1520
Luther burns Exsurge Domine.
In June 1520 Pope Leo X issued a bull against 41 errors promoted by the German Augustinian monk Martin Luther. Like most papal decrees of this sort it was known by the first few words of its Latin text, in this case “exsurge domine“, “Rise up, O Lord.” The inept Leo (born Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici) proclaimed:
With the advice and consent of these our venerable brothers, with mature deliberation on each and every one of the above theses, and by the authority of almighty God, the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and our own authority, we condemn, reprobate, and reject completely each of these theses or errors as either heretical, scandalous, false, offensive to pious ears or seductive of simple minds, and against Catholic truth. By listing them, we decree and declare that all the faithful of both sexes must regard them as condemned, reprobated, and rejected . . . We restrain all in the virtue of holy obedience and under the penalty of an automatic major excommunication.
Because of Luther’s popularity in Germany it took some time before the bull was officially proclaimed there. Luther received notice of it only in October and denounced its writer as the Antichrist. He wrote two replies to it and on December 8, when the bull would have taken effect, he joined students and colleagues of the University of Wittenberg in burning it along with books of canon law and scholastic theology. This irremediable break with Rome on his part was followed by his excommunication early in 1521.