Corvinus, Lutheran martyr; differing histories (Part 1 of ?)

      This coming Sunday will be the 5th Sunday in Lent, also known as Judica.  As I was researching published books by Old Missouri, I ran into a reprint of sermonettes by Antonius Corvinus which contained one for this Sunday.  The 1899 reprint was edited by the excellent Prof. A. L. Gräbner who gave the proper history of this defender of Reformation doctrine. This book had been highly approved of by Martin Luther in his Preface to it. — But before we present this sermonette, what follows is a survey of the contrasting histories of Corvinus that show, once again, how so-called "objective" histories of modern theologians miss the mark.

      What do current histories say about Corvinus?  The LCMS Christian Cyclopedia says:

(Rabe; 1501–53). B. Warburg; d. Hanover. Expelled from cloister because of his Lutheranism 1523; preacher in Goslar 1528, Witzenhausen 1529; advanced Reformation in Northeim, Hildesheim, and Calenberg-Göttingen; opposed Augsburg Interim; imprisoned 1549–52; works include sermons on the Gospels and Epistles.

The 1927 Concordia Cyclopedia gives a bit more information on him, letting us know that he was more than just "imprisoned":

Corvinus (Rabe) Antonius, b. 1501; chased out of his cloister for his Lutheranism in 1522; preacher in Hessen in 1538; reformed in Goettingen, Nordheim, Hildesheim, Calenberg; opposed the Interim; imprisoned in damp cell 1549 — 52; d. April 5, 1553, a true and faithful Lutheran Christian. His sermons on the Gospels and Epistles became popular.

Hmmm, it seems the LCMS, the New Missouri Synod, stripped the history of the conditions of Corvinus's imprisonment. The German Wikipedia article on him (there is no English one) goes further by adding that (translated):

The prisoners were well fed, could receive and answer mail, and talk to their visitors through an open window. 

Imprisoned by a Catholic ruler, but "well fed", etc. Was it actually an easy imprisonment? Hmmm, sounds like Catholic or "objective" historians inserted these comments into this Wikipedia article to try to soften the story of the imprisonment of Corvinus. But the old German history source Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie or ADB states the following excerpt (translated):

However, when Duke Erich II reverted to the Catholic Church and demanded the acceptance of the [Augsburg] Interim from the Protestant clergy of his country, Corvinus drew up a protest against this imposition signed by the entire Evangelical clergy. He atoned for this step with three years of hard imprisonment at Calenberge (1549-53). Most of his library was scattered and burned by the Spanish and Brabant soldiers who accompanied the young duke; his prison was "such a nasty tower that his clothes rotted off his body." Only at the intercession of Duke Albrecht of Prussia was Corvinus released. But he died very soon from the consequences of his imprisonment in Hanover.

Oh well, it seems the new German (Catholic?) historians want the world to forget the real suffering of Corvinus. — But even more than the old German history, Prof. Friedrich Bente, in his Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books, finally put the proper label on Corvinus's imprisonment, p. 101:

…Antonius Corvinus, Superintendent at Kalenberg-Goettingen, the Lutheran martyr, who, because of his opposition to the Interim, was incarcerated for three years, in consequence of which he died, 1553.

Bente is not exaggerating, as he only uses what was known to old German history — Corvinus's death was a consequence of his imprisonment. He was imprisoned as a Lutheran by a Roman Catholic. Corvinus was a Lutheran martyr. Now we finally get the real history of Corvinus. Unfortunately, Prof. Bente's history is now ignored (by Dr. Robert Kolb), or attacked (by Dr. Lowell Green † 2014) by LCMS historians.  But the LCMS cannot bury Bente's quote of Corvinus's precious testimony about Philip Melanchthon's weakness which gives credence to his, and C. F. W. Walther's, history of Melanchthon. — In the next Part 2, we publish a precious sermonette by Corvinus, a sermon that could hardly have been preached by a more qualified theologian, other than Martin Luther, for Corvinus was… a Lutheran martyr.

- - - - - - - - -  Table of Contents  - - - - - - - - - - 

Part 1: Introduction to Anton Corvinus, Lutheran martyr; differing histories

Part 2: Sermonette for Judica, Sunday before Palm Sunday

Part 3: Palm Sunday: Exhortation to love, humility, and service

Part 4: Easter: Disciples think it a fairy tale

Part 4B: Easter II: Women sent as first preachers… but afterwards?

Part 5: