The bus took us to three different places today, spending a couple hours at each one. I will focus on the two that directly relate to Luther and briefly mention they other. Since today is Sunday, we begin in worship at The Market Church in Halle.
The hour and a half Lutheran service included a presentation by the children, baptism, and communion.
Afterward, the pastor was kind enough to open the side door to a small room that contained two important items related to Luther. She explained (in German) that the pulpit displayed was the original one Luther preached from at the Market Church three different times in 1545-1546, the last time being January 26 before his death on February 18 in Eisleben.
The body had to travel back to Wittenberg, making several stops along the way. Halle was one of those stops.
In addition to the original pulpit, the Market Church also has the original death mask of Luther.
What is a death mask? It is an impression in wax of the face and hands made from the corpse. This one was taken the day after Luther died. It’s meant to be a smooth face which indicated a peaceful death, an important consideration in those days. It was on display with an effigy of Luther but many considered it so creepy they took it off display. Here's a sketch of it on the right hand side.
I still think it’s a little creepy.
Halle has an even more important claim to fame than Luther, a musician named Handel. It is his statue that is prominently displayed in the city center.
Handel played this Reichel Organ built in 1664 and the oldest organ still functioning (so my sources say).
While only in Halle for a few short hours, it was meaningful to see the creepy death mask, original pulpit, and Handle’s influence on the city.
The second place we went to was the Francke Foundation, which has nothing to do with the Reformation, but was a fascinating place.
A few highlights I found interesting. Priest and theologian August Francke (1663-1727)
found a large sum of money one day in the offering plate. He felt he could do something important with it and founded a home for orphans and the poor outside the gate of Halle due to diseases who left a lot of children without parents. The home grew exponentially. It was supported by the government that didn’t want to have to deal with the children and many wealthy people donated money as well. He developed a library,
a dining hall that held 400 kids, a kitchen, bakery, diary, and even a brewery (maybe to make the kids sleep better!) The facility grew to 5,000 kids which included boarding, feeding, and educating.
The most interesting room was one where he collected scientific and cultural items from around the world to teach the kids. There was a model of the solar system, where the earth was the center,
bone of a whale,
and many animals preserved in jars.
There were items from around the world which exposed the kids to other cultures and ways of life.
Our last and third stop is Eisleben. Luther never actually lived or stay in Eisleben for more than a year, but interestingly this is the place where he was born and died. Luther was born November 14, 1483 in this house in Eisleben.
He was baptized in this church the next day, St. Martin’s day, November 15. Hence his name, Martin.
The baptismal font does not exist but remnants of the original were incorporated into this new one.
The altar was finished in 1505 so he would have been familiar with it when he returned.
He was born Martinus Luder, but here you see three ways he signed his name over time, the last being in 1517 when his 95 thesis was posted.
There is also a great statue in Eisleben that has scenes from his life.
His family moved the next year to Mansfeld City where he spent most of his childhood. There is not much to see in Mansfeld and it is not part of our tour.
Then we went to his death house, which isn’t exactly the house.
Luther’s death wasn’t anticipated. He came back to Eisleben on official business three weeks before his death. Returning to his home town, Luther went back to help settle an inheritance conflict between the counts of Mansfeld. He succeeded ins telling the issue just a few hours before his death. Luther had many health issues throughout his life: cataract in one eye, gout, diabetes, high blood pressure, chest pains, vertigo, kidney stones, and gall bladder stones.
After his last sermon February 15 at St. Andrews (he wanted to stand in that pulpit one more time),
which he didn’t finish because he didn’t feel well, he went to a small house and at 2:45 in the morning surrounded by friends he passed away on February 18, 1546. A sketch was made of him the next day.
The room commemorating his death has the original black pall that covered his coffin.
He was transported back to Wittenberg and was buried in the Castle Church on February 22.
Except this wasn’t the room, or even the house, where Luther died and none of the furniture is original, although it was reconstructed as authentically as possible. His original house burned in 1707 in this location
along with his true death bed. This is a replica.
But at least it gives visitors a visual understanding of how he died.
His good friend Justus Jonas wrote down every detail of Luther’s last days which was important for historical reasons. His letter is in the middle.
Luther gave everything to his wife Katharina in his will but since she had no rights, the will had to go to court for months.
They finally granted her the property but not long afterward the plague came to town and everything was destroyed. She died penniless in a freak horse wagon accident in 1552.
It has been so much fun to follow in his footsteps and get an idea what his life, his personality, and his pastoral work was like, in the place where he was born and where he came full circle and died. He is quoted, "Doctor Jonas and Herr Michel, I was born and baptized here in Eisleben, What if I should stay here?"
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