Synod of Homberg

The Synod of Homberg was a Catholic synod held from October 20 to 22, 1526, attended by clergy, nobility, and representatives from various European cities.^[1] Its primary aims were to reform church governance structures and improve clerical discipline. The synod was convened in response to theological disputes arising from the introduction of Zwinglian reforms in Zurich at that time.

Governmental authorities in the Holy Roman Empire, France, and England had extended influence in ecclesiastical affairs. The Diet of Speyer on August 27, 1526, stipulated that each sovereign authority, pending a general council, could decide matters of faith for its territory, so long as it recognized its accountability to God and its monarch. This development contributed to the principle of territorial authority in matters of religion during the Reformation.

On October 20, 1526, Landgrave Philip of Hesse convened an assembly of "spiritual and temporal estates" at Homberg, "to deal, by the grace of the Almighty, with Christian matters and disputes." The proceedings commenced in the church at Homberg on October 21. The former Franciscan preacher François Lambert (son of a Papal official in Avignon and at the time a Protestant reformer) presented 158 articles for debate (paradoxa), which were posted on the church doors of Homberg.^[2][3]

After an opening speech by the chancellor, Johan Friis, Lambert read his theses, referencing scripture. In the afternoon, Adam Kraft of Fulda translated Lambert's theses into German and challenged anyone who found them "at variance with God's Word" to speak out. The following morning, Franciscan prior Nicholas Ferber of Marburg replied by contesting Landgrave Philip of Hesse's authority to hold a synod, enact ecclesiastical changes, or legislate on matters of Christian faith, arguing that these privileges belonged to the Pope, bishops, and the clergy.

When Friis urged the civil authorities to abolish abuses and idolatry, maintaining an iconoclastic stance, Ferber responded by contesting the synod and accusing the chancellor of seizing church property rather than addressing the articles under debate. Leaving Hesse for Cologne, he issued Assertiones trecentat ac viginti adversus Fr. Lamberti paradoxa impia ("320 assertions against Brother Lambert's impious arguments"), followed by Assertiones aliœ ("Other assertions").^[4]

On the synod's final day, Waldau's Master Johann Sperber cited the Gospel of Luke's Hail Mary, attempting to justify the invocation of Mary, mother of Jesus.^{[citation needed]}