I had no particular view about the subject, I was just surprised when I heard it on the news, as so many men died trying to translate mass so the 'ordinary' people could understand it and feel more a part of their faith. So I suppose it saddened me as it felt like a step backward for the 'common man'.
Hi Muslimwoman — I think that is the line promoted by propagandists — no-one died for translating the mass, and the translation of Scripture was rarely done so people could 'feel more a part of their faith'. The agenda was political and nationalistic.
Interestingly, when the Protestants took control, altars and churches were stripped, and the net outcome was a outbreak of pagan practice across the Protestant continent. People like to portray the Catholics as the villains in this case, but in fact the statistics show that far more women were burnt for witchcraft in Protestant states than in Catholic ones.
When the ban on stripped churches was lifted briefly, all the sacred relics, ritual items, altar cloths, sculptures, paintings, hangings etc., miraculously re-appeared — they had been stored away by the faithful in the hope of a return. When the ban returned, they vanished away again.
Meanwhile in Switzerland, heart of Protestant Calvinism, a woman was burnt to death for placing flowers on her husband's grave.
When the Protestants came to power, the last thing they had in mind was the rights of the common man — look up Martin Luther's savage repression of 'the peasant's revolt'.
There are many who would view the step as backwards, not forwards. Before the Reformation the 'common man' held some certainty in his faith, after it everything he held sacred was torn from his grip and thrown away.
We can all look back in hindsight, and judge the actions of the 1500s by the morality of today — but if one looks objectively, and openly, the picture is radically different, and as ever, the 'common man' suffered most.
No doubt my view is pro-Catholic, and so should be received as such, but people rarely bother to question where their 'assumed knowledge' comes from, and the Protestant PR machine has had centuries to insinuate its own innocence and catholic guilt.
Thomas