In about 1995, Senator Joe Biden, Jill and one of their children visited the Vatican. I was then a U.S. Diplomat to the Holy See (the Vatican) and accompanied the Biden family on a tour of St Peter’s. On page 87 of “Why Jesus Won’t Go Away,” I recount a story about that visit. Of course, you should buy the book and read the whole story, but in a nutshell, it goes like this…
Senator Biden, amazed at the beauty of St Peter’s Basilica and realizing that the entire structure was built without power tools, asked the Monsignor leading the tour, “how much did this cost?” It was an excellent question. The Monsignor answered immediately and with a sad smile, “Half of Europe.”
Joe Biden, Jill and I all laughed. I appreciated the honesty of the Monsignor, a Roman Catholic priest who knew church history and admitted that the church was not perfect. Yet he still loved the church. Senator Biden and Jill probably knew something about church history too and understood the humor and the truth in the Monsignor’s reply.
Why did the Monsignor say that St. Peter’s Basilica cost half of Europe? Start with the fact that St Peter’s did cost a lot. It would be the grandest church in all of Christendom. How to get all the money and resources necessary to build this incredible structure? It turns out that one of the most important sources of funds for the construction of St Peter’s was from the sale of indulgences. What is an indulgence? A faithful medieval Christian could purchase an indulgence from the church which would shave time off a loved one’s time in purgatory. Let’s say my grandpa was a baptized Christian (almost everyone in Europe was!). But my grandpa did not always act like a good Christian. He didn’t like to attend mass, cheated on grandma and swore like a sailor. Obviously, after his death, he could not fly straight to heaven. As a baptized Christian he could not go to hell either.
The church came up with a creative solution for this dilemma. Purgatory! Purgatory was just like hell, with burning and suffering, but with one big difference. It did not last forever. It lasted only long enough to purge (hence the term purgatory) a Christian of sins and ready him or her for heaven. But how long did grandpa need to stay in purgatory? It was any one’s guess.
I would say grandpa needed 5,000 years in purgatory to purge his sins, but grandma thought he needed 30,000 years. There were days she wished it was even longer, which was evidence of her own un-Christian spirit. Maybe when she died, she would also go to purgatory too!
What was a loving grandson to do? I could purchase indulgences from the church to shave time off purgatory. 10,000 years would be a good start for grandpa. I could never be sure, of course. The more I thought about grandpa, the more stories grandma told me, the more indulgences I bought!
Conveniently for the church, the sale of indulgences raised a lot of money from the faithful. A lot of the money went for good causes, but even Catholic Church officials recognized that the commercialization of indulgence sales was a problem. Duh!
Back to St Peter’s…how to raise more, enough to build a church like St. Peter’s? Someone with a dual degree in marketing and theology came up with a better indulgence. It was called a “Plenary Indulgence,” an indulgence of which it could be said,
“As soon as the gold in the casket rings
The rescued soul to heaven springs.”
The rescued soul to heaven springs.”
(attributed to Johann Tetzel)
A very effective plenary indulgence salesman, Johann Tetzel, was commissioned by the Pope to sell indulgences in Germany. The money flowed to Rome. Below is a short clip from Wikipedia. It has links to Martin Luther and St Peter’s Basilica for your interest. The short clip below does not mention that certain German princes did not like all that German money flowing to Rome and ended up supporting Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.
The sale of indulgences, Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformation, half of Europe, Joe Biden, me. It all comes together.
And Tetzel? Maybe he is in purgatory. Or somewhere else.
Johann Tetzel OP (c. 1465 – 11 August 1519) was a German Dominican friar and preacher. He was appointed Inquisitor for Poland and Saxony,[1][2] later becoming the Grand Commissioner for indulgences in Germany. Tetzel was known for granting indulgences on behalf of the Catholic Church in exchange for money. Indulgences grant a remission of temporal punishment due to sin, the guilt of which has been forgiven. This largely contributed to Martin Luther writing his Ninety-five Theses. The main usage of the indulgences sold by Tetzel was to help fund and build the new St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
