The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-11-12
Priest at ST. Mary's Church Gives
Some Interesting SideIiehts on
Monks Revolt In Sermon
Yesterday.
EXPLAINS SOME THINGS
Denies That Catholic Church Ever At
tempted to Keep the Bible From
the Masses as Luther
Charged.

Father Giglinger Of ST.. Mary's
church. touched in his sermons yes
terday morning on the celebration OF
the four hundredth anniversary of
Martin Luther's revolt from the
Catholic church, commonly called
THE Reformation" He said in part
| that in these days unkind and un-
truthful things are said and written
about the Catholic church. ct is un-
| fortunately true" he said, that at
the time Of the reformation number
of priests were too worldly and that
reformation Of individual lives was
needed. Martin Luther, however.
went far beyond this; he changed on
his own authority the constitution
which Jesus Christ Himself, had Giy.
en- to the church which He had found
ed for all men and all time, viz: the
Catholic church. If such abuses as
the selling Of indulgences had crept
in in some localities, they We're never
sanctioned by the Catholic church au-
thorities The claim that Martin
Luther gave the people the open Bible
without note or comment has been
SO often repeated that at least Prot
estant church people believe 1t to be
true It Is however, one Of the great
est falsehoods that has ever been ut
tered. Luther's Bible is a much COM
mented Bible, and what Is worse,
Martin Luther deliberately falsifed
the divine text as for example when
he added that man was justified by
faith alone
He called the Epistle of st. James
which did not agree with his opinion
an epistle Of straw. Martin Luther's
Bible is not the first Bible translated
and printed in German; there We're
five German editions before his birth
and many more before his apostacy.
The Paulist Fathers in New York
have in their possession a German
Bible which was printed In 1854, a
year after Luther's birth. Luther's
Bible has great literary value. He
improved the style Of former transla-
lions and modernized 1t 80 as to make
it a great German literary production.
1.-THE Catholic church never kept
the Bible from the masses; it was
rather the high price Of books, partic-
ularly in those days, that kept it from
them. Luther was very bitter against
anyone who opposed him, and they
who were opposed to him religiously
were heretics who he says are not to
be suffered but are to be punished as
public blasphemers. Concerning the
Jews he demanded that their sylt
gogues be burned, their houses brok-
en- and destroyed and their rabbis
forbidden to teach under pain of
death. He believed that everything
happens of necessity and he was par
ticularly opposed to Moses through
whom we received the Ten Command
ments; we must remove he says.
the decalogue out of sight and heart
Speaking OF, temptations and moral
he says that they are easy
overcome when there are plenty of
maidens and women. The fact of his
consenting to the divorce Of the land
grave of Hesse is well known.
Modern progress is not due to |
Luther's apostacy but had already set !;
in when he came upon the scene; it |
was rather retarded by subsequent |
divisions and wars The education Of |
the masses is due especially to the |
invention OF printing and the obliga-