Martin Luther on The ‘True Cross’ And Other Relics and the Chapels Which House Them

The chapels in forests and the churches in fields, such as Wilsnack, [where the blood of Christ could be found] Sternberg, [more blood of Christ] Trier, [the seamless garment, recovered by Helena, mother of Constantine and housed there at Trier] the Grimmenthal, [where an image of Mary cured people of syphilis] and now Regensburg [various relics and a bit of the ‘true Cross’] and a goodly number of others which recently have become the goal of pilgrimages, must be leveled.

Oh, what a terrible and heavy reckoning those bishops will have to give who permit this devilish deceit and profit by it.  They should be the first to prevent it and yet they regard it all as a godly and holy thing. They do not see that the devil is behind it all, to strengthen greed, to create a false and fictitious faith, to weaken the parish churches, to multiply taverns and harlotry, to lose money and working time to no purpose, and to lead ordinary people by the nose. If they had read Scripture as well as the damnable canon law, they would know how to deal with this matter!

So Luther on relics and the chapels built to house them and those who profit from them.

Oh, and if you’re looking for a bit of the True Cross for yourself- Ebay has a LOT of them!  This one is only $1500…