The Death of Martin Luther

The very authoritative (Catholic) historian H. Daniel-Rops insists that this is a shameful calumny. In the winter of 1545-6, prematurely old and in very poor health, he was on one of his journeys and was on his way home “in cold, icy weather, but as he passed through Halle he preached a sermon sharply criticising monks who refused to cast off their habits. By the time he reached his native soil at Eisleben he was feeling very weak and ill, and talked of his approaching end. During the night of the 17th-18th February he awoke his friend Jonas, who was sleeping in his room. He was in the throes of a sudden attack of either apoplexy or pulmonary congestion. The doctors who hurried to his side were powerless to help him. TAt three in the morning Luther gave up the ghost, having assured his disciples who questioned him that he persevered in his doctrine. His last words were this verse from St John’s gospel, which he repeated lovingly and tenderly, three times, ‘God so loved the world, that He gave up His only begotten Son, so that those who believe in Him may not perish, but have eternal life.’ ON the wall near his bed, however, one of his doctors discovered the following inscription, scrawled by the dying man: ‘Pestis eram vivus, moriens ero mors tua, papa.’ (‘I was your plague while I lived; when I die I shall be your death, O Pope!’ This was the heresiarch’s final insult, his last gesture of supreme defiance.”

The author warns the reader about ‘the most absurd and odious rumors’ that circulated concerning Luther’s death’. And warns Catholics against ‘these degrading legends, which are completely without foundation.’