A stamp to commemorate the Reformation

Several evangelical entities are uniting to send a petition to Spanish national Post Office. They ask for a special stamp to commemorate the 500 years of the Protestant Reformation.

In 2017, the fifth centenary of the Protestant Reformation will be celebrated worldwide. As it happens in other countries, the Spanish Protestant and evangelical churches are also preparing many cultural and social events.

Among those activities, there is the proposal of a church in Ourense (in the north of Spain), which has started all the procedures to ask the national Post Office to print a commemorative stamp.

Other churches and evangelical entities joined the petition, including the Spanish Evangelical Alliance and the Spanish Federation of Evangelical Entities (FEREDE in Spanish).

THE “BIBLE OF THE BEAR”

“The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, of which we are going to celebrate its fifth centenary in 2017, was a crucial event in the history of the Western world. That historic event drastically transformed the social, intellectual, political and religious scene that had existed in Europe for a thousand years”, the letter sent to the Post Office explained.

“It is justified to create a series of stamps to remember an event which changed the European history, and has had such a great influence in every continent”, it added.

“The evangelical people are very grateful to know that the Protestant Reformation is related to the translation of the Bible to the common languages, like Spanish. The first translation was made by Casiodoro de Reina in 1569, and published in Basel, because it was forbidden in Spain. It is called 'the Bible of the Bear', named after the printing of a bear-cub reaching for the hive dripping with honey.”

“This edition is a milestone of the Ibero-American literature and, at he same time, it is faithful to the original texts”, the letter reads. 

“The Bible is still the great unknown for the majority of the Spaniards, but we are sure that with the commemoration of the Fifth centenary of the Protestant Reform, many will become familiar with this book that is part of our history”, the petition concluded.

OTHER INITIATIVES

Since a few years ago, many evangelical churches in different regions of Spain, have started to celebrate the Reformation Day, with different events that have counted with the participation of political, social and cultural authorities, and have helped to make the Fifth centenary of the Protestant Reform visible.

Martin Luther square in Rome, Italy

In other countries, proposals made by evangelicals have become a reality, like the unveiling of the Martin Luther square in Rome, Italy, which was attended by the Mayor of Rome, the ambassador of Germany and leaders of the Lutheran, Adventist and evangelical denominations.