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Purpose of the Theses The Castle Church located in Wittenberg was the site of one of Europe's largest single collections of relics, accumulated by Elector Frederick the Wise. Relics are objects considered to be holy and the viewing of which is considered to be meritorious, allowing the viewer to receive relief from temporal punishment for sins in purgatory. By 1509, the Elector "already owned 5,005 of them, including several vials of the milk of the Virgin Mary, straw from the manger of Jesus, and the entire corpse of one of the innocents massacred by King Herod. These relics were kept in reliquaries — artistically wrought vessels mostly of silver gilt — and exhibited once a year for the faithful to venerate. In 1509, each devout visitor who donated toward the preservation of the Castle Church received an indulgence of one hundred days per relic." By 1520, the Elector's collection of relics had increased to 19,013 allowing pilgrims to the Castle Church to receive an indulgence that would reduce their time in purgatory by 1.9 million years. Luther's actions, however, were in great part a response to the selling of indulgences by Johann Tetzel, a Dominican priest, commissioned by the Archbishop of Mainz and Pope Leo X. The purpose of this fund raising campaign was to finance the renovation of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Even though Luther's prince, Frederick the Wise, and the prince of the neighboring territory, George, Duke of Saxony, forbade the sale in their lands, Luther's parishioners traveled to purchase them. When these people came to confession, they presented the plenary indulgence, claiming they no longer had to repent of their sins, since the document promised to forgive all their sins. Nailed or Mailed?
Reaction to the 95 Theses Pope Leo X wished for Martin Luther to recant 41 of these theses, which Luther famously refused to do before the Diet of Worms in 1521, thus symbolically initiating the Protestant reformation. Notes Bibliography | ||||||||||||
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