BUGENHAGEN, JOHANN. - Also called Pomerania from his homeland, he was one of the most influential figures of the Protestant Reformation in Germany. Born at Wollin (Pomerania) in 1485, and died at Wittenberg in 1558. He studied grammar, music, dialectic and the elements of physics at the academy of Greifswald. In 1504, elected rector of the school of Treptov, he promoted its studies and discipline.
Reading the works of Erasmus and of the humanists, he became persuaded of the necessity of a religious reform and manifested his first heterodox ideas. When Luther's work De Captivitate Babiloniae came into his hands, on first reading he considered it one of the most dangerous books; but, rereading it, he embraced its doctrines and began to propagate them. Luther held him in such esteem that in 1522 he proposed him as minister of the Collegiate Church of Wittenberg, an office that he kept until his death. This did not prevent him from developing his organizational activities in various parts within and outside Germany. In that same year 1522 he was organizing the Lutheran church of Hamburg in doctrine and worship, and proposed norms for the vocations of ministers. In 1530 he did the same for the church of Lübeck. In 1530 he was also awarded the title of doctor in theology, in the presence of the elector of Saxony John Frederick, before whom he maintained that the State could promulgate laws even ecclesiastical ones, binding in conscience, provided they were not contrary to the Decalogue; a doctrine that greatly pleased the elector. In 1537, called by the king of Denmark, who at that time was also king of Norway, Christian III (1533-59), he not only left the doctrines of Luther deeply impressed there, but organized the Lutheran liturgy, a new program of schools, printed a book of prayers and, in place of the 7 suppressed Catholic bishops, substituted 7 Lutheran superintendents, ordaining 24,000 Lutheran ministers for the two kingdoms. The university of Copenhagen owes him a new life. In 1542 he was one of the visitors of the churches of Brunswick. Among his writings, besides the history of Pomerania, are to be noted the commentaries on the Psalms, much appreciated by Luther himself, and those on 10 Epistles of St. Paul.
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Camillo Crivelli