Jesuit On The Protestant Revolt And "A Ruse Of The Devil"

An unfamiliar side of the Protestant revolt was the disgraceful way in which the self-appointed reformers of the Church’s morals allied themselves against her doctrine and practice of celibacy.

In a rhetorical passage of his “Babylonian Captivity,” Luther pleaded with “the prisoners of the monastic life” to break the chains which bound them to their monasteries and to serve Christ with the untrammeled liberty of the children of God.

If any of them still hesitated to accept the responsibilities of marriage, he argued, let them remember that this is only a ruse of the devil who would have them reverse the order of divine providence and obey man rather than God.

Link (here) to the excerpt of a much longer essay by Fr. John Hardon, S.J., entitled, Communion of Saints: St. Robert Bellarmine on the Mystical Body of Christ.

An engraving of Martin Luther.