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["Pomp and Circumstance"]
1500 years after the birth of our Lord, the lands and people of Central Europe
comprised the Holy Roman Empire, a strange and mystical commonwealth which
compelled allegiance both to emperor and pope.
Powerful in this political structure were the rich states and free cities of
Germany, whose princes and councillors commanded armies pledged to defend both
empire and Holy Roman Church.
The pious believed God himself had established dual authority over Christian
man.
They accepted the emperor as ruler of life on earth and the church as intercessor for
man's destiny in the world to come.
The church had largely forgotten the mercies of God and instead it emphasized
God's implacable judgments.
Even Jesus Christ was presented as a relentless avenger and man himself so
hopelessly engulfed in sin that he must live in perpetual dread of a furious God,
painted constantly and vividly before his eyes were the fires and torments of hell.
The early 16th century was a time of deep-rooted superstition and fear.
Christianity was mixed with elements of paganism and men believed the world was
filled with demons and evil spirits.
For protection and deliverance from eternal damnation, the church demanded
absolute and unquestioning obedience of the people.
On a midsummer's day in 1505, about a decade after Columbus discovered the new
world, a young law student made his way through the marketplace in Erfurt,
Germany.
His name was Martin Luther.
To our host!
Our unknown host!
Our mysterious host!
Our generous host!
To our host!
To my guests!
Martin Luther, sir, this is all your doing.
What's the occasion?
Oh, just to see you all together again.
Oh, you see us every day.
Just to see my friends once more before I leave.
You're leaving Erfurt?
Yeah, but not for another university.
You're the best law student we have.
Thanks.
Where I'm going, I won't want these.
Or this.
Thank you, Martin.
Or these.
And this.
Martin Luther!
What are you doing?
Four years' work for nothing?
You... you can't just give up.
I can't either, my dear Spartan.
Some people are made for law and some aren't.
I'm not.
Well, what will your father say?
I know what he'll say.
Well, I don't understand.
Well, come on, Martin.
Don't be so mysterious.
This is a grand university.
Law's a great profession.
I couldn't ask for kinder friends.
What more do you want?
I don't know.
There's something missing.
The last thing I want to be is the skeleton of my own beast.
Let's just say I hope I'm doing right.
Like so many others before him, Martin Luther sought to make his peace
with God in submission to the discipline and authority of the Holy Church.
Are you prepared, my son, to follow the rules of the Augustinian order,
to die to the self, the world, the flesh, to renounce family and friend,
to suffer poverty, to mortify your body, to be obedient to your superiors in all
things?
With the help of God, I am, insofar as human frailty permits.
Now a friar in the Augustinian order of hermits, Brother Martin was bound by vows
of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
But strict adherence to monastic practice, endless acts of penance to guard the angry
judge, failed to bring peace to Martin Luther's troubled soul.
Brother Martin,
you can't help your soul by punishing your body.
Two years after entering the monastery, Brother Martin was ordained a priest.
He now had the fearsome power to consecrate bread and wine, transform it
into the body and blood of Christ, elevate the host, make the sacrifice,
and say in the words of the Mass, we offer unto thee the living,
the true, the eternal God.
Come brother, has Vicar General, I've seen many a young priest falter in
his first Mass.
Dear Vicar, it was not a matter of mere faltering.
You don't need to tell me, I know.
The closeness of the Holy Sacrament, your fear of God.
Father, your pardon.
If it were merely fear of God, I could still hope for his mercy.
But this I shall never have.
And why not?
My sins, Father.
Brother Martin, you have just come from the Mass.
The sacrifice for all sins you have confessed.
Or am I wrong?
Is there anything more?
Much more.
Then make your confession.
Bless me, Father.
For I have sinned, and my sin is unpardonable.
That is for God to judge, not you, my son.
He has judged me already.
He is God.
He is holy.
I am man.
I am evil.
And for this he condemns me.
I've tried to think of him as a loving Father, but can find only an angry judge.
No matter what I do to seek him out, he condemns me.
How can I love such a God?
But you do.
You must love God.
Father, I cannot.
And this is my unpardonable sin.
I cannot.
Father...
I'd like to expel him before he inflicts the whole monastery with his restless
mind.
A searching mind, Briar, a questioning one.
But the Church is still the only answer.
In the accumulated wisdom of our faith, he'll find the peace he's looking for.
My solution.
From now on, back to his studies for Brother Martin.
Scripture, theology, teaching and preaching.
We'll keep him so busy, he'll have no time for the troubles of his soul.
Good Briar, you lose one monk, but when he finally discovers his peace in
Christ...
the Church will gain a champion.
The Church knows best.
You see, God in his infinite wisdom never allows us to stray too far.
I still have a long way to go, Father.
So do we all.
And you leave tomorrow.
Leave?
Where am I going?
Forgive my little joke, Brother.
I've decided to send you on a mission in my behalf.
You're going to Rome, little brother, Rome.
Rome?
It's a petition I'm sending to the Holy See.
You'll go with a brother monk.
What about my studies, Father?
This will do more for you than all the studies in the world.
There is so much to see, so much to do in Rome.
But the journey itself is an act of faith.
The pilgrimage will not be an easy one, but all good things are hard to attain.
On the way you will have help from cloisters of our order.
Then, after mountains and cold and snow, there will be the sun of Italy.
And you will see before you the Holy City.
You must not fail to hear a mass before the altar of St. John in Lateran.
Set in a certain wall, you will see two crosses.
Behind one, the relics of Peter.
Behind the other, of Paul.
An act of faith performed there relieves your soul of 17,000 years in flames.
Be sure to see one of the 30 pieces of silver for which Christ was betrayed,
for it carries an indulgence of 14,000 years.
And the scarlet sanctum, the very stairs that Jesus climbed in the palace of
Pontius Pilate.
And our Father said on each step earns nine years indulgence.
And on the step where Christ fell, you will see a silver cross.
For that step, a double indulgence.
And if you are fortunate, you may see with your own eyes the Holy Father,
Julius II, the Supreme Pontiff.
Yes, there is so much for the Christian to see and do.
In Holy Rome.
Late in March 1511, five months after he had started out for Rome, Brother Martin
returned to the Augustinian Monastery.
The Lord is with thee.
In thee, Lord, I hope, and in your justice, set me free.
If only some of our people, all of our people, could realize that in this psalm,
David is telling us, in thee, O Lord, I trust, in thy righteousness,
deliver me.
If only everybody could understand these words, how much better they would
understand God's righteousness.
And what, dear brother, is God's righteousness?
Well, exactly what Scripture says, Father, that it delivers and does not
merely judge.
Rather, an interesting interpretation of Scripture.
Did you learn that in Rome?
Not that I recall, Father Pryor.
From your studies of the Church Fathers?
No.
Your own?
To the best of my knowledge, yes.
There is only one proper interpretation of Scripture.
That which the Church has established.
What if Scripture were in the hands of common man?
For every pot boy and swineherd to read in his own language and interpret for
himself.
What then?
Why, then we might have more Christians, Father.
Latin has served the Church for centuries.
Latin was good enough for St. Jerome and St. Augustine.
And Latin will have to be good enough for you and me.
And every other Christian.
Yes, Father.
Now you can say you've seen the great Professor Luther.
Spalletti.
A priest.
Four years now.
And you were right.
Some are made for the law and some aren't.
What are you doing here?
Tutoring those boys you saw just now.
Nephews of our elector, Duke Frederick.
Good for you.
That's not all.
I'm the Duke's secretary as well.
Before I recommended this university for them, I made sure that you were here at
Erfurt.
At least, for the present.
What do you mean, for the present?
Well, Duke Frederick's always looking for good professors for his new university.
Little Wittenberg, huh?
Well, it'll grow.
Martin.
How are you?
As you see me, dear Spalletti.
I see a man whose learning is an ornament to his church.
Whose name is beginning to be known in high places.
But what I really want to know is...
Have you found what you were looking for?
I wish I could answer that I had.
All this.
Surely.
All this, I have here.
And I can pour it out from here.
But here, Spalletti.
Here.
Not yet.
In the town of Wittenberg, Duke Frederick the wise and pious elector of Saxony had
founded a new school hoping its scholastic prestige would rival and perhaps surpass
the famous University of Leipzig.
Perfect.
But a good professor is just as hard to find.
There's only one Erasmus.
But Oxford has him.
Only one John Eck.
And he's at Ingolstadt.
And our little Wittenberg University is just eleven years old.
How can we attract the Erasmuses?
Yes.
To stay here with us in Saxony.
Your Grace, Wittenberg is already a center of biblical scholarship.
Thanks to your enlightened rule.
And to such men as Dr. Karlstadt, Dr. Amsdorff.
And yourself, good vicar.
No, we are not ashamed of our university.
Far from it.
We'd like to Leipzig yet.
May you shall have your new professor of theology.
Duke Frederick, we have a man in mind who would be a credit to us all in...
in scholarship, in knowledge of scripture.
In scripture above all, yes.
For I want a man to serve the castle church as a pastor.
And the university as a professor.
A learned man for my people's minds.
A pious man for my people's souls.
This one?
Two hundred, your Grace.
Always the best for my university.
For my church.
Dominus regis me.
Et nihil me.
And so in 1511, Luther came to Wittenberg to be a teacher, student of scripture,
and parish priest.
Within another year, the priest of the castle church received his degree as
doctor of theology.
As a doctor of theology, I promise to do all I can to promote the welfare of the
university.
I promise to defend holy scripture.
And I swear not to teach vain and foreign doctrines which are condemned by the
church and offend the ears of the pious.
I further swear to uphold and maintain the privileges and liberties of the
theological faculty to the best of my ability.
So help me God and the holy gospels.
Amen.
Open them up.
Welcome, dear vicar, welcome.
Ah, brother Martin, wait till you see my harvest from the lowlands.
For the glory of our church and the souls of our people.
Four fragments of Saint Jerome.
And two of Saint Chrysostom.
From the veil sprinkled with the blood of the Savior.
A morsel of the very bread eaten at the last supper.
And this is a nail driven into our Lord's dear hands.
A fragment of the true cross.
Give me the list.
With these and all the others I have brought, if a pilgrim were to venerate
every single relic in our church, he would be forgiven of his time in
purgatory.
1,902,202 years plus 270 days.
Glory be to God.
Amen.
Now, brother Martin...
You don't think much of my acquisitions, doctor.
I'm not sure that Christ does.
Dear vicar, I wish I could be the kind of Christian that sees and hears,
believes and worships and there's an end of it.
Dr. Luther, relics are not an end in themselves.
They're merely symbols of the holy men and women whose sanctity enables them to
intercede in our behalf before God.
Symbols, it's true.
But is the symbol replacing the meaning?
Is the meaning itself lost?
If it is, dear vicar, and I say if, then we are lost.
Lost and damned.
This is a symbol too.
But is it God's supreme gift of his only son we adore?
Or is it the splinters of the wood, the rust of the nails that we worship?
The crucifix makes the agony of Christ more vivid for the simple Christian.
The little peasant with his prayer to Saint Christopher for safe journey.
The poor widow with her tiny Madonna.
The soldier going into battle with his rosary.
Yes, even the Duke with his noble gifts to Christ's church.
Would you take all these away?
Doctor, you people's priest, you cannot afford to shatter their faith by tearing
away its visible supports.
As their priest responsible to God for their souls, can I afford not to?
Symbols to inspire devotion, yes.
But crutches to uphold a tottering faith?
Doctor, whence all this sudden doubt?
This is no sudden doubt, but a growing certainty.
Dear vicar, what little certainty I have you gave to me.
You heard my sin, you sent me to Rome to fortify my faith.
You sent me to scripture to find my God.
You brought me here to Wittenberg to preach his word.
And here in my room, I've been preparing my lectures on the epistles of St. Paul to
the Romans.
And here, I think I have found the truth at last.
And when I found it, it was as though the gates of heaven were open to me.
Romans 1.17
Justitiae nimdei.
Justitiae nimdei, for the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.
As it is written, the just shall live by faith.
And so?
Worthy vicar, do we find anything here of relics?
By faith man lives and is made righteous.
Not by what he does for himself.
Be it adoration of relics, singing of masses, pilgrimages to Rome, purchase of
pardon for his sins.
But by faith in what God has done for him already through his son.
Dr. Martin, if you leave the Christian to live only by faith.
If you sweep away all good works, all these glorious things you dismiss as
mere crutches.
What will you put in their place?
Christ.
Man only needs Jesus Christ.
The just shall live by faith.
Alone.
In Rome at this time ruled Pope Leo X, a Medici, the second son of Lorenzo the
Magnificent.
His predecessor, Julius II, had laid the foundation stone of St. Peter's Cathedral.
And the new pontiff was determined to make it the most magnificent church in
Christendom.
Pope Leo, a lover of the arts, exhausted the Vatican's wealth by his
lavish expenditure.
To replenish the treasury, Leo arranged for a wider sale of indulgences.
Conferred cardinal's hats upon men who could pay.
And offered archbishoprics to the highest bidder.
In 1517, young Prince Albert of Brandenburg, who was already bishop of two
German provinces, sent his brother to Rome to arrange for a third appointment.
Your Holiness will see clearly by this map of Germany what my brother wishes.
This area, Your Holiness, remains to be assigned.
These he already holds.
Your brother must be quite rich.
As for us, you Germans imagine us to be as wealthy as Croesus?
But it is not so.
Not so at all.
On the contrary, how we are to pay Michelangelo for the Sistine Chapel,
we do not know.
As for Master Raphael, we owe him thousands already.
But God has given us the papacy, let us employ it for his glory and enjoy
it while we live.
I am determined to leave Rome more glorious than I found it.
And this shall be the most precious jewel in her crown.
But back to our affairs.
This petition of your brother, suppose we do allow him to become
Archbishop of Mainz.
What arrangements can be made?
Ten thousand ducats, Your Holiness, is as much as I am empowered to
contribute.
Shall we say, rather, twelve thousand?
A thousand ducats for each of the twelve Apostles.
Your Holiness, with all proper respect, there are but seven deadly sins.
Seven thousand ducats, therefore.
Ten thousand, then.
A thousand for each of the ten Commandments.
My brother will be most pleased.
As well he might be.
First, we granted him the Archbishopric of Magdeburg when he was well underage.
Then, a dispensation to hold a second benefice, the Archbishopric of
Halberstadt.
And now, with this, we confirm him in a third, a triple benefice, so that he
becomes, in addition to the other two, Archbishop of Mainz.
Our paternal blessing to your brother.
We grant his petition.
And accept his contribution to the treasury of Christ's Church.
Provided, Your Holiness, provided that is, that he promulgates throughout the German
lands our special jubilee indulgence.
The proceeds of which shall be divided between your brother's treasury and mine.
Equally, Your Holiness, equally.
Alejandro, I name you nuncio to Mainz to arrange this blessing.
Let the indulgence be drawn up in terms somewhat broader than ordinarily.
For it gives our beloved Germans the privilege of helping to build St. Peter's
Cathedral.
Now, my good people, this is no ordinary indulgence.
This will build St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome.
And you will share in every mass that is said from now till doomsday.
Here, in the Pope's own Latin...
What does that mean?
Full forgiveness for all sins.
Absolution from all punishments.
No confession necessary.
Valid even for your loved ones in purgatory.
For who would see his mother in flames when, with a piece of silver, he can set
her free?
For as soon as the money clinks in the chest, the soul flies up to heavenly rest.
Trouble not, good people.
Come, follow them.
Come, good people.
Willie.
Oh, Nance.
Look at me.
Oh, aye.
Oh, good Father Martin.
Good Father Martin.
Who?
You see how you feel about good Father Martin after you've been to confession.
Ah, I don't have to make no confessions.
No.
My sins are always forgiven.
Forever.
Who says so?
Pope himself.
Where'd you get this?
Across the river.
I paid good money for it.
Tetzel.
So help me God, and I'll put a hole in his drum.
But indulgences must be dispensed with authority and rightly so.
Therefore, when indulgences are abused, peddled, bartered, sold, this is not
salvation.
This is damnation of souls.
And I do not refer to Tetzel alone.
Well, I know that our own good prince, Duke Frederick, has long held a special
indulgence for this castle church.
But God is no respecter of persons, and we must serve God, not man.
Therefore, my people, I tell you, our Lord Jesus Christ, by coming on earth,
by suffering and dying, has already paid for our salvation forever.
How then can any mortal man, monk, prince, or pope, extort a further payment?
My beloved, you cannot buy God's mercy.
Amen.
Oh, I must remind you that a part of your contribution falls due next Friday for the
purchase of a freshened cow for the cloister.
My compliments, Vicar.
Beautifully done.
This will be a festival to remember.
Spell it in.
How did the sermon go?
That depends, Your Grace.
Vicar, did you know that Dr. Luther was going to preach against indulgences?
No, Spell it in.
But I knew he had certain misgivings about relics.
What are his objections to relics?
I'm not familiar with those, Your Grace, but I do know that Dr. Luther has been
disturbed about the abuse of indulgences, a representative of the Archbishop of
Mainz...
Ketzel!
Luther is right.
I ordered Ketzel to remain out of my territories with his letters of pardon,
and the Archbishop agreed.
Ketzel's kept his bargain, sir.
But our Wittenbergers have been crossing the river to him.
We'll put a stop to that.
Let them buy their indulgences at All Saints and keep good sacks and money right
here.
Your Grace, I'm afraid that Dr. Luther is questioning the sale of all indulgences,
including our own.
Upon what grounds?
That the sale of indulgences is not supported by scripture, Your Grace.
Of all the times, right upon the eve of All Saints Festival.
Your Grace, as Dr. Luther's superior, I feel sure I can hold him in check.
If I was certain that Dr. Luther's doctrines were injuring the souls of my
people, I would not hesitate for a moment to have you interfere.
But... how can I be sure?
Who am I to silence a priest of God?
No.
Let Luther write, preach, argue, debate.
If he is right, God will not let his truth go unheard.
If he is wrong, it will all come to nothing.
Whatever he does, I know that it will be as a good and faithful priest of God.
Are you... are you certain you know what you're doing?
Spallatin.
For centuries, men have tried to discover the truth through debate.
That's all I'm doing.
Has it occurred to you that you may debate yourself out of your pulpit, your
university, your church?
Nonsense!
You talk as though I was going to preach riot and insurrection.
You know as well as I do that Tetzel goes much too far.
Tetzel?
Your quarrel isn't with Tetzel, it's with those behind him, the Archbishop
of Mainz.
That's true!
And I'll send a copy to His Excellency, the Archbishop of Mainz.
Doctor, whether you are right or wrong on indulgences is not for me to say,
but they're part of our church.
Many, many before you have preached reform of one kind or another, Valdus,
Wycliffe, Savonarola, Huss, and to what end?
The church stands, and always will.
Savonarola?
Huss?
Ashes.
Spallatin, find someone else to scare.
All the willful, stubborn...
Call me what you will, but leave me in peace.
Spallatin, I've no better friend than you, but you've no right to ask, even out of
regard for my safety, that I should stop searching out God's truth.
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, and this, as in all undertakings, not my will,
but thine, be done.
Amen.
Wittenberg, the eve of All Saints Day, October 31st, 1517.
Martin Luther was scarcely noticed as he passed by those waiting to worship before
the relics about to be displayed in the castle church.
Nailing a notice to the door of the church was not unusual, for this was the
customary place to post announcements of both university and public events.
Among those waiting to be forgiven and blessed, none could know that this
document would become one of the most widely read in all history.
Just something in Latin.
Thus did Martin Luther put forth his 95 theses, intended to be read and debated
only by scholars.
Word of their content created an immediate demand for more and more reprints.
...
It is not easy to repent to the Pope, even for a man, to be redeemed from the
slander, from the slander, or certainly from the arduous questions of the people.
Every Christian who feels true repentance for his sins has perfect forgiveness of
both punishment and sin without the need of indulgence.
Indulgences are nets where withdrawn fishes for rich man's wealth.
Vain is the hope of salvation through indulgences, even if the Pope himself were
to pledge his own soul for them.
Printers had the theses translated into the language of the people.
Within weeks they were the talk of all Germany.
Within months all Christendom was on fire.
It is better to give to the poor than to buy an indulgence.
Ah, my Lord Archbishop, translate it for everybody to read.
Is it any wonder my sails have fallen off?
And what do you want us to do about it, Tetzel?
Give me three weeks, Your Eminence.
I'll turn the people against him as a heretic.
I'll burn his books, and I'll burn him too, and scatter his ashes on the Elbe.
You won't burn, Luther, and neither will I.
From his obedient servant, the Archbishop of Mainz, to our Holy Father in Rome.
The true treasure of the Church is the Holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God.
Why, therefore, does not the Pope empty purgatory out of pure Christian charity?
What drunken German wrote those?
Martin Luther, a monk of the Augustinians.
So this is your clever scholar, your fine theologian.
Scholastic differences, Your Holiness.
Subversive doctrines, in my opinion.
The important thing is, what difference has it made to our indulgence for St.
Peter?
This, before the publication of the theses, and now.
Della Volta, as procurator of the Augustinians, I wish you would undertake
to restrain this Martin Luther, who is unsettling matters in Germany by
preaching new doctrines.
Let us have no trouble in Germany.
For the first time in a hundred years, a German has told Rome where to get off.
There's Luther writing, knocking the Pope's crown off.
There's the Duke, sitting up there, listening to Luther.
But you see that goose down there?
Know what that means?
Yes, Huss, John Huss, who got himself burned to ashes for trying to clean up
Rome.
You see what they are trying to do to us?
Here comes a German to lead us against Roman tyranny.
And they are trying to make him out a heretic, just like John Huss.
What kind of rebellious beast do you Germans breed up here?
I'd burn him outright.
Enough from you.
Go back to your monastery and do penance for the damage you've done.
May I remind you that I came from Rome to deal with Luther, not Tetzel.
What about this?
Your Eminence, I think our learned Dr. Eck can answer your question.
Noble Aleander, with all due respect, your Eminence thinks only of the affront
to the Holy Father.
But surely you've noticed the goose in this rather clever picture.
John Huss, the heretic, tried, condemned, burned at the stake,
linked in the common mind with Luther.
Wittenberg, by this time, was widely regarded as a stronghold of Luther's
followers.
Despite threats of banishment, excommunication and imprisonment,
Martin Luther, throughout two stormy years, had continued to compare church
doctrines and practices with Holy Scripture.
Master Melanchthon.
I owe you my apologies.
My apologies, Dr. Luther.
I did you an injustice.
When you first came to Wittenberg, I was doubtful of your learning.
But your disputation last night proved me wrong.
I'm glad you joined our faculty.
You're very generous.
I'll tell you what, I'll strike a bargain with you.
You teach me Greek and Hebrew, and I'll tell you all the theology I know.
Doctor, I've already begun to study under you.
I've read all your writings.
Dr. Luther!
Dr. Luther, good news.
Dr. Karlstadt, what is it?
I've been invited to debate at Leipzig.
To debate?
Yes, to defend our thesis.
You?
Am I tongue-tied?
For a year and a half, I've waited to be heard, to make my own defense of my own
doctrines.
One moment, Doctor.
I am your senior.
When you were still a mere novice, I was a doctor of theology, questioning
indulgences long before you.
You should be glad to have me defend your work against Eck.
Eck?
John Eck?
Yes, what about him?
I'll tear you to shreds!
I've read your propositions, and there's not one of the whole 406 that'll hold
water.
I grant you may have started before me, Dr. Karlstadt, but this time you've bitten
off more than you can chew.
Dr. Luther, I'm...
Good doctors.
That's not the only point.
May I ask how the debate comes to be at Leipzig?
What of it?
The university's history.
It was founded by followers of Hus.
Eck will surely try to associate your doctrines with those of Hus.
Hus?
That was a hundred years ago.
John Eck and I could have hammered the truth out of this once and for all time.
Eck, the one theologian in all Germany I'd give my right hand to stand up to.
Karlstadt, you'll need help.
I'm coming with you.
You're not invited.
I invite myself.
You have no safe conduct.
You cannot go.
I said Dr. Karlstadt, safe conduct to Leipzig together with other members of his
party.
Master Melanchthon, will you also accept Dr. Karlstadt's invitation?
Martin Luther journeyed to hostile Leipzig in the company of his two most ardent
supporters.
Andreas Karlstadt, learned but impetuous, and Philip Melanchthon, a young scholar
destined to become one of the foremost leaders of the Reformation.
Worthy fathers, in answer to the proposition of the learned Dr. Eck,
in the dispute with the Pelatians...
I object.
I object to continuing the discussion if the learned Dr. Karlstadt is to resort
constantly to his library.
But...
Is my opponent aware that a precedent has been established?
St. Augustine consulted books in debate against the Manichaeans.
I withdraw my objection.
It is the sense of this body that sufficient argument has been heard on both
sides.
Dr. Martin Luther.
Embodied in Dr. Karlstadt's propositions are many of your own doctrines.
If you so desire, these may be debated here.
Worthy masters, esteemed Dr. Eck, I do so desire.
In the name of our Lord, Amen.
Out of reverence for the supreme pontiff and the Roman Church...
I would have preferred to take no part in the discussion which cannot but lead to
disunity within the ranks of the faithful.
But out of respect for the truth, I repeat, it was not upon St. Peter that
Christ founded the Church, but upon himself.
But my dear doctor, many authorities disagree with you.
Capectus, Scotus, Peter Lombard, for instance.
To say nothing of Cyprian and Nazianzus?
Yes, doctor, they do.
But my authority disagrees with all of them.
And who is that authority?
St. Paul.
For no other foundation can man lay than that which is laid, even Jesus Christ.
But doctor, these attacks upon the Pope cannot help but bring disunity upon the
Church.
That is not my intention.
But the effect is the same as if it were.
In fact, it is common knowledge that your doctrines are approved by those who have
already split the Church.
Name them.
The followers of Huss.
The Hussites are wrong.
But I confess I find much that is acceptable to Christ among their
doctrines.
Such as?
Such as this.
There is only one universal Church.
Or this.
It is not necessary for salvation to be subject to a Roman Pope.
What, doctor?
That is the heart of the heresy.
That is exactly what Huss said.
It doesn't matter who said it, it is the truth.
Martin Luther, do you think you are the only one who knows the truth?
I will tell you what I think.
I have the right to believe freely.
To be a slave to no man's authority.
To confess what appears to me to be true, whether it is proved or disapproved.
Whether it is spoken by Catholic or by heretic.
Then you deny the authority of the Pope.
In matters of faith, I think that neither council nor Pope nor any man has power
over my conscience.
And where they disagree with Scripture, I deny Pope and council and all.
A simple layman armed with Scripture is greater than the mightiest Pope without
it.
Heresy, doctor Luther, heresy!
Heresy!
So be it.
It is still the truth.
So a layman with Scripture is better than the Pope.
And you do not care whether a doctrine is Catholic or heretic as long as it suits
you?
Doctor Luther, this is too much.
What you wish me to do, father?
Stop attacking Rome.
Immediately.
Permanently.
I'm not attacking Rome.
I'm only trying to find the answer to certain questions.
Who are you to question Rome?
I order you to stop.
Until I've tried out the truth, I cannot.
You refuse?
You disobey me?
I must.
Forgive me, father.
Forgive?
Leave us.
I cannot forgive you, brother Martin.
Instead, I release you.
Of everything that ties your hand and binds your tongue from now on,
I release you from obedience to your vows.
The holy vows of the Augustinians.
Lest you bring disgrace upon your order, as you have brought dissension to your
church.
You remain a priest, but you are no longer my monk.
Oh, Martin, Martin.
I see nothing ahead of you but the cross.
May God have mercy on your soul.
And on those who follow your preaching.
Try as I may.
I cannot.
The time to keep silent has passed, and the time to speak has come.
The nobility of our land must set itself against the Pope as a common enemy and
destroyer.
We have the name of empire, but the Pope is all that is ours.
Let him give us back our liberty, honor, body and soul.
And let your holiness smile compared with this.
Freedom from the tyranny of Rome.
Every man his own priest before God.
Now we shall do some writing.
Draw up a condemnation of this man.
We shall see how his faith stands up against a papal decree.
Your holiness, we presume to prepare a draft.
Excergue Domine.
Arise, O Lord, and judge thy cause.
A wild boar invades thy vineyards.
Arise, O Peter.
Arise, O Paul.
Arise, ye saints.
Arise, thou church universal.
We can no longer suffer this serpent to creep through the fields of the Lord.
The books of Martin Luther, containing his errors, are to be sought out and burned by
the Inquisitor.
As for Martin Luther himself, dear God, what office of paternal love have we
omitted to recall him from his errors?
Now, therefore, we give him sixty days to retract his writings.
And failing such retraction, he shall stand under our anathema and
excommunication.
And be it hereby finally known that whatsoever person shall aid or help the
said Martin Luther, that person shall be subject with him to our excommunication
and anathema.
And will stand together with him under the wrath of Almighty God and the apostles
Peter and Paul.
Signed Leo and sealed with the Pope's own seal.
Sixty days.
When are they up?
Tomorrow.
Wittenberg, the night of December 10th, 1520.
Rome, because you have destroyed the truth of God, let God destroy you in the
evening.
He is blamed.
What kind of mad dogs are you?
Is this how you use your Christian freedom?
If God wants to topple idols, he will strike them down himself.
This is still a house of God.
The Lord deliver me from my enemies and from my friends.
I'm always Latin, I understand one thing.
You want us to seize Luther and turn him over to you.
That is our commission.
His Holiness wants Dr. Luther in Rome.
For trial?
That will not be necessary.
He's already been condemned in the Pope's decree.
What will
you do then?
Put him to torture?
We need not go to such extremes.
The mercy of His Holiness, Your Grace.
Do you
know Erasmus of Rotterdam?
All the world knows the learned Erasmus.
Erasmus, have you read Martin Luther's writings?
Some part, Your Grace.
And what is your opinion?
This monk should have his trial before judges of various universities.
Nevertheless, he cannot win.
He's in the wrong then, Master.
In what points?
In two, Aleander.
One, he has attacked the crown of the Pope.
And two, he has attacked the bellies of the monks, both grave and unforgivable
sins.
Your Grace, I did not come from Rome to joke with scholars.
In the name of the Holy Father, will you deliver this heretic?
Noble Aleander, let us be reasonable.
I have seen Martin Luther only once and I am not familiar with his writings.
Nor do I follow his preachings as many of my loyal subjects do.
But I know him as a man of strong convictions, learning, fear of God.
Yet even if he were a common thief, I could not hand him to you to be dragged
to Rome in chains.
No, do not misunderstand me.
It is not Luther the man who is important.
It is a principle that a man accused shall have a fair trial before his own
countrymen.
Luther is my subject, Aleander.
And as he owes me loyalty, I owe him protection.
I can do no less as a Christian and a prince.
I suggest, therefore, that we bring this cause before the Diet.
And let it be decided in that parliament what shall be done with Luther.
In the spring of 1521, Luther made his journey to the city of Worms to appear
before the Diet, the parliamentary assembly of the German states.
Worms Waiting in Worms was the sign of the House of Habsburg, Lord of Austria,
Burgundy, the Low Countries, Naples and Spain.
Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and defender of the Holy Church.
His Catholic Majesty, Charles V.
I summon him for a trial.
Yet he comes like a conqueror.
Are you certain you haven't made a mistake?
Your Majesty, how he enters is of no importance.
How he answers is.
We must give him no opportunity for speeches.
Will Your Majesty approve our procedure of interrogation?
You have his books?
Yes, Your Majesty.
All of them.
Dr. Luther, you will say nothing until you are questioned.
Martin Luther, his sacred and invincible Majesty has cited you before his throne to
answer certain questions.
Two in number and only two.
The first question, do you admit these are your writings?
Yes, they are mine.
His Imperial Majesty's second question then is will you, Martin Luther,
persist in what you have written?
Or are you prepared to retract these writings and the beliefs they contain?
Most gracious Emperor, princes, lords, I came here prepared for debate,
not for interrogation.
Dr. Luther, reply to the question.
Will you or will you not recant what you have written?
I do not understand this procedure.
Recant?
Am I not to be heard?
You have heard His Majesty's question.
He is waiting for your answer.
My answer?
You should not ask me to deny in one moment the work of many years...
Dr. Luther!
Therefore, most gracious Majesty, I beg you, give me time.
Give me more time!
His gracious Majesty grants your request.
You will return to this same place tomorrow, prepared to answer.
Hear me, Father.
Hear my prayer.
Thou hast given me thy cause to defend here.
Thy precious word to uphold.
Thou hast entrusted my brothers, thy dear children, into my hands.
These unworthy hands.
Thou art my shield.
Thou art my fortress.
Let it be granted to me, Master, in my hour of need.
What word to say for it?
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Dr. Luther!
Yesterday you admitted these writings were yours.
Will you tell us now, do you persist in what you have written here, or are you
prepared to retract these writings and the beliefs they contain?
I ask pardon if I lack the manners that befit this court.
I was not brought up in king's palaces, but in the seclusion of a cloister.
I am asked to retract these writings, but they are of different kinds.
In some I discuss faith and good works.
If I were to retract these, I should be denying accepted Christian truths.
In others, I attack potpourri and assail men who have afflicted the Christian world
and ruined the bodies and souls of other men.
If I were to retract those, I should be like a cloak that covers evil.
Most serene emperor.
Illustrious princes, noble lords, I am only a man and not God.
But I must defend myself as did Jesus Christ when he said, as I say now,
if I have spoken evil, bear witness against me.
Martin Luther, you have not yet answered the question.
Give us a simple answer.
Will you recant, or will you not?
You asked for a simple answer.
Here it is.
Unless you can convince me by Scripture and not by popes or councils who have
often contradicted each other, unless I am so convinced that I am wrong,
I am bound to my beliefs by the texts of the Bible.
My conscience is captive to the word of God.
To go against conscience is neither right nor safe.
Therefore, I cannot and I will not recant.
Here I stand.
I can do no other.
God help me.
Amen.
Who is this monk to go against the church and against me?
I should have seized him right then and there and had him!
Yet he was under my safe conduct.
I could not go back on my word.
Your illustrious majesty, may I say that not even an emperor need keep his oath to
a heretic.
21 days we give him.
After that, his book shall be wiped from the memory of man.
His followers, whoever they may be, shall be condemned.
And this Luther himself, he shall be under our curse.
No man shall harbor him, no man protect him.
I declare him hereby outlaw, free to be hunted, free to be seized by anyone,
anywhere.
Then to be done to death at will.
On the journey back to Wittenberg, when armed horsemen spirited Martin Luther
away, few knew that this had been arranged by Duke Frederick, who was fearful for
Luther's safety.
The Wartburg, a castle near Eisenach, had been chosen as a refuge for the
heretic, now condemned by Pope and Emperor.
During his ten months of exile, Luther completed his translation of the
New Testament.
What language is this, sir?
Greek?
Yes.
I don't know Greek.
Don't you read at all?
Oh, yes, sir, but only in our own language.
Look at this.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.
And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of
the world.
Those are the words of Jesus in the New Testament.
You see, our German larks can be made to sing as sweetly as any Greek Latin or
Greek nightingale.
You have never realized that Luther was more than a theologian with a few
doctrinal differences between him and Rome.
He was the leader of a movement.
Because he is gone, must the movement be abandoned?
Luther was a guide, not a leader.
He wanted us to follow pure Christian truth, not men.
But Luther named a man to teach that truth.
Yourself, I suppose.
No, you.
Even before he left for Worms, he told me.
Carlstad, my life means nothing.
I don't care what happens to me as long as Melanchthon lives to carry on.
Now, what have you done?
I've taught, I've written, I've prayed.
What more do you want?
Actions.
I am about to introduce certain reforms.
You call this reform?
What do you call it?
Revolution.
You wonder, brothers, how I dare appear to you as a priest with none of the priestly
robes.
Believe me, you will see more surprising things than these from me.
For we are no longer bound by the rule of Rome.
Luther has smashed our shackles.
Confessions, vestments, candles, beads.
We have no need of them.
Down with them all.
Nuns and friars, fast days and vigils.
Down with these useless trimmings.
Brothers, we need only faith.
Our faith.
We are on the march.
And what stands in our way must go.
How often must I tell you, my hands are tied.
The Pope's edict, the Emperor's ban.
Duke Frederick wants him to stay hidden until it's safe for him to show his face.
Anyway, he'd approve of everything we've done.
We?
Don't include me in what you've been doing.
Luther left the congregation.
In ten months, you've turned it into a mob.
Must you persist in misunderstanding me?
I'm trying to cleanse the church.
The people want action.
Am I to blame if they go too far?
If they go too far, who leads them on?
At least I have done something.
I beg you both.
Let us have peace.
We all seek the same goal.
The kingdom of God.
Can we not work toward it together?
What would you like, sir?
My pulpit.
Pardon.
Who gave you permission to return?
Nobody.
Thank God you've come back.
At last we'll have peace in Wittenberg.
Peace?
What have you done to bring it about?
Any of you.
Nothing.
And as for you...
After what you've brought about, there isn't room for you in Wittenberg.
Get out of my sight!
As you wish, Dr. Luther.
Our Lord Jesus Christ...
is betrayed by what you have done here.
How dare you destroy?
When will you learn that even faith in itself is not enough without love?
When will you understand...
that we must win brothers and sisters from the other side with love...
and not with force?
You have laid hands upon the crucifix.
How dare you defile something that might help a man with his devotions?
What about your faith?
What about your love?
I tell you...
the fruit of the gospel is not only righteousness...
it is love.
Christians...
here is how I must use my freedom.
I must give myself to my neighbor...
as Jesus Christ in love gave himself to me.
I must do nothing in life that is not needful to my neighbor...
because through faith I have all that I need myself.
In this way...
and in this way only...
can I become a true son...
of a gracious God.
Following Luther's teaching and example...
many monks and nuns left the sheltered life of the cloister...
to serve God and man out in the community.
One of the former nuns...
whom Luther helped to place as a governess in a Wittenberg family...
was Catherine von Bora.
Honey, the other girls from the convent caused as much trouble as you.
Eight of them happily married.
What's the matter with Dr. Armstrong?
Oh, no.
He gets too old.
Well, Dr. Glass, then.
Oh, no.
Not Dr. Glass.
Don't look at me like that.
What you're thinking is out of the question.
I'm old enough to be your father.
I don't suppose you knew that.
Yes.
I know, Dr. Luther.
Well, that's not the point.
You're forgetting a few things.
Don't you realize they call me heretic?
That I could be hanged from any tree, burned at any stake...
anywhere outside of the borders of Saxony?
Yes, I know, Dr. Luther.
And they'd have done it inside Saxony long ago if it hadn't been for the Duke.
May a soul rest in peace.
No, a man with the Pope's ban and the Emperor's curse hanging over his head is
no man for you.
We must find you another husband.
Yes, Dr. Luther.
Catherine Faubourg, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?
Yes, I do.
Join your right hands.
With this, your vow of love and faith, I confirm your covenant as an indissoluble
Christian marriage.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Amen.
As more and more people understood the meaning of Martin Luther's teachings,
their support became so formidable that in ever-widening sections of the Empire,
it was impossible to enforce the Emperor's edict against him.
Luther did not intend to establish a new church, but rather to rid of its man-made
errors the one church in which he sought to remain.
He still hoped that the Roman Church would recognize the supreme authority of
Scripture.
During these years, he questioned and he wrote, he preached and he taught.
Now, Kurt, let's see what you know.
Closed books.
I know what's in the book.
Point is to you.
What's the fifth commandment?
Thou shalt not kill.
You do know it.
Gustav.
Yes, Dr. Luther?
What does that mean?
We should fear and love God so that we do our neighbor no bodily harm or cause him
any sufferings, but help and befriend him in every need.
Did you think that out yourself?
No, sir, that's what the catechism says.
But that doesn't prove you know what the commandment means.
It's not enough just to know the words, we must think them.
Yes, Dr. Luther.
Now, next week's lesson is much more difficult.
The sixth commandment and the meaning of the second article of the Creed.
All of it, sir?
Yeah, all.
Mmm, no.
Aha.
Hmm?
I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity and
also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me,
a lost and condemned creature, bought me and freed me from all sins,
from death and the power of the devil.
Class over.
Run along, all of you.
Next week, don't be late.
In the 13 years since Martin Luther nailed the theses on the door of the church at
Wittenberg, the movement for reform gained enormous momentum in a large part of
Europe.
At Augsburg in 1530 was the most important of all attempts to achieve unity within
the Roman Church.
Duke Frederick was dead and had been succeeded by his brother, John the
Steadfast.
The monk whose conscience had not permitted him to recant was still an
outlaw and could not be in Augsburg to speak for himself.
Sir Martin.
Augsburg.
They're all going to be at Augsburg but me.
Who stood before the emperor at Worms?
Who stood beside me then?
But now you're not alone.
Half of Germany is at your side.
Our new elector, Duke John.
Prince Philip of Hesse.
And shall I put my faith in princes?
My dear Martin, your faith is in God.
But when princes have put their faith in God too and come to your side,
even the emperor will have to listen.
They speak a different language to mine.
They speak as rulers, soldiers, men of force.
Less gently than you.
I am not gentle.
Oh, Martin.
Well...
I suppose we must wait...
and hope...
and trust...
in God...
and our friends...
maybe even in princes.
You are princes.
I am a theologian.
It is you who have been called here by the emperor to declare your faith.
Not ours.
The Pope's.
Our faith is that of Martin Luther.
Luther should have come here.
How could he, Prince Philip, when he stands under the ban of the emperor?
My brother, Duke Frederick, while he lived, protected him in Saxony.
With our united strengths, perhaps we could...
Duke John, I might be able to protect him in Brandenburg.
But even if all of us could protect him here, would he be of any help?
He's an uncompromising man.
This dyad has been called by the emperor, the invitation said.
To see to it that one true religion be held by all.
That we shall all live in one common church in unity.
Luther's church or the church of Rome?
Neither.
The church of Jesus Christ.
Make no mistake, good doctor.
The emperor sees no difference between Christ and Rome.
If I know the emperor, his sudden passion for unity is not religious.
See if I'm not right.
He will beg us to unite because he fears an attack by the Turks.
We ask only that Rome acknowledge the truth.
The truth the Bible teaches and Luther preaches.
I say our differences with Rome can be composed.
With whom?
Through whom?
I have arranged a meeting with Dr. Eck.
Dr. John Eck.
I know of you as a scholar, Dr. Menangten.
I do not know your qualifications to negotiate...
or to compose differences which most of us believe cannot be composed.
Your Highness, forgive me if I differ, but...
Martin Luther himself chose Dr. Menangten to speak for him.
Then try with your Dr. Eck.
But be sure it is Luther's doctrine you present, not Rome's you surrender to.
This heresy is spreading like the plague.
Sweden, Denmark, Norway, France.
You say nothing of Poland, Prussia and Austria.
Four hundred and four separate and distinct heresies, Master Philip.
Four hundred and four.
Of which the emperor has been made well aware.
Martin Luther, the Church's enemy within the Church.
A false prophet of iniquity.
He calls the Pope of Rome the Antichrist.
The Catholic Church a harlot.
The bishops worms and idols.
Theologians he calls bats.
Catholic princes louse his eggs.
If he were here, we'd deal with him.
Learned doctor, he is not here.
And you do not have him to deal with.
Ah, that, that impious...
Name-calling aside, dear doctor.
Surely we can reach some compromise that will please the emperor.
If a few things are smoothed over, we can conclude peace.
The whole trouble is about an insignificant departure from custom.
For example?
Permit us to partake of both the bread and the wine in the Lord's Supper.
Permit the marriage of priests and of monks.
After all, do we not confess the same creed?
We believe in God the Father Almighty.
Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ.
Chancellor Bruce, read that passage again.
By common consent, our churches teach that men are declared righteous before God and
received into his favor.
Not because of their own merits or works.
But through faith in the sacrifice of God's Son, fully atoning for the sins of
the world.
That sums up our belief.
There's no need for each of our lands to have its own confession.
This can be read for all of us.
Master Melanchthon wrote this only as the confession of the churches in Saxony.
Then let it be the confession of the churches of Germany.
What do you say, Prince Philip?
I've already said I'd sign it.
My Lords, might it not be better, since this is a confession of faith,
that only theologians put their names to it?
Do you think the emperor would listen to theologians before the electors who put
him on his throne?
I was thinking of something quite different.
As statesman, you must consider what may follow such a declaration from you.
And what is that?
It may split the church.
I say the church is already split.
You thought you could compose our differences.
But you couldn't.
But it may divide the Holy Roman Empire.
It may even end it.
If freedom to follow our own faith cannot exist within the empire, the empire cannot
exist.
And this emperor that we have put upon his throne must learn that.
There's another reason for fear.
I have learned what is planned for us by Rome, unless we return to the Roman
church.
We shall be exterminated by an inquisition, as were the heretics in
Spain.
Still I will confess my Christ.
I will keep to my beliefs...
if it costs me my life.
Give me the pen.
Your graces, this confession of our preachers and ourselves...
sets forth the whole of our beliefs as they have been preached in our lands and
churches.
This is the sum and substance of our doctrines.
Signed this day by John, Duke of Saxony, Elector of the Holy Roman Empire.
George, Margrave of Brandenburg, Elector.
Philip, Landgrave of Hesse.
Prince Wolfgang of Anhalt.
Duke Francis of Lüneburg.
John Frederick, Duke of Saxony.
Duke Ernest of Lüneburg.
Delegates of the Free City of Nuremberg.
Delegates of the Free City of Reutlingen.
Your Imperial Majesty.
We are not impelled by party spirit.
We are compelled by the word of God to embrace our beliefs.
It has never been our intention to introduce any dogma that is new and
strange to the universal church.
We have desired only that the church might be cleansed and freed from certain abuses.
Not for our own sakes, but for the glory of Christ and the salvation of all men of
all nations.
Your Gracious Majesty, this confession will prevail against the gates of hell
itself.
His Imperial Majesty has summoned you here not to continue the heretical dissension
which has divided his beloved Germany, but to end it.
Your Majesty, we cannot desert the truth.
We pray that our opponents will grant us, for the sake of God and Christ,
that which we cannot with good conscience surrender.
Nobles, all Christendom stands in peril.
Our survival hangs on our unity, and unity alone.
The hordes of the infidel Turk are at the very gates of Vienna.
Therefore we request you now to yield.
Unite with us.
Abandon these differences, these heresies.
And together under one banner we shall march against the common enemy.
Most gracious Emperor, all of us have been entrusted with the word of God.
As princes, we are eager for political unity, but not at the price of our faith.
What you call differences, we call the heart of our faith.
What you call heresy, we know to be the truth.
We will not yield.
I command your allegiance.
You cannot command our conscience.
We will continue in our faith, no matter what may happen.
We testify to the gospel of Jesus Christ, by whose blood we are free Christian men.
Free now, and free forever.
Amen.
My right hand and my holy arm, O Lord, hath got me the victory.
Thou hast remembered thy mercy and thy truth to this generation.
O God our Father, make us to stand fast in the liberty wherewith thou hast made us
free.
And enable us all to be faithful stewards of the gospel.
Thou hast entrusted to us, that our hearts may be established, unblameable in
holiness before thee.
At the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all his saints.
Amen.
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