Today the Church commemorates Frederick the Wise, Christian Ruler. He was the Prince-elector of Saxony, and is most remembered for sheltering Martin Luther, who was under threat of execution by the Holy Roman Emperor. Frederick was born in Torgau to Ernest, Elector of Saxony, whom Frederick succeeded as elector in 1486.
He established the University of Wittenberg, where both Luther and Melanchthon would teach. Frederick was among the group of German princes who stressed the importance of reform to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.
Among his subjects in Saxony was Martin Luther, who began teaching at the University of Wittenberg in 1508. Luther began to reject various doctrines of the Catholic Church, culminating in his Ninety-Five Theses, which was publicized on October 31, 1517. After his refusal to renounce his teachings and excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Leo in 1521, Luther was under threat of persecution by the Church, particularly due to the Edict of Worms, which condemned Luther as an outlaw.
In order to protect his subject, Frederick the Wise staged a highway kidnapping against Luther, and hid him in the Wartburg Castle for several years. During his time there, Luther translated the entire New Testament from Greek into German, and wrote several theological works. Luther referred to his time in Wartburg as “my Patmos,” and began to attack several core doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church.
Though he was a lifelong Roman Catholic, there is reason to believe that Frederick converted to Lutheranism on his deathbed in 1525. He received Communion from a Protestant minister, and was sympathetic to Lutheran theology during the later years of his life. His steadfast protection of Martin Luther also signified his support for the Protestant Reformation. Frederick likely desired to prevent Luther from suffering the same fate as Jan Huss and other pre-reformers, who died before any true reformational work could be done.
Frederick was Pope Leo X’s candidate for Holy Roman Emperor in the 1519 imperial election, but Frederick helped secure Charles V’s election, so long as Charles would repay a decades-old debt to Saxony. Because of his loyal protection of Luther and his apparent sympathy to the Protestant Reformation, he is held in high regard and commemorated by Lutherans and Protestants around the world on May 5, the day of his death.