Luther’s Fourteen Consolations

Due to an alleged vision to a Franconian shepherd, a superstition arose during the Middle Ages that fourteen of their saints were to be regarded as the “defenders from all evils.” They were called The Fourteen of Consolation and their images were placed above church altars.

When Frederick the Wise was bedridden with a serious illness in 1519, his intercessor Martin Luther prepared a little treatise of spiritual comfort which he called The Fourteen of Consolation. Instead of using the medieval saints’ names, Luther substituted fourteen portions from the Word of God to comfort the ruler.

Thus, in the area of pastoral care, Luther used the promises of God in the Scriptures.