Chapter Five I have before me a book*, written in 1546, the year that Martin Luther died. It tells a tale of twin brothers, how one slew the other in the name of honor and God Almighty. Martin Bucer, second only to Luther himself as a Protestant Reform figure in Germany, wrote a lengthy preface to this book. Bucer was a comparatively mild. mannered sort among the religious antagonists of the sixteenth century, but his usual calm failed him completely in this instance. Juan Diaz, he wrote, was a holy martyr of Christ. Born to riches and honors, he scorned them and chose instead to follow Christ. He was not like other Spaniards, who are greedy, arrogant, proud, superstitious, showing their violent hatred of the true (Protestant) religion and visiting their fury upon those who would profess the pure doctrine of the Evangel. To the Spaniards it were intolerable that one of their own should adhere to "our" religion, the only religion of Christ, and particularly if it were someone whose name, like that of Juan Diaz, was a name of prominence. For Diaz abandoned his homeland. He abandoned all his relatives of the flesh, whom he loved as the daughters of his eyes. He abandoned his only brother - his twin - whom he loved above all others, to search for the heavenly kingdom. In place of riches and honor, he chose to be humble, destitute and lowly, to seat himself at the threshold of the Lord's house in poverty. *Spanish edition, Madrid, 1865: Historia de la muerte de Juan Diaz, par determinacion tomada en Roma, le hizo malar su hermano Alfonso Diaz, en la madrugada del sabado 27 iiim del ano 1546 (vol. xx of Reformistas antiguos espanoles). |
74 JOHN E. LONGHURST But that generation of Cain - the Roman Antichrist, in league with the Spanish nation and our false German brothers - did track him down, and our dear brother Diaz, seeking the light eternal in Germany, was killed with exquisite perfidy by his twin and only brother, a Spaniard and Roman cleric, who came to this land as the special servant of the Roman Antichrist. And so on. The narrative which follows (in summary and paraphrase) was written in the form of a letter to Bucer by one Claude Senarcleus, companion and close friend of the deceased. "I have", he begins, sketched only the outlines ("a shadow sketch") of the murder of this saintly man Juan Diaz, of which I was a witness. Such was the holiness of this man, his faith, integrity, that it ought not be passed |
LUTHER'S GHOST IN SPAIN 75 over in silence. Oh immortal God! What abundancy and efficacy of prayer there was in him! What fervent and profound contemplation of sacred things! What love for truth, what hatred for falsity! Our Diaz was born in Cuenca. He spent his early youth in the universities of Spain, where he learned the first elements of languages and liberal arts. He then went to Paris to study Greek and Latin literature. There he remained for thirteen years, where he won a reputation as one of the outstanding scholars among the many talented Spaniards at Paris. |
76 JOHN E. LONGHURST desert his own faith, when Spain is known the world over as the fortress of the Catholic faith? The consequences of such a step are horrendous; Diaz has placed his soul in peril of eternal damnation, and has also exposed himself to the gravest physical consequences. This is madness, said Maluenda. You (Diaz) alone say that you have seen the true light, and so you overthrow the religion of so many centuries and so many thousands of men. You violate the traditions of your country. I exhort you as a Spaniard, and as a friend. Do not wait until it is too late; fear the just judgment of God, and look to your salvation. |
LUTHER'S GHOST IN SPAIN 77 Rome, where he was serving as a member of the Rota. *(Webster: The Sacra Romana Rota-Sacred Roman Rota-of the Roman Curia, with jurisdiction, ordinarily appellate, in civil and ecclesiastical cases). Alfonso Diaz hired a "knavish assassin, who had served as a public executioner in Rome," and set out immediately for Ratisbon. There he contacted Maluenda, who told him plenty. But Juan Diaz had left town and gone to Neuburg on the Danube to supervise the editing of a book by Martin Bucer which was being printed there. |
78 JOHN E. LONGHURST all the dangers in the world could not make him give it up now. |
LUTHER'S GHOST IN SPAIN 79 Strasbourg, while I decided to say at Juan's house in Neuburg until Bucer's book was finished. The plan was that when the book was done, Diaz and I would return to Strasbourg also. |
80 JOHN E. LONGHURST balance and sharp blade so the job could be completed with one tidy stroke. They returned to the inn and told the innkeeper they had to take a short trip, but would be back soon. However, they explained, their horses were tired, so would the innkeeper please fix them up with a couple of fresh horses-good, fast ones. |