafter following, that is to say:
“I, A. B.,56 do utterly testify and declare in my conscience that the Queen’s Highness is the only supreme governor of this realm, and of all other her Highness’s dominions and countries, as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things or causes, as temporal, and that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state or potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence or authority ecclesiastical or spiritual within this realm; and therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all foreign jurisdictions, powers, superiorities and authorities, and do promise that from henceforth I shall bear faith and true allegiance to the Queen’s Highness, her heirs and lawful successors, and to my power shall assist and defend all jurisdictions, pre-eminences, privileges and authorities granted or belonging to the Queen’s Highness, her heirs or successors, or united or annexed to the imperial crown of this realm. So help me God, and by the contents of this Book.” …
Articles Touching Preachers and Other Orders for the Church, 1583 – issued by Queen Elizabeth I
I. That the laws late made against the recusants be put in more due execution considering the benefit that hath grown unto the Church thereby, where they have been so executed, and the encouragement which they and others do receive by remiss executing thereof.
2. That all preaching, reading, catechiZing and other such like exercises in private places and families, whereunto others do resort, being not of the same family, be utterly inhibited, seeing the same was never permitted as lawful, under any Christian magistrate, but is a manifest sign of schism, and a cause of contention in the Church.
3. That none be permitted to preach, read, or catechize in the church or elsewhere, unless he do, four times in the year at the least, say service, and minister the sacraments, according to the Book of Common Prayer.
4. That all preachers, and others in ecclesiastical orders, do at all times wear and use such kind of apparel as is prescribed unto them by the book of Advertisements and her majesty’s Injunctions anno primo.
5. That none be permitted to preach, or interpret the Scriptures, unless he be a priest, or deacon at the least, admitted thereunto according to the laws of this realm.
6. That none be permitted to preach, read, catechize, minister the sacraments, or to execute any other ecclesiastical function, by what authority soever he be admitted thereunto, unless he consent and subscribe to these Articles following, before the ordinary of the diocese wherein he preacheth, readeth, catechizeth, or ministereth the sacraments, viz.:
(I) That her majesty, under God, hath, and ought to have, the sovereignty and rule over all manner of persons born within her realms, dominions, and countries, of what estate, either ecclesiastical or temporal, soever they be; and that no foreign power, prelate, state, or potentate hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, preeminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within her majesty’s said realms, dominions, and countries.
(2) That the Book of Common Prayer, and of ordering bishops, priests, and deacons, containeth nothing in it contrary to the word of God, and that the same may lawfully be used, and that he himself will use the form of the said book prescribed in public prayer and administration of the sacraments, and none other.
(3) That he alloweth the book of Articles of religion, agreed upon by the archbishops and bishops of both provinces, and the whole clergy in the Convocation holden at London in the year of our Lord God 1562, and set forth by her majesty’s authority, and that he believeth all the Articles therein contained to be agreeable to the word of God.
7. That from henceforth none be admitted to any orders ecclesiastical, unless he do then presently show to the bishop a true presentation of himself to a benefice then void within the diocese or jurisdiction of the said bishop, or unless he show unto the same bishop a true certificate, where presently he may be placed to serve some cure within the same diocese or jurisdiction, or unless he be placed in some cathedral or collegiate church, or college in Cambridge or Oxford, or unless the said bishop shall then forthwith place him in some vacant benefice or cure.
8. And that no bishop henceforth do admit any into orders, but such as shall be of his own diocese, unless he be of one of the universities, or bring his letters dimissory from the bishop of the diocese, and be of age full twenty-four years, and a graduate of the university, or at the least able in the Latin tongue to yield an account of his faith, according to the Articles of religion agreed upon in Convocation, and that in such sort as that he can note the sentences of Scripture whereupon the truth of the said Articles is grounded, and bring a sufficient testimonial with him of his honest life and conversation, either under the seal of some college in the universities, where he hath remained, or from some justice of the peace, with other honest men of that parish, where he hath made his abode for three years before; and that the bishop, which shall admit any into orders being not in this manner qualified, be by the archbishop, with the assistance of some one other bishop, suspended from admitting any into orders for the space of two years.
9. And that no bishop institute any into a benefice, but such as be of the ability before prescribed: and if the Arches, by double quarrel or otherwise, proceed against the said bishop, for refusal of such as be not of that ability, that the Archbishop of Canterbury, either by his own authority or by means procured from her majesty, may stay such process, that the endeavour of the bishop may take place.
10. That one kind of translation of the Bible be only used in public service, as well in churches as chapels, and that to be the same which is now authorized by the consent of the bishops.
11. That from henceforth there be no commutation of penance, but in rare respects and upon great consideration, and when it shall appear to the bishop himself that that shall be the best way for winning and reforming of the offender, and that the penalty be employed either to the relief of the poor of that parish or to other godly uses, and the same well witnessed and made manifest to the congregation; and yet, if the fault be notorious, that the offender make some satisfaction, either in his own person, with declarations of his repentance openly in the church, or else that the minister of the church openly in the pulpit signify to his people his submission and declaration of his repentance done before the ordinary, and also in token of his repentance what portion of money he hath given to be employed to the uses above named.
As persons of honest, worshipful, and honourable calling may necessarily and reasonably have occasions sometimes to solemnize marriage by licence for the banns asking or for once or twice without any great harm, so for avoiding generally of inconveniences noted in this behalf, it is thought expedient that no dispensations be granted for marriage without banns, but under sufficient and large bonds, with these conditions following:
First, that there shall not afterwards appear any lawful let or impediment by reason of any pre-contract, consanguinity, affinity, or any other lawful means whatsoever.
Secondly, that there be not at that present time of granting such dispensation any suit, plaint, quarrel, or demand moved or depending before any judge, ecclesiastical or temporal, for and concerning any such lawful impediment between such the parties; and
Thirdly, they proceed not to the solemnization of the marriage without the consent of the parents or governors.
Lastly, that the marriage be openly solemnized in the church. The copy of which bond is to be set down and given in charge for every bishop in his diocese to follow; provided that whosoever offendeth against this order be suspended ab executione officii for one half-year.
Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther
on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences
by Dr. Martin Luther, 1517
Martin Luther – Project Wittenberg
Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther
on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences
by Dr. Martin Luther (1517)
Published in:
Works of Martin Luther:
Adolph Spaeth, L.D. Reed, Henry Eyster Jacobs, et Al., Trans. & Eds.
(Philadelphia: A. J. Holman Company, 1915), Vol.1, pp. 29-38
_______________
[10] [20] [30] [40] [50] [60] [70] [80] [90]
Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light, the following
propositions will be discussed at Wittenberg, under the presidency of the
Reverend Father Martin Luther, Master of Arts and of Sacred Theology, and
Lecturer in Ordinary on the same at that place. Wherefore he requests that
those who are unable to be present and debate orally with us, may do so by
letter.
In the Name our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam agite,
willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.
2. This word cannot be understood to mean sacramental penance, i.e.,
confession and satisfaction, which is administered by the priests.
3. Yet it means not inward repentance only; nay, there is no inward
repentance which does not outwardly work divers mortifications of the
flesh.
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4. The penalty [of sin], therefore, continues so long as hatred of self
continues; for this is the true inward repentance, and continues until our
entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
5. The pope does not intend to remit, and cannot remit any penalties
other than those which he has imposed either by his own authority or by
that of the Canons.
6. The pope cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring that it has been
remitted by God and by assenting to God’s remission; though, to be sure,
he may grant remission in cases reserved to his judgment. If his right to
grant remission in such cases were despised, the guilt would remain
entirely unforgiven.
7. God remits guilt to no one whom He does not, at the same time,
humble in all things and bring into subjection to His vicar, the priest.
8. The penitential canons are imposed only on the living, and, according
to them, nothing should be imposed on the dying.
9. Therefore the Holy Spirit in the pope is kind to us, because in his
decrees he always makes exception of the article of death and of
necessity.
10. Ignorant and wicked are the doings of those priests who, in the case
of the dying, reserve canonical penances for purgatory.
11. This changing of the canonical penalty to the penalty of purgatory is
quite evidently one of the tares that were sown while the bishops slept.
12. In former times the canonical penalties were imposed not after, but
before absolution, as tests of true contrition.
13. The dying are freed by death from all penalties; they are already
dead to canonical rules, and have a right to be released from them.
14. The imperfect health [of soul], that is to say, the imperfect love, of
the dying brings with it, of necessity, great fear; and the smaller the love,
the greater is the fear.
15. This fear and horror is sufficient of itself alone (to say nothing of
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other things) to constitute the penalty of purgatory, since it is very near
to the horror of despair.
16. Hell, purgatory, and heaven seem to differ as do despair, almost-
despair, and the assurance of safety.
17. With souls in purgatory it seems necessary that horror should grow
less and love increase.
18. It seems unproved, either by reason or Scripture, that they are
outside the state of merit, that is to say, of increasing love.
19. Again, it seems unproved that they, or at least that all of them, are
certain or assured of their own blessedness, though we may be quite
certain of it.
20. Therefore by “full remission of all penalties” the pope means not
actually “of all,” but only of those imposed by himself.
21. Therefore those preachers of indulgences are in error, who say that
by the pope’s indulgences a man is freed from every penalty, and saved;
22. Whereas he remits to souls in purgatory no penalty which, according
to the canons, they would have had to pay in this life.
23. If it is at all possible to grant to any one the remission of all penalties
whatsoever, it is certain that this remission can be granted only to the
most perfect, that is, to the very fewest.
24. It must needs be, therefore, that the greater part of the people are
deceived by that indiscriminate and highsounding promise of release
from penalty.
25. The power which the pope has, in a general way, over purgatory, is
just like the power which any bishop or curate has, in a special way,
within his own diocese or parish.
26. The pope does well when he grants remission to souls [in purgatory],
not by the power of the keys (which he does not possess), but by way of
intercession.
27. They preach man who say that so soon as the penny jingles into the
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money-box, the soul flies out [of purgatory].
28. It is certain that when the penny jingles into the money-box, gain
and avarice can be increased, but the result of the intercession of the
Church is in the power of God alone.
29. Who knows whether all the souls in purgatory wish to be bought out
of it, as in the legend of Sts. Severinus and Paschal.
30. No one is sure that his own contrition is sincere; much less that he
has attained full remission.
31. Rare as is the man that is truly penitent, so rare is also the man who
truly buys indulgences, i.e., such men are most rare.
32. They will be condemned eternally, together with their teachers, who
believe themselves sure of their salvation because they have letters of
pardon.
33. Men must be on their guard against those who say that the pope’s
pardons are that inestimable gift of God by which man is reconciled to
Him;
34. For these “graces of pardon” concern only the penalties of
sacramental satisfaction, and these are appointed by man.
35. They preach no Christian doctrine who teach that contrition is not
necessary in those who intend to buy souls out of purgatory or to buy
confessionalia.
36. Every truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of
penalty and guilt, even without letters of pardon.
37. Every true Christian, whether living or dead, has part in all the
blessings of Christ and the Church; and this is granted him by God, even
without letters of pardon.
38. Nevertheless, the remission and participation [in the blessings of the
Church] which are granted by the pope are in no way to be despised, for
they are, as I have said, the declaration of divine remission.
39. It is most difficult, even for the very keenest theologians, at one and
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the same time to commend to the people the abundance of pardons and
[the need of] true contrition.
40. True contrition seeks and loves penalties, but liberal pardons only
relax penalties and cause them to be hated, or at least, furnish an
occasion [for hating them].
41. Apostolic pardons are to be preached with caution, lest the people
may falsely think them preferable to other good works of love.
42. Christians are to be taught that the pope does not intend the buying
of pardons to be compared in any way to works of mercy.
43. Christians are to be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to
the needy does a better work than buying pardons;
44. Because love grows by works of love, and man becomes better; but
by pardons man does not grow better, only more free from penalty.
45. 45. Christians are to be taught that he who sees a man in need, and
passes him by, and gives [his money] for pardons, purchases not the
indulgences of the pope, but the indignation of God.
46. Christians are to be taught that unless they have more than they
need, they are bound to keep back what is necessary for their own
families, and by no means to squander it on pardons.
47. Christians are to be taught that the buying of pardons is a matter of
free will, and not of commandment.
48. Christians are to be taught that the pope, in granting pardons, needs,
and therefore desires, their devout prayer for him more than the money
they bring.
49. Christians are to be taught that the pope’s pardons are useful, if they
do not put their trust in them; but altogether harmful, if through them
they lose their fear of God.
50. Christians are to be taught that if the pope knew the exactions of the
pardon-preachers, he would rather that St. Peter’s church should go to
ashes, than that it should be built up with the skin, flesh and bones of his
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sheep.
51. Christians are to be taught that it would be the pope’s wish, as it is
his duty, to give of his own money to very many of those from whom
certain hawkers of pardons cajole money, even though the church of St.
Peter might have to be sold.
52. The assurance of salvation by letters of pardon is vain, even though
the commissary, nay, even though the pope himself, were to stake his
soul upon it.
53. They are enemies of Christ and of the pope, who bid the Word of
God be altogether silent in some Churches, in order that pardons may be
preached in others.
54. Injury is done the Word of God when, in the same sermon, an equal
or a longer time is spent on pardons than on this Word.
55. It must be the intention of the pope that if pardons, which are a very
small thing, are celebrated with one bell, with single processions and
ceremonies, then the Gospel, which is the very greatest thing, should be
preached with a hundred bells, a hundred processions, a hundred
ceremonies.
56. The “treasures of the Church,” out of which the pope. grants
indulgences, are not sufficiently named or known among the people of
Christ.
57. That they are not temporal treasures is certainly evident, for many of
the vendors do not pour out such treasures so easily, but only gather
them.
58. Nor are they the merits of Christ and the Saints, for even without the
pope, these always work grace for the inner man, and the cross, death,
and hell for the outward man.
59. St. Lawrence said that the treasures of the Church were the Church’s
poor, but he spoke according to the usage of the word in his own time.
60. Without rashness we say that the keys of the Church, given by
Christ’s merit, are that treasure;
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61. For it is clear that for the remission of penalties and of reserved
cases, the power of the pope is of itself sufficient.
62. The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory
and the grace of God.
63. But this treasure is naturally most odious, for it makes the first to be
last.
64. On the other hand, the treasure of indulgences is naturally most
acceptable, for it makes the last to be first.
65. Therefore the treasures of the Gospel are nets with which they
formerly were wont to fish for men of riches.
66. The treasures of the indulgences are nets with which they now fish
for the riches of men.
67. The indulgences which the preachers cry as the “greatest graces” are
known to be truly such, in so far as they promote gain.
68. Yet they are in truth the very smallest graces compared with the
grace of God and the piety of the Cross.
69. Bishops and curates are bound to admit the commissaries of
apostolic pardons, with all reverence.
70. But still more are they bound to strain all their eyes and attend with
all their ears, lest these men preach their own dreams instead of the
commission of the pope.
71. He who speaks against the truth of apostolic pardons, let him be
anathema and accursed!
72. But he who guards against the lust and license of the pardon-
preachers, let him be blessed!
73. The pope justly thunders against those who, by any art, contrive the
injury of the traffic in pardons.
74. But much more does he intend to thunder against those who use the
pretext of pardons to contrive the injury of holy love and truth.
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75. To think the papal pardons so great that they could absolve a man
even if he had committed an impossible sin and violated the Mother of
God — this is madness.
76. We say, on the contrary, that the papal pardons are not able to
remove the very least of venial sins, so far as its guilt is concerned.
77. It is said that even St. Peter, if he were now Pope, could not bestow
greater graces; this is blasphemy against St. Peter and against the pope.
78. We say, on the contrary, that even the present pope, and any pope at
all, has greater graces at his disposal; to wit, the Gospel, powers, gifts of
healing, etc., as it is written in I. Corinthians xii.
79. To say that the cross, emblazoned with the papal arms, which is set
up [by the preachers of indulgences], is of equal worth with the Cross of
Christ, is blasphemy.
80. The bishops, curates and theologians who allow such talk to be
spread among the people, will have an account to render.
81. This unbridled preaching of pardons makes it no easy matter, even
for learned men, to rescue the reverence due to the pope from slander, or
even from the shrewd questionings of the laity.
82. To wit: — “Why does not the pope empty purgatory, for the sake of
holy love and of the dire need of the souls that are there, if he redeems
an infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which
to build a Church? The former reasons would be most just; the latter is
most trivial.”
83. Again: — “Why are mortuary and anniversary masses for the dead
continued, and why does he not return or permit the withdrawal of the
endowments founded on their behalf, since it is wrong to pray for the
redeemed?”
84. Again: — “What is this new piety of God and the pope, that for
money they allow a man who is impious and their enemy to buy out of
purgatory the pious soul of a friend of God, and do not rather, because of
that pious and beloved soul’s own need, free it for pure love’s sake?”
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85. Again: — “Why are the penitential canons long since in actual fact
and through disuse abrogated and dead, now satisfied by the granting of
indulgences, as though they were still alive and in force?”
86. Again: — “Why does not the pope, whose wealth is to-day greater
than the riches of the richest, build just this one church of St. Peter with
his own money, rather than with the money of poor believers?”
87. Again: — “What is it that the pope remits, and what participation
does he grant to those who, by perfect contrition, have a right to full
remission and participation?”
88. Again: — “What greater blessing could come to the Church than if
the pope were to do a hundred times a day what he now does once, and
bestow on every believer these remissions and participations?”
89. “Since the pope, by his pardons, seeks the salvation of souls rather
than money, why does he suspend the indulgences and pardons granted
heretofore, since these have equal efficacy?”
90. To repress these arguments and scruples of the laity by force alone,
and not to resolve them by giving reasons, is to expose the Church and
the pope to the ridicule of their enemies, and to make Christians
unhappy.
91. If, therefore, pardons were preached according to the spirit and mind
of the pope, all these doubts would be readily resolved; nay, they would
not exist.
92. Away, then, with all those prophets who say to the people of Christ,
“Peace, peace,” and there is no peace!
93. Blessed be all those prophets who say to the people of Christ,
“Cross, cross,” and there is no cross!
94. Christians are to be exhorted that they be diligent in following
Christ, their Head, through penalties, deaths, and hell;
95. And thus be confident of entering into heaven rather through many
tribulations, than through the assurance of peace.
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This text was converted to ASCII text for Project Wittenberg by Allen
Mulvey, and is in the public domain. You may freely distribute, copy or
print this text. Please direct any comments or suggestions to:
Rev. Robert E. Smith
Walther Library
Concordia Theological Seminary.
E-mail: smithre@mail.ctsfw.edu
Surface Mail: 6600 N. Clinton St., Ft. Wayne, IN 46825 USA
Phone: (260) 452-3149 – Fax: (260) 452-2126
To: Martin Luther – Project Wittenberg
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Martin Luther
Early Life
Born in 1483 in Eiselben to a working class family.
Educated at Latin schools as a child, and earned his master’s degree at the University of Erfurt in 1505.
Although he started a law degree that same year, he instead joined an Augustinian cloister, much to his family’s disappointment.
Clerical Life
Luther was ordained a priest in 1507.
In 1508 he went to teach theology at the University of Wittenberg.
In 1512 he earned a Doctor of Theology degree and became a full faculty member at the university.
The Reformation
In 1517 Luther posted his famous 95 Theses. By the following year they were translated into German and distributed in print.
His writings spread widely, and people came to Wittenberg from all over Europe to hear him speak.
Although Luther posed his Theses as an academic dialogue, his work and his beliefs rapidly separated him from the church he was a part of.
In 1518 he was forced to defend himself officially to the church, facing the questioning of Cardinal Cajetan in Augsburg.
He was questioned for three days.
He left the city under cover of night, fearing the proceedings were turning against him.
In 1520 Pope Leo X demanded Luther retract several of his writings, including the Theses, under penalty of excommunication.
Luther did not retract his work, and in 1521 he was excommunicated.
Despite his excommunication, church authorities continued to work against Luther’s writings.
In 1521, Luther was forced to faced the Diet of Worms, a council brought together to determine if he was further guilty of heresy.
Luther refused once again to recant, and so he was banished, rendering him outside the law and thus able to be killed on sight.
Banishment and Return
For about a year after the Diet of Worms, Luther took refuge in Wartburg Castle.
But in 1522, Wittenberg faced upheaval as both traditional church forces and radical reformers became unruly and threatened violence.
He was asked to return to Wittenberg to intervene, and he did so. His return and his sermons served to stifle the violence that both sides threatened.
The violence Luther helped prevent in Wittenberg was a Reformation phenomenon throughout Germany and the lowlands. Bands of reformers became violent, stripping Catholic churches and burning church goods.
Post-Clerical Life
In 1525, Martin Luther married Katherina von Bora, an ex-nun.
It was not uncommon for reformed priests to marry, bucking yet another Catholic tradition.
He and Katherina had six children by 1534.
He wrote an incredible amount for the rest of his life on the topic of theology.
You can read his major works at the Project Wittenberg.
He translated the Bible into German.
Luther died in 1546 and was buried in Wittenberg.
Lutheranism
Martin Luther formed his own church, and his followers are called Lutherans.
The Lutheran church was not so great a departure from Catholicism as it has been represented; in terms of reformed religions, it is nearest to Catholicism only after Anglicanism.
Lutheran mass retains many of the same ceremonial elements as the Catholic mass.
The main differences between Lutheranism and Catholicism are: emphasis on access to the scripture, justification by faith alone (sola fide), the authority of the Pope, number of sacraments, and the role of the saints.
