Tetzel, Johann

TETZEL, JOHANN. - Dominican preacher, b. at Pirna in 1465, d. at Leipzig on 11 Aug. 1519.

Having become a Dominican after completing his theological studies, he made a name for himself as a popular orator in preaching indulgences in Saxony, Silesia and Franconia. In 1516 he was appointed sub-commissioner for the preaching of the indulgences of the Fabric of St. Peter in the archdiocese of Mainz and in Brandenburg. T., not averse to rhetorical amplifications, and greatly concerned above all with collecting money, proved inaccurate in his preaching as regards the doctrine on the application of indulgences to the dead. He held, in fact, that to obtain an indulgence in favor of the dead the offering of money was enough, without any repentance for one's own sins on the part of the offerer, and that this indulgence was infallibly applied to a specific soul. T. defended his doctrine by setting against those of Luther, in Frankfurt, 122 antitheses, excessive in some points but generally sound, composed by Conrad Wimpina, and by clarifying his thought with a dissertation and a second series of 50 theses composed by himself. In that same year, 1518, he withdrew to the convent of Leipzig.

Pietro Sannazzaro