St. Alphonsus Liguori: The History of Heresies and Their Refutation

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CHAPTER XI. – THE HERESIES OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

ARTICLE II. – THE SACRAMENTARIANS. I. CARLOSTAD

48. Carlostad, father of the Sacramentarians.
49. He is reduced to live by his labour in the field; he gets married, and composed a Mass on that subject.
50. He dies suddenly.



48. The father of the Sacramentarians was, as Van Ranst informs us, Andrew Carlostad; he was born in the village from which he took his name, in Franconia, and was Archdeacon of the church of Wittemberg. He was, it is said, the most learned man in Saxony, and was, on that account, a great favourite with the Elector Frederick; he it was who admitted Luther to the Doctorship, and afterwards became his follower in heresy. His pride, however, would not allow him to remain a disciple of Luther, and thus he became chief of the Sacramentarians, teaching, in opposition to Luther, that Christ was not really present in the Eucharist, and, therefore, that the word this (this is my body) did not refer to the bread, but to Christ himself, who was about to sacrifice his body for us, as if he were to say : ” This is my body which I am about to deliver up for you.” Another error he taught in opposition to Luther was the doctrine of the Iconoclasts, that all crucifixes and images of the Saints should be destroyed, and he carried his infidelity to such a pitch in Wittemberg that he abolished the Mass, trampled on the Consecrated Host, and broke the Altars and Images (1). When this came to Luther’s ears, who was then concealed in his Patmos of Watzburg, he could restrain himself no longer, and even against the will of the Elector, went to Wittemberg, and caused the Altars and Images to be restored; and not being able to convince Carlostad of his errors, he deprived him of his benefice and dignities by authority of the Elector, who had him seized, and banished from his territories along with the woman he married.

Carlostad went to Orlemond in Thuringia, and there wrote that wicked treatise, De Coena Domini (2), which contains in full his heretical opinions. It happened one day, as Berti tells us (3), that Luther came to this town, and Carlostad, in revenge for the treatment he received from him caused him to be pelted with stones, and to fly from the place. It may be as well here to give Bossuet’s account of the war between Luther and Carlostad : In the year 1524 Luther preached in Jena, in presence of Carlostad, who went to visit him after the sermon, and blamed him for the opinion he held regarding the Real Presence. Luther, in a tone of mockery, told him he would give him a gold florin if he would write against him, and took out a florin and handed it to Carlostad, who pocketed it, and they then drank together, to cement the bargain; thus the war commenced. Carlostad’s parting benediction to Luther was : ” May I see you broken on the wheel !” ” And may you break your neck before you quit the town !” rejoined Luther. Behold, says Bossuet, the acts of the new apostles of the Gospel (4).


49. Notwithstanding all that had passed, Carlostad’s friends interfered, and finally induced Luther to permit him to return to Wittemberg, but he agreed to this only on condition that he would not oppose his doctrine for the future. Carlostad, how ever, ashamed to appear in Wittemberg in the poor state he was reduced to, chose rather to live in another town, where he was reduced to such poverty, that he was obliged to become a porter, and afterwards to turn to field labour along with his wife for subsistence (5). We may here remark that Carlostad was the first of all the priests of the new Gospel who married. In the year 1525, he married a young lady of good family, and he composed a sacrilegious service of Mass, on the occasion of his abominable nuptials. Octavius Lavert and Raynaldus have preserved some parts of it*(6).

* Deus qui post tarn longam et impiam Sacerdotum tuorum cæcitatem Beatum Andream Carlostadium ea gratia donare dignatus es, ut primus, nulla habita Papistici Juris ratione, uxorem ducere ausus fuerit, da quEesumus ut omnes Sacerdotes recepta sanamente, ej us vestigia sequentes ejectis concubinis aut eisdem ductis ad legitiinum consortium thori convertantur. Oremus Nos ergo concubinis nostris gravati, te Deus poscimus, ut illius, qui Patres nostros sectatus antiques tibi placet, nos imitatione guadeamus in æternum.


50. The just chastisement of God, however, always pursues the impious, and thus we see him and his wife, who, being a lady, was ashamed to beg, obliged to earn a scanty subsistence, which they could not always obtain, by working as common field labourers (7). Some time afterwards he went to Switzerland, hoping to get a kind reception from the heretics of that country, whose doctrine regarding the Sacrament of the Altar coincided with his own. But Zuinglius, or Zuingle, wishing to have no competitor, gave him a very cool reception; he then went to Basle, where he was appointed preacher, and where a sudden death overtook him in the midst of his sins (8). Yarillas says, that he was seized with apoplexy, coming down from the pulpit, after declaiming against the Real Presence, and dropped dead (9). It was also told at the time, that whilst he was preaching a man of fearful mien appeared to him, and that immediately one of his children ran to him telling him that he had seen the same vision, and that it said to him: ” Tell your father that in three days I will deprive him of life, breaking his head.” All that is known for certain is that he died suddenly, and died, as he had lived, without any signs of repentance.


(1) Nat. Alex. t. 19, s. 3; Gotti, Ver. Rel. c. 109, s. I; Van Ranst, s. 16, P , 217; Hermant, t. 1, c. 231; Varillas, t. 1, l. 3, p. 148.
(2) Hermant, c. 234; Gotti, s. 1, n. 2; Varillas, t. 1, I 3, p. 211.
(3) Berti. Brev. Hist. s. 3.
(4) Bos. Stor. del. Variaz. I. 2, n. 12.
(5) Gotti, c. 109, n. 3, ex cochleo, ad an. 15, 25; V Ranst, p. 217; Var. 242
(6) Octavius Lavert. P. 117.
(7) Rinal. an. 1523, n. 74.
(8) Varillas, l 8, p. 359.
(9) Lancis, t. 4, 1st. s. 16, c. 3; Var. loc. cit.