Early in his life Martin Luther fell on his dagger, cutting an artery. "Mary, help!" he called. Reared in a medieval Roman Catholic piety, it was natural for him to call on the Virgin Mary and other saints.
Later he saw things differently. The year before he died, Luther said a "flagrant manner filled everything [in the church of his era] with the idolatrous worship of the saints.... And Mary was worshiped by all as a mediatrix and helper in all necessities."
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