Reformation Day

On October 31, 1517, the people of Wittenberg were preparing to attend church, since it was All Saints Eve. They were doubtless excited about the next day, All Saints Day. Their ruler, Frederick the Elector of Saxony, was authorized to grant indulgences on All Saints Day to all who came to the Castle Church, paid some money, and venerated the relics he displayed there on that day. 

Frederick had collected over 17,000 relics, including objects like fragments of the cross, the burning bush, and bones of the saints. These indulgences were desired because it was thought that the veneration of them would release people from penalties they would have to pay either in this life or in purgatory. Frederick was not the only one offering them. In the next province over, John Tetzel was selling indulgences, simply for the payment of money, which could be acquired either for yourself or for your loved ones in purgatory. The pope had authorized these indulgences, believing that it was in his power to distribute the treasury of merit laid up by Christ and the surplus merits of the saints.

Already in the previous year, Martin Luther had begun to warn his congregation against the use of indulgences. He had preached about it on All Saints Eve in 1516. Now on All Saints Eve in 1517, Luther published 95 theses against the sale of indulgences, posting it on the church door of the Castle Church. 

Luther argued that the pope had no power to release souls from purgatory - he only had power to release people from penalties imposed by the church in this life, what we might call church discipline. He argued that the pope had no treasury of merit at his disposal, for Christ’s merits are freely available to all true Christians without indulgence letters, and the saints have no extra merit to share with others: at most, they have only done their duty. He also argued that indulgences misled people, replacing repentance, faith, and true good deeds with human traditions.

Once Luther’s arguments were translated and made known, indulgences lost their credibility in Wittenberg. Elector Frederick himself ceased his annual display of his relics in 1523. On the other hand, Luther's arguments were not received well by the bishop of Rome. The ensuring controversy grew into a wide-ranging reform of the church according to Scripture called the Protestant Reformation. 

Lutherans continued to observe All Saints Day in a reformed way, without praying to the saints, trusting in their merits, or worshipping their relics. In the 1600s they would also begin celebrating Reformation Day on October 31st, gratefully remembering the event that had sparked the Reformation.