Christian History Home > Issue 34 > Fool in Rome
Fool in Rome
As a young monk, Luther longed to see Rome. But his 1510 trip to the Holy City filled him with pain and doubt.
Dr. Heiko A. Oberman is a professor of medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation history at the University of Arizona. He is author of Luther: Man between God and the Devil (Yale, 1989), from which this article is adapted by permission. | posted 4/01/1992 12:00AM
Luther had hoped to gain spiritual strength through his visit to the Holy City, but he left Rome with mixed feelings. His journey to Rome was a business trip, concerning the affairs of the order. His personal involvement concerned a different aspect of Rome: incredible opportunities of furthering the cause of salvation for others and himself as well.
The indulgences offered for sale in Germany were only poor imitations of what could be purchased in Rome. There was first of all the opportunity of a general confession, which he wanted to seize to unburden his soul, making it as clean as it had been after baptism.
But his own salvation was not his sole concern. He celebrated mass in Rome daily; at the altar of St. Sebastian, he once even said several in a single hour. He caught himself regretting that his parents were still alive: “For I would have loved to deliver them from purgatory with my masses and other special works and prayers.”
But priests from many European countries rushed to the ... To view this item, you must be a member of ChristianHistory.net.
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