ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by surveying the decline of the saints in printed plague literature amidst an atmosphere of religious dispute between 1519 and 1521. It sheds new light on the early history of the Protestant Reformation by exploring the intersection of plagues, physicians, and religious reformers within German vernacular literature of the 1520s. Despite physicians' long-standing worldly ambitions, the emerging Protestant movement began an intense phase in the reform of healing, first targeting saints. The chapter argues that plague and medicine belong at the center of Reformation history, since their story provides important insights into the Reformation's agents, appeal, and cultural impact. Natural medicine and its practitioners gained new prominence as saints disappeared from text and image, representing an important chapter in physicians' attempts to expand their influence within German cities. The omission of saints and sacramentals from late medieval spiritual medicine was just the beginning of a specifically Protestant reform movement.
