Florida martyrs: Piepkorn's ironic 1940 tribute… to Lutherans? "Religious liberty"? (Part 1 of 2)

      While reviewing old issues of Theo. Graebner's The Lutheran Witness magazine, I stumbled onto a striking story that he published from a pastor who would later become one of the chief spokesmen for the "majority faculty" of Concordia Seminary – Arthur Carl Piepkorn.  The striking part for me was the comparison between the subject of this "Memorial" for the American "Lutheran Martyrs" and Piepkorn's later statements as professor extraordinaire of Concordia: "Lutheran only third" and "annual ambivalence" toward Reformation Day, etc. Piepkorn did not speak this way in his 1940 article.  Was Piepkorn harboring even at this early date a theology in his professional career that would explode into his essay "What Does Inerrancy Mean?".  We shall consider this later. —  But why were these Frenchmen put to death?  Who killed them?
      Before we get to the definitive answers to these questions, let us hear Piepkorn's introductory remarks. The following reproduces the original article. All highlighting, bolding, hyperlinks, images and notes in [ ] square brackets were added by BackToLuther:

= = = = = = = = =  Part 1 of 2  = = = = = = = = =

274 Vol. LIX, No. 16 (August 6, 1940) THE LUTHERAN WITNESS

A Memorial to the First American Martyrs

By A. C. PIEPKORN, Cleveland, O.

The 375th anniversary of the massacre of America’s first victims of religious intolerance, the Lutheran [1] martyrs of Florida, was observed in Faith Church, Cleveland, O. [2], on the Sixth Sunday after Trinity, June 30, with the unveiling of a stone from the site of their martyrdom which had been let into the south wall of the Church. An inscription over the stone reads:

“For the perpetual remembrance of the Lutheran Martyrs of Florida, Blessed Jean Ribault and his Companions, slain for their Faith in the Year of Our Lord 1565, two hundred of them on Michaelmas and another seventy-five a fortnight later on October 12, this stone from the site of their Martyrdom near St. Augustine has been dedicated to the Glory of God and the Ideal of Religious Liberty.”

The stone is a gift to the parish from Dr. Carl Johannes Sodergren of Minneapolis [3]. The date of the unveiling was fixed for June 30 because of its proximity both to the 410th anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession on June 25, 1530, and to Independence Day.

A message from the French Embassy in Washington conveyed the greetings of the French ambassador, the Count de Saint-Quentin, [4] to the congregation. It read in part:

“In these troubled times, when the traditional values of our Western Christian civilization are universally threatened, it is wise that such ceremonies should be held to remind us that all liberties were won and preserved at the cost of great sacrifices.

“I am therefore happy to send to you and to all the members of your congregation my heartfelt appreciation for the spirit which prompted your splendid initiative. May America of today and tomorrow remember ‘Blessed Jean Ribault and his Companions’ as the symbol of religious liberty in this country!”

The unveiling was followed by the regular celebration of Holy Communion. For the introit that [was] appointed by the Common Service for Martyrs’ Days was used, “I know whom I have believed.” The following special collect was employed:

“O God, by whose grace ‘Blessed Jean Ribault and his Companions’ were enabled to glorify Thee by their Martyrdom, grant that we who rejoice in their triumph may likewise be confirmed in the constancy of our confession; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever, one God, world without end. R. Amen.”

Rev. 6:9-11 was read as the proper Epistle and Luke 12:1-8 as the holy Gospel. A stanza specially written for the occasion was intercalated before the closing stanza of Bishop Reginald Heber’s hymn “The Son of God Goes Forth to War” (tune: All Saints) [5]:

A loyal troop, whose name we share,

Whose blood baptized the sand,

The first the martyr’s guerdon fair

To win in this new land.

Betrayed, defenseless, marked for death,

They faced it with disdain

And praised God with their final breath.

Who follows in their train?

= = = = = = = = = = continued in Part 2 = = = = = = = = = =  

Notes:

1. Piepkorn calls the martyrs "Lutherans" but this label was not strictly true as will be shown in the next Part 2.
2. Piepkorn's congregation "Faith Church, Cleveland, Ohio" was not discoverable in my web searching.  Perhaps this Cleveland congregation is now defunct? If so, what happened to the memorial stone that was "let into the south wall of the Church"?
3. Dr. Södergren, the donor of the memorial stone, was not a member of Piepkorn's congregation.  He was Piepkorn's father-in-law (per The Church: Selected Writings of Arthur Carl Piepkorn, p. 300) and was a minister in the Augustana Synod, an opposing Synod to the old Missouri Synod and the Synodical Confernce in 1872. Södergren's synod was a vehement opponent of the faithful Norwegian Lutherans who adhered to Walther's teaching of the pure Lutheran Doctrine of Justification.  Walther stood behind those Norwegians and against the erring Swedish Augustana Synod Lutherans.  Was Piepkorn not aware of Dr. Södergren's error on Justification when he married into a family of the Augustana Synod? Was he even exhibiting his (and editor Th. Graebner's) unionism even in this ceremony?
4. There is some irony in having the French ambassador give the greeting for “religious liberty” to American Lutherans since his country's history of Roman Catholic antagonism toward "Protestantism" was well attested in its own history, in the French Wars of Religion.  One wonders if it was Södergren or Piepkorn who sought the French ambassador's greeting for this ceremony.
5. The hymn Piepkorn chose was not one included in the hymnal current in 1940 in the Missouri Synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book (see here).  But it was included in the later 1941 The Lutheran Hymnal, or TLH #452 text, music.  Was Piepkorn perhaps instrumental in getting this hymn included in the 1941 TLH?

There is more to this article by Piepkorn, and much more to comment on, in the next Part 2…