Breve by Pope Leo X to Christoph von Stadion, Bishop of Augsburg; Rome, 25 February 1521 (Staatsarchiv Augsburg, Hochstift Augsburg Urkunden, 1521 II 25/1)

The Breve of Pope Leo X (1475–1521, pope 1513–1521) was composed shortly after the excommunication of Martin Luther (1483–1546) by the bull Decet Romanum Pontificem (It Befits the Roman Pontiff) of 3 January 1521 and thus immediately after the final condemnation of his person and his doctrine. In it, the Pope praises the Augsburg bishop, Christoph von Stadion (1478–1543, bishop 1517 to 1543) as a protector against the enemies of the unity of faith and in his constancy as a fighter for the Catholic Church.

This was probably more than a generally formulated confirmation of the religious zeal of the bishop of Augsburg, but rather a recognition of his strict attitude against the reformatory movements. He had been confronted with them shortly after his episcopal ordination at the Augsburg Diet between 12 and 14 October 1518, when Luther refused to revoke his theses before Cardinal Thomas Cajetan (1469–1534).

Luther’s teachings were well received not only by the Augsburg population. The cathedral preacher Urban Rhegius (1489–1541) who finally resigned from the preacher’s office in October 1521 also advocated the reformer’s theses. The strict attitude of the Augsburg bishop towards the Reformation can also be proven by the imprisonment of the theologian Caspar Aquila (1488–1560), who in 1520 had been excommunicated by him as priest of Jengen because of his Lutheran sermons. The seal with the imprint of the piscatory ring on the Latin papal breve of Leo is largely lost.

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