The Inquisition | Separating Fact from Fiction

A small chapel in the German town of Erfurt was hardly a proper venue for world-shaping events to begin. Nothing much had happened in this part of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Augustinian monk who swept the chapel's floor thought mainly about his lunch. His straw broom pushed dust from the tombs built into the floor before the altar. The monk then lit candles and said a brief prayer. He heard the doors open and turned to see a group of young men walking single-file toward him. The new servants of God were ready to take their vows and be ordained in His Church. Moments later, the bishop swept into the chapel resplendent in his best clerical garb. He stood before the new priests and led them through their oath to the Almighty. The monk, standing off to the side, was barely listening. He saw his new colleagues kneeling before the altar on the freshly-swept tombs and thought to himself, "All my work wasted."

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