[207] The possession of a saint gave a church a certain reputation and distinction, which was sufficiently coveted to make local Church authorities willing to pay roundly for the canonisation of a departed bishop or other local dignitary. Cf. Hutten's Vadiscus (Böcking, IV, 232).
[208] Archbishop of Florence (died 1450). He was canonised, May 31, 1523, by Pope Hadrian VI. When Luther wrote this the process of canonisation had already begun.
[209] Indulta, i. e., grants of special privilege.
[210] "Lead," the leaden seal attached to the bull; "hide", the parchment on which it is written; "the string," the ribbon or silken cord from which the seals depend; "wax," the seal holding the cord to the parchment.
[211] Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, Carmelites and Servites.
[212] Botschaten, interpreted by Benrath (p. 105), Clemen (I, 406, note) and Weimar Ed. (VI, 406, note 1) as a reference to the stationarii. They were wandering beggars who, for an alms, would enroll the contributor in the list of beneficiaries of their patron saint, an alleged insurance against disease, accident, etc. They were classified according to the names of their patron saints, St. Anthony, St. Hubert, St. Valentine, etc. Protests against their operations were raised at the Diets of Worms (1521) and Nürnberg (1523). Included in these protests are the terminarii, i.e., the collectors of alms sent out by the mendicant orders. See Wrede, op. cit., II, 678, 688, III, 651, and Benrath, loc. cit.
[213] Wallbrüder, the professional pilgrims who spent their lives in wandering from one place of pilgrimage to another and subsisted on the alms of the faithful.
[214] i. e., If the plan above proposed were adopted.
[215] See above, p. 129, note 1.
[216] See Treatise on the New Testament, Vol. I, pp. 308 ff.