Johann Tetzel (1465 in Pirna – 11 August 1519) was a German Dominican preacher known for selling indulgences.
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Tetzel was born in Pirna, Saxony, and studied theology and philosophy at the university of his native city. He entered the Dominican order in 1489, achieved some success as a preacher, and was in 1502 commissioned by the pope to preach the jubilee indulgence, which he did throughout his life. In 1509 he was made an inquisitor of Poland, and in 1517 Pope Leo X made him commissioner of indulgences for all Germany.
He acquired the degree of Licentiate of Sacred Theology in the University of Frankfurt an der Oder, 1517, and that of Doctor of Sacred Theology, 1518, by defending, in two disputations, the doctrine of indulgences against Luther. The accusation that he sold full forgiveness for sins not yet committed, caused great scandal; Martin Luther considered his actions evil, and began to preach openly against him.
In 1517, it was believed that Tetzel was trying to raise money for the ongoing reconstruction of St. Peter's Basilica, though the money went towards helping the Archbishop of Mainz, Albert of Brandenburg, under whose authority Tetzel was operating, to pay off the debts he had incurred in securing the agreement of the Pope to his acquisition of the Archbishopric. Luther was inspired to write his Ninety-Five Theses, in part, due to Tetzel's actions during this period of time.[1]
He was also condemned (though later pardoned) for immorality. It became necessary to disavow Tetzel and, when he discovered that Karl von Miltitz had accused him of perpetrating numerous frauds and embezzlements, he withdrew, broken in spirit, wrecked in health, into the Dominican monastery in Leipzig. Miltitz was later discredited to the point where his claims carry no historical weight.
Tetzel died in Leipzig in 1519. At the time of his death, Tetzel had fallen into disrepute and was shunned by the public. On his deathbed, Tetzel received a magnanimously penned correspondence from Martin Luther, stating that the child (i.e. the scandal) had a different father.[2]
Tetzel overstated Catholic doctrine in regard to indulgences for the dead, but his teaching on indulgences for the living was orthodox. He became known for a couplet attributed to him: :"As soon as a coin in the coffer rings / the soul from purgatory springs."[3] German: "Wenn die Münze im Kästlein klingt, die Seele in den Himmel springt". This often-quoted saying was exaggerated. German Catholic historian of the Papacy, Ludwig von Pastor explains[4]:
The Papal Bull of indulgence gave no sanction whatever to this proposition. It was a vague scholastic opinion, rejected by the Sorbonne in 1482, and again in 1518, and certainly not a doctrine of the Church, which was thus improperly put forward as dogmatic truth.
Pastor notes that the leading theologian Cardinal Thomas Cajetan opposed these extravagances.