BURNING BULL

The 10^th December marks another day of book burning; however, this burning was executed in the spirit of retaliation, a bit of religious tit for tat. On the 15^th June 1520, three years after Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the Church door at Wittenberg, Pope Leo X issue a papal bull with the title Exsurge Domine, a bit of papal performance writing ‘Condemning the Errors of Martin Luther’. The Latin title is translated into English as Arise, O Lord.

Leo X

Eck

 

While the bull did not directly condemn all the points of Luther's doctrines, it did specifically demand that Luther retract 41 errors (some drawn from his 95 theses, some from other writings or sayings attributed to him) within sixty days of its publication in neighboring regions to Saxony. This time expired on 10 December 1520, which was the day on which Luther burned his copy of the bull along with volumes of Canon law by the Elster Gate in Wittenberg. This book burning was in reaction to Johann Eck’s procedure of burning Luther's books after he had published the bull in various places in Germany. As he burned his copy of the bull, Luther is reported to have said, "Because you have confounded the truth [or, the saints] of God, today the Lord confounds you. Into the fire with you!" reminiscent of Psalm 21:9.

Because Luther refused to comply, the pope issued the bull Decet Romanum Pontificem on 3 January 1521, excommunicating him.

The Vatican’s copy of Exsurge Domine is still extant in the Vatican Library.

Pope Leo X, born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, was the Pope from 1513 to his death in 1521. He was the last non-priest (only a deacon) to be elected Pope. He is known for granting indulgences for those who donated to reconstruct St. Peter’s Basilica.. He was the second son of Lorenz de’ Medici, the most famous ruler of the Florentine Republic, and Clarice Orsini.

Dr. Johann Maier von Eck was a German Scholastic theologian and defender of Catholicism during the Protestant Reformation.

Here with is the opening three paragraphs, followed by the last line, an enjoinder to ‘Martin’ to keep it shut. Watch out for the foxes and other wild beats.

CONDEMNING THE ERRORS OF MARTIN LUTHER

Exsurge Domine

"Arise, O Lord, and judge your own cause. Remember your reproaches to those who are filled with foolishness all through the day. Listen to our prayers, for foxes have arisen seeking to destroy the vineyard whose winepress you alone have trod. When you were about to ascend to your Father, you committed the care, rule, and administration of the vineyard, an image of the triumphant church, to Peter, as the head and your vicar and his successors. The wild boar from the forest seeks to destroy it and every wild beast feeds upon it.

Rise, Peter, and fulfill this pastoral office divinely entrusted to you as mentioned above. Give heed to the cause of the holy Roman Church, mother of all churches and teacher of the faith, whom you by the order of God, have consecrated by your blood. Against the Roman Church, you warned, lying teachers are rising, introducing ruinous sects, and drawing upon themselves speedy doom. Their tongues are fire, a restless evil, full of deadly poison. They have bitter zeal, contention in their hearts, and boast and lie against the truth.

We beseech you also, Paul, to arise. It was you that enlightened and illuminated the Church by your doctrine and by a martyrdom like Peter's. For now a new Porphyry rises who, as the old once wrongfully assailed the holy apostles, now assails the holy pontiffs, our predecessors………………

………………………

We enjoin, however. On Martin that in the meantime he cease from all preaching or the office of preacher."

What a performance!