Works of Martin Luther, with Introductions and Notes (Volume II). Martin Luther

241

A free translation of the Vulgate, Nemo militans Deo.

242

The kissing of the pope's feet was a part of the "adoration" which he claimed as his right. See above, p. 108.

243

The three paragraphs enclosed in brackets were added by Luther to the 2d edition; see Introduction, p. 59.

244

The holy places of Rome had long been favorite objects of pilgrimage, and the practice had been zealously fostered by the popes through the institution of the "golden" or "jubilee years." Cf. Vol. I, p. 18, and below, p. 114.

245

Cf. the Italian proverb, "God is everywhere except at Rome; there He has a vicar."

246

Cf. Hutten's saying in Vadiscus: "Three things there are which those who go to Rome usually bring home with them, a bad conscience, a ruined stomach and an empty purse." (Ed. Böcking, IV, p. 169.)

247

The "golden" or "jubilee years" were the years when special rewards were attached to worship at the shrines of Rome. The custom was instituted by Boniface VIII in 1300, and it was the intention to make every hundredth year a jubilee. In 1343 the interval between jubilees was fixed at fifty, in 1389 at thirty-three, in 1473 at twenty-five years. Cf. Vol. I, p. 18.

248

Cf. the statements in the Treatise on Baptism and the Discussion of Confession, Vol. I, pp. 68 ff., 98.

249

The houses, or monasteries, of the mendicant or "begging" orders—the "friars." The members of these orders were sworn to support themselves on the alms of the faithful.

250

The three leading mendicant orders were the Franciscan (the Minorites, or "little brothers"), founded by St. Francis of Assisi (died 1226), the Dominican (the "preaching brothers"), founded by St. Dominic (died 1221), and the Augustinian Hermits, to which Luther himself belonged, and which claimed foundation by St. Augustine (died 430).

251

The interference of the friars in the duties of the parish clergy was a continual subject of complaint through this period.

252

By the middle of the XV Century there were eight distinct sects within the Franciscan order alone (See Realencyk., VI, pp. 212 ff.), and Luther had himself taken part in a vigorous dispute between two parties in the Augustinian order.

253

St. Agnes the Martyr, put to death in the beginning of the IV Century, one of the favorite saints of the Middle Ages. See Schäfer, L. als Kirchenhistoriker, p. 235.

254

One of the most famous of the German convents, founded in 936.

255

The celebrated Church Father (died 420). The passages referred to are in Migne, XXII, 656, and XXVI, 562.

256

Or "community" (Gemeine). Cf. The Papacy at Rome, Vol. I. p. 345, note 4. See also Dass eine christl. Gemeine Recht und Macht habe, etc. Weimar Ed. XI, pp. 408 ff.

257

Or "congregation." See note 2.

258

i. e.. At a time later than that of the Apostles.

259

The first absolute prohibition of marriage to the clergy is contained in a decree of Pope Siricius and dated 385. See H. C. Lea, History of Sacerdotal Celibacy, 3d ed. (1907), I, pp. 59 ff.

260

The priests of the Greek Church are required to marry, and the controversy over celibacy was involved in the division between the Greek and Roman Churches.

261

Cf. Hutten's Vadiscus (Böcking, IV, 199).

262

i. e., Lie in Roman appointment.

263

i. e., The ministry in the congregation. See above, p. 119.

264

Quantum ragilitas humana permittit. A qualification of the vow.

265

i. e., Celibacy. Non promitto castitatem.

266

Fragilitas humana non permittit caste vivere.

267

Angelica fortitudo at coelestis virtus.

268

The court-jester was allowed unusual freedom of speech. See Prefatory Letter above, p. 62.

269

The laws governing marriage were entirely the laws of the Church. The canon law prohibited marriage of blood-relatives as far as the seventh degree of consanguinity. In 1204 the prohibition was restricted to the first our degrees; lawful marriage within these degrees was possible only by dispensation, which was not all too difficult to secure, especially by those who were willing to pay for it (see above, p. 96). The relation of god-parents to god-children was also held to establish a "spiritual consanguinity" which might serve as a bar to lawful marriage. See Benrath, p. 103, note 74, and in the Babylonian Captivity, below, p. 265.

270

This Luther actually did. When he burned the papal bull of excommunication (Dec. 10, 1520) a copy of the canon law was also given to the flames.

271

i. e., The marriage of the clergy.

272

On this sort of reserved cases see Discussion of Confession, Vol. I, pp. 96 ff.

273

"Irregularity" is the condition of any member of a monastic order who has violated the prescriptions of the order and been deprived, in consequence, of the benefits enjoyed by those who live under the regula, viz., the rule of the order.

274

The three kinds of masses are really but one thing, viz., masses for the dead, celebrated on certain fixed days in each year, in consideration of the enjoyment of certain incomes, received either out of bequeathed endowments or from the heirs of the supposed beneficiaries.

275

i. e., Even when the mass is decently said.

276

See above, p. 72, note 1.

277

See above, p. 104.

278

Das geistliche Unrecht.

279

The Treatise concerning the Ban, above, pp. 33 ff.

280

i. e., To those who teach and enforce the canon law.

281

Luther means the saint's-days and minor religious holidays. See also the Discourse on Good Works, Vol. I, pp. 240 f.

282

Or "congregation."

283

i. e., City-council.

284

Kirchweihen, i. e., the anniversary celebration of the consecration of a church. These days had become feast days for the parish, and were observed in anything but a spiritual fashion.

285

i. e., Occasions for drunkenness, gain and gambling.

286

See above, pp. 96 f.

287

See

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