| Short yet truthful report of the Salzburg Reformation, which occurred in the year of Christ 1686, in the remembrance of the banished exiles and their children and delivered over to publication by a confessor of the truth, the miner from Salzburg, banished for the sake of Protestant faith, J.S. Father, forgive them. Lk 23, v 34 |
Beloved reader! It is true, and will also remain true until the Judgement day, what our Jesus
previously proclaimed to his disciples, when he says: You must be hated by every one for my name's
sake, and whoever kills you will think that he is thereby doing God a service, Mt 10, Jn 16. This
warning wasn't meant only for the apostles alone, but on the contrary many thousand pious and
steadfast confessors of the faith have had to experience suchlike at all times for the sake of the
teaching of Jesus; as the sad experience in Hungary, in France and many other places testifies. O
how many thousand Protestant Christians have had to lay sleeping with bloody heads due to papal
coercion, or who through persecution have been banished from home and farm to bitter misery. As I
myself had to experience and feel just a few years ago with tears. Perhaps it will be known to every
one, that we poor exiles in total just a few years ago were banished from our Fatherland Salzburg,
and in great number had to stay in Protestant imperial cities now and again …
I myself was brought up by my parents and born in papal darkness, and until the 28th year of my life
lived under the papal yoke, for in our Fatherland, nothing was Protestant, but everything was
archcatholic. And although right in the middle of the dark papacy we had no Protestant pastor who
taught us really thoroughly from God's Word, we did nevertheless through God's special grace learn
and understand this much from the Holy Bible, that the Protestant faith is alone the right and saving
faith. For we have clearly seen, that in the Protestant catechism all articles of faith agree most clearly
and thoroughly with God's Word, which we however haven't found in the Catholic catechism. For
our fathers and fore-fathers have had the dear Bible and many other beautiful Protestant books, from
which they in their simplicity have instructed us from childhood on. But all that happened in secret,
without the knowledge of secular authority and of the lords religious, who rarely asked us what we
believe; and although our forefathers spoke against their many papal Human Commands, they
nevertheless kept silent all the time, and in this way we and our fathers were for a long time in the
invisible church, just like the sheep who have no shepherd, and for that reason they called us all the
time the secret Lutherans. For we have not bowed the knees of our hearts before the papal idols,
just like those seven thousand in Israel, Rom 11.
But finally we could no longer with good conscience pull on a foreign yoke with unbelievers, 2 Cor
6. So we decided to leave Babylon completely, Is 48, Jer 53, for we had decided to leave papal
teaching and our Fatherland secretly, since we were not often attending the Catholic church, but
instead we had secretly performed for a while our own service with readings, prayers and singing in
our houses, often by night. When the powers learned of this, they had two men from amongst us
called straight away to Hallein to a local court and asked us: Where did we get our Lutheran books?
and why don't we go to church and to confession? When we had clearly laid out our confession and
said what we believe, then the Administrator of the court had us thrown in jail without mercy, and
three days later they led us, caught and jailed as evil-doers, two miles further to Salzburg to appear
before the Royal Court, where they again interrogated us before spiritual and secular authority, and
they questioned us clearly and exactly concerning all the articles of religion and what we believe?
whether we were Lutheran or Catholic? After we had then confessed our faith freely and publicly,
according to the admonition of 1 Pet 3, behold, they put us two men again in prison for fifty days, in
order to scare off our fellow-brothers. Two old Capuchin monks were also called and set over us,
who were to instruct us anew in the Catholic faith; but the good Fathers achieved little with us, for
they couldn't change or refute our faith on the basis of truth. Indeed the Bishop had shown us grace
and allowed us the Bible in prison, from which we proved our faith and comforted ourselves.
Otherwise, however, they treated us so strictly, that I often feared for my life and thought that we
were going to die, since they continually threatened to take our life or to send us out on the wild sea.
Through these means of deterrence and moral constraint, many of our own number really did fall
away and stay behind, and swore allegiance to the Catholic church out of fear and against their
conscience. After we, however, had spent fifty days in prison and had proved our faith quite clearly
to the Capuchins, we were set free again, though the secular authority had instructed and
commanded us that we should put in writing our confession of faith and hand it over the Bishop
himself. When we had done this quite willingly, behold, they first of all took away from us our work
in the mine, since we were miners and had great freedom; and then they forbade us from any longer
owning the ancestral estates handed to us from our fathers, nor were we able to sell them. At last, as
punishment for being violators of the Roman church, we had to work for fourteen days in penitence
with only water and bread. We were finally brought before them once again and asked if we wanted
to abandon our heretical faith and remain Catholic? Of course we didn't want to, and rather con
fessed our continuing allegiance to the unchanged Augsburg Confession, and called on the written
confession which we had previously handed over to the Bishop himself. All of this didn't help
though; with violence they held us back from our children and farms, and with our wives and empty
hands got us out of the territory, and it was in this way that in 1685 more than a thousand of us
miners and villagers of the Defereggen-valley were banished from the territory, and over six hundred
children were kept behind. What kind of pain it was to leave our children behind, that is known by
God and Christian parents, who have experienced it. When however several of our fellow brothers
saw how harshly the authorities had treated us, against the Osnabrück Agreement of Peace of 1648,
they got ready to set out and left the territory secretly with wife and children, and left their own
willingly, with their back turned; and indeed, as the first, they tried to persuade us with good words,
and even the Bishop himself promised great pardon, if we would only remain in their Catholic
religion. But alas, our heart and conscience couldn't bear such a burden, which they wanted to lay
on us, for they wanted us to confess publicly with an oath:
previously proclaimed to his disciples, when he says: You must be hated by every one for my name's
sake, and whoever kills you will think that he is thereby doing God a service, Mt 10, Jn 16. This
warning wasn't meant only for the apostles alone, but on the contrary many thousand pious and
steadfast confessors of the faith have had to experience suchlike at all times for the sake of the
teaching of Jesus; as the sad experience in Hungary, in France and many other places testifies. O
how many thousand Protestant Christians have had to lay sleeping with bloody heads due to papal
coercion, or who through persecution have been banished from home and farm to bitter misery. As I
myself had to experience and feel just a few years ago with tears. Perhaps it will be known to every
one, that we poor exiles in total just a few years ago were banished from our Fatherland Salzburg,
and in great number had to stay in Protestant imperial cities now and again …
I myself was brought up by my parents and born in papal darkness, and until the 28th year of my life
lived under the papal yoke, for in our Fatherland, nothing was Protestant, but everything was
archcatholic. And although right in the middle of the dark papacy we had no Protestant pastor who
taught us really thoroughly from God's Word, we did nevertheless through God's special grace learn
and understand this much from the Holy Bible, that the Protestant faith is alone the right and saving
faith. For we have clearly seen, that in the Protestant catechism all articles of faith agree most clearly
and thoroughly with God's Word, which we however haven't found in the Catholic catechism. For
our fathers and fore-fathers have had the dear Bible and many other beautiful Protestant books, from
which they in their simplicity have instructed us from childhood on. But all that happened in secret,
without the knowledge of secular authority and of the lords religious, who rarely asked us what we
believe; and although our forefathers spoke against their many papal Human Commands, they
nevertheless kept silent all the time, and in this way we and our fathers were for a long time in the
invisible church, just like the sheep who have no shepherd, and for that reason they called us all the
time the secret Lutherans. For we have not bowed the knees of our hearts before the papal idols,
just like those seven thousand in Israel, Rom 11.
But finally we could no longer with good conscience pull on a foreign yoke with unbelievers, 2 Cor
6. So we decided to leave Babylon completely, Is 48, Jer 53, for we had decided to leave papal
teaching and our Fatherland secretly, since we were not often attending the Catholic church, but
instead we had secretly performed for a while our own service with readings, prayers and singing in
our houses, often by night. When the powers learned of this, they had two men from amongst us
called straight away to Hallein to a local court and asked us: Where did we get our Lutheran books?
and why don't we go to church and to confession? When we had clearly laid out our confession and
said what we believe, then the Administrator of the court had us thrown in jail without mercy, and
three days later they led us, caught and jailed as evil-doers, two miles further to Salzburg to appear
before the Royal Court, where they again interrogated us before spiritual and secular authority, and
they questioned us clearly and exactly concerning all the articles of religion and what we believe?
whether we were Lutheran or Catholic? After we had then confessed our faith freely and publicly,
according to the admonition of 1 Pet 3, behold, they put us two men again in prison for fifty days, in
order to scare off our fellow-brothers. Two old Capuchin monks were also called and set over us,
who were to instruct us anew in the Catholic faith; but the good Fathers achieved little with us, for
they couldn't change or refute our faith on the basis of truth. Indeed the Bishop had shown us grace
and allowed us the Bible in prison, from which we proved our faith and comforted ourselves.
Otherwise, however, they treated us so strictly, that I often feared for my life and thought that we
were going to die, since they continually threatened to take our life or to send us out on the wild sea.
Through these means of deterrence and moral constraint, many of our own number really did fall
away and stay behind, and swore allegiance to the Catholic church out of fear and against their
conscience. After we, however, had spent fifty days in prison and had proved our faith quite clearly
to the Capuchins, we were set free again, though the secular authority had instructed and
commanded us that we should put in writing our confession of faith and hand it over the Bishop
himself. When we had done this quite willingly, behold, they first of all took away from us our work
in the mine, since we were miners and had great freedom; and then they forbade us from any longer
owning the ancestral estates handed to us from our fathers, nor were we able to sell them. At last, as
punishment for being violators of the Roman church, we had to work for fourteen days in penitence
with only water and bread. We were finally brought before them once again and asked if we wanted
to abandon our heretical faith and remain Catholic? Of course we didn't want to, and rather con
fessed our continuing allegiance to the unchanged Augsburg Confession, and called on the written
confession which we had previously handed over to the Bishop himself. All of this didn't help
though; with violence they held us back from our children and farms, and with our wives and empty
hands got us out of the territory, and it was in this way that in 1685 more than a thousand of us
miners and villagers of the Defereggen-valley were banished from the territory, and over six hundred
children were kept behind. What kind of pain it was to leave our children behind, that is known by
God and Christian parents, who have experienced it. When however several of our fellow brothers
saw how harshly the authorities had treated us, against the Osnabrück Agreement of Peace of 1648,
they got ready to set out and left the territory secretly with wife and children, and left their own
willingly, with their back turned; and indeed, as the first, they tried to persuade us with good words,
and even the Bishop himself promised great pardon, if we would only remain in their Catholic
religion. But alas, our heart and conscience couldn't bear such a burden, which they wanted to lay
on us, for they wanted us to confess publicly with an oath:
Foreword
Greatly beloved reader! Why I have brought this little book to print, this I want to report clearly and
briefly, with few words, for there are many thousands of people, who still to this hour don't know
why we left our fatherland, and for just that reason most people judge us exiles falsely, and believe
that we left the land because of curiosity or through poverty; or they say, we could easily have been
saved under papal yoke. For they say, each should remain as he was baptised. Just such people
don't know what belief or unbelief is, for we haven't been able to serve God and the papal Antichrist
at the same time. I am surprised that such people, who have been born and raised in the true church,
and who have been so thoroughly taught in God's Word from childhood on, still so simply and
childishly speak of the faith and of Christian religion. For it stands written: Don't be yoked with the
unbelievers, but come out from them, and be separate from them, speaks the Lord,
2 Cor. 6. For it says: My sheep hear my voice, but they flee from the voice of a stranger, Jn 10. If
we had played the hypocrite for a while longer under the idolatrous Papacy, and had denied our faith,
then we could have remained on our lands in the Fatherland. Our conscience alone didn't want to
suffer this, for whoever believes in his heart must also, if he wants to further God's honour, confess
with his mouth, and whoever does not do that is a liar before God, and a hypocrite before people,
Rom. 10. For our Jesus says himself, Whoever denies me before people, him will I also deny before
my heavenly Father on the Judgement Day, Mt. 10. In truth, we have not come into bitter misery
because of evil deeds, but on the contrary we have been banished from our Fatherland with force
because of the pure teaching of Jesus. Therefore, no one should be angry about our exodus, but
rather see it as a wonder of God …
briefly, with few words, for there are many thousands of people, who still to this hour don't know
why we left our fatherland, and for just that reason most people judge us exiles falsely, and believe
that we left the land because of curiosity or through poverty; or they say, we could easily have been
saved under papal yoke. For they say, each should remain as he was baptised. Just such people
don't know what belief or unbelief is, for we haven't been able to serve God and the papal Antichrist
at the same time. I am surprised that such people, who have been born and raised in the true church,
and who have been so thoroughly taught in God's Word from childhood on, still so simply and
childishly speak of the faith and of Christian religion. For it stands written: Don't be yoked with the
unbelievers, but come out from them, and be separate from them, speaks the Lord,
2 Cor. 6. For it says: My sheep hear my voice, but they flee from the voice of a stranger, Jn 10. If
we had played the hypocrite for a while longer under the idolatrous Papacy, and had denied our faith,
then we could have remained on our lands in the Fatherland. Our conscience alone didn't want to
suffer this, for whoever believes in his heart must also, if he wants to further God's honour, confess
with his mouth, and whoever does not do that is a liar before God, and a hypocrite before people,
Rom. 10. For our Jesus says himself, Whoever denies me before people, him will I also deny before
my heavenly Father on the Judgement Day, Mt. 10. In truth, we have not come into bitter misery
because of evil deeds, but on the contrary we have been banished from our Fatherland with force
because of the pure teaching of Jesus. Therefore, no one should be angry about our exodus, but
rather see it as a wonder of God …
| Now we deny completely The Pope's doctrine and life And remain until our dying day Committed to Luther's teaching. Amen |
| Schaitberger's Sendbrief was composed and published roughly over thirty years, from 1686 to 1717. It consists of 24 books and covers around 600 pages including various kinds of literature: reports, letters, dialogues, poems, hymns, prayers and morning and evening blessings. Translations courtesy of Rev. Rhys Bezzant |
| From Book Two: Neu Vermehrter Evangelischer Sendbrief by Joseph Schaitberger |
Firstly: That the Protestant-Lutheran faith is a new, heretical and damnable
faith. Over and against that we were to have believed and confessed that
the Roman Catholic faith alone is the right and true faith, apart from which
no one can be justified and saved.
Secondly: we were to have believed, that the papal mass is a sacrifice for
the sins of human beings, and not for the living alone, but also for the dead
Thirdly: that without the intercessions of the Virgin Mary and of the dead
no one can be justified or saved.
Fourthly: that there certainly is a Purgatory, where the souls of the dead
can purge their sins, and through such penitence towards God can again
attain grace
Fifthly: that we must not only be justified and saved through faith in Jesus
Christ, but also through our good works
Sixthly: We were to have believed, that their Catholic Lord's Supper is
more powerful in one kind than the Protestants' in both kinds …
faith. Over and against that we were to have believed and confessed that
the Roman Catholic faith alone is the right and true faith, apart from which
no one can be justified and saved.
Secondly: we were to have believed, that the papal mass is a sacrifice for
the sins of human beings, and not for the living alone, but also for the dead
Thirdly: that without the intercessions of the Virgin Mary and of the dead
no one can be justified or saved.
Fourthly: that there certainly is a Purgatory, where the souls of the dead
can purge their sins, and through such penitence towards God can again
attain grace
Fifthly: that we must not only be justified and saved through faith in Jesus
Christ, but also through our good works
Sixthly: We were to have believed, that their Catholic Lord's Supper is
more powerful in one kind than the Protestants' in both kinds …
(end of this portion)