Martin Luther — "Those who despise these, or treat them with contempt, are worthy of purchasing, …"
Those who despise these, or treat them with contempt, are worthy of purchasing, adoring, and praising the pope's excrement as balsam.
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More from Martin Luther
"Sometimes it is necessary to commit some sin out of hatred and contempt for the Devil."
"Even if the Antichrist appears, what greater evil can he do than what you have done and do daily?"
"It is not the business of the government to preach the gospel."
"I resist the devil, and often it is with a fart that I chase him away. When he tempts me with silly sins I say, 'Devil, yesterday I broke wind too. Have you written it down on your list?'"
"You must say my sins are not mine; they are not in me at all; they are the sins of another; they are Christ's and none of my business."
About Martin Luther (1483-1546)
German theologian whose 95 Theses (1517) launched the Protestant Reformation and broke the Catholic Church's monopoly on Western Christianity. Closely associated with Philipp Melanchthon (Lutheran systematizer) and John Calvin (later Reformer who built on Luther's break). For an intellectual contrast, see Pope Leo X, Renaissance pope (1513-1521) — Leo X's indulgence sales triggered Luther's break and Leo excommunicated him in 1521 — Luther's entire Reformation is structured as a direct answer to the indulgence-funded Vatican Leo represented.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
Luther is saying that anyone who dismisses or looks down on certain things he values deserves instead to idolize the pope's filth as if it were precious perfume. It's a crude, sarcastic insult: he's turning the tables on his opponents by suggesting their contempt reveals misplaced devotion. Rejecting what is truly good, they prove themselves fit only to worship what is worthless or disgusting, packaged as holy.
Relevance to Martin Luther
Luther was notorious for scatological invective against the papacy, especially in late works like Against the Roman Papacy (1545). A former Augustinian monk turned reformer, he rejected papal authority after his 1521 excommunication and used shockingly coarse language as a deliberate rhetorical weapon. This quote captures his combative style: mocking Catholic veneration of relics and indulgences by comparing papal authority to excrement, reflecting his conviction that Rome had corrupted genuine Christian faith.
The era
The early modern period (1500s) saw Christendom split by the Reformation Luther launched in 1517. Printing presses spread polemical pamphlets widely, and crude, bodily insults were standard theological combat across Europe. The papacy sold indulgences, venerated relics, and claimed supreme spiritual authority—all targets Luther attacked. Religious wars loomed, literacy rose, and vernacular Bibles challenged clerical monopoly. Coarse rhetoric wasn't scandalous but expected in the brutal pamphlet wars between Catholics and Protestants.
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