In the year 1470, the papal bull Ineffabilis Providentia of Paul II decreed a jubilee for the year 1475. This was only the fifth general jubilee of the Church and precedents were still being established. One notable aspect of Paul II’s Ineffabilis Providentia is that it expressly established that the jubilee pilgrimage should include visits to the basilicas of St. Peter’s, St. Paul’s, St. John Lateran, and St. Mary Major, and stated that from 1475 onwards, jubilees should be celebrated every twenty-five years. Paul II would die in 1471, leaving his jubilee to be inaugurated by Sixtus IV.
The Berne Romfahrt of 1476
The proclamation of the indulgence was a godsend to the city of Berne. Earlier, in the century 1421, Berne had undertaken the construction of a new cathedral to be dedicated to St. Vincent. The building was a massive project and funding had run out. By 1471 when the jubilee was announced, the cathedral had sat incomplete for fifty years. In 1473 the city magistrates reached out to Pope Sixtus IV seeking a “Romfahrt” for Berne (German, “Rome trip”). This meant that Berne was seeking for the terms of the jubilee indulgence to be extended to their own city, so that one could gain the Roman indulgence by making a pilgrimage to Berne. (1)
In response to Bernese petition, Sixtus IV issued an indulgence bull on May 30, 1473, by virtue of which anyone in Berne could share in the same indulgences gained in Rome during the jubilee if they made a contrite confession, visited a church, and gave alms for the completion of Berne’s cathedral. So Berne’s indulgence did not conflict with the Roman jubilee, however, Sixtus IV decreed that Berne’s Romfahrt could not begin until the expiration of the great jubilee. Since the jubilees ran from Michaelmas to Michaelmas, this placed the beginning of Berne’s Romfahrt on Michaelmas of 1476. The Bernese indulgence was to last ten days.
The details of the event have been recorded by Diebold Schilling, a chronicler who was a member of the Bernese city council from 1468 to 1486. Schilling left a detailed description of everything he witnessed. Everything which follows is based on Schilling’s work.
Preparing for the Rohmfahrt
For the indulgence to be successful, it had to be appropriately advertised. The Bernese city council printed one thousand copies of the bull at the printing press in Basel and distributed them in every direction. Announcements were sent as far away Cologne, over 350 miles away.
Equally as important as printed notices was finding the right indulgence preacher. The Romfahrt preacher needed to be a man of learning and eloquence, someone capable not only of explaining the indulgence to the people but exhorting them to penance. The preacher chosen was Johannes Heynlin, pastor of St. Theodore in Basel and a preacher of good reputation. Heynlin was 45 at the time of the indulgence and had also served as a doctor of philosophy and theology at Paris prior to his tenure in Berne. He was eminently qualified by virtue of his education, experience, and pious living.
Confessions and Penance
The indulgence was ushered in with great solemnity on the Sunday before Michaelmas of 1476. Bells pealed throughout the city and festivities were held at various locations. In the church, Fr. John Stein, a doctor of Sacred Scripture, preached a sermon explaining to the people how they could obtain the indulgence. Thereafter, Johannes Heynlin preached daily in the cathedral. Two additional sermons were preached early in the morning and afternoon, one by Fr. John Stein and another by a Franciscan Observant, both of whom had been invited to assist Heynlin and were treated with great honor by the people of the city.
Diebold Schilling records that substantial numbers of outsiders flooded into Berne to take advantage of the indulgence., perhaps more than expected. The confessors were overwhelmed. Schilling reported fifty confessors were busy from dawn till dusk. “One might have thought that was enough,” Schilling said, but even fifty confessors could not handle the crowds, and many had to be sent away at the end of each day unconfessed. Schilling wrote:
The Fathers, as announced in the minster, have turned in every direction to secure more confessors so that everyone might confess the most serious sins with little ceremony or formality because of the crowd of people, and so that everyone might have contrition and come to confession. (2)
By the end of the week they had raised the number to eighty confessors, “and could more have been found who were good and useful, they also would have been taken,” Schilling added.
In those days, it was still customary for serious sinners to be given a public penance. Schilling estimated that there were around four thousand public penitents, men and women, during the 1476 Romfahrt. The manner of their penance was thus: a certain priest would lead groups of penitents into the minster in a line, where they would need before a series of confessors designated for the purpose. At each station they would kneel, confess their sins, and receive absolution and a public penance. The penitents were required to go to every station and repeat the process, each time receiving a new penance. They would be obliged to perform all the penances cumulatively assigned. What sorts of public penances were assigned? Schilling mentions a grand procession on the Feast of St. Michael in which the penitents took a prominent role, the men naked from the waist up, women barefoot with their hair hanging down, “as is right for such public sinners.” (3)
Besides the indulgence preachers, notable prelates from the surrounding territories were also invited to preach. The auxiliary bishops of Constance and Basel sung Masses throughout the week; on the Sunday after Michaelmas, a High Mass was sung by the Bishop of Sitten. Schilling recorded that the cathedral was so full that it could not have possibly accomodated any more people.
The Monetary Success of the Romfahrt
The indulgence was a monetary success and resulted in a tremendous sum of money raised for the completion of St. Vincent. Diebold Schilling describes the procedures put in place to ensure that none of the money was squandered, stolen, or diverted:
The money was very great…and as the Romfahrt ended, the money in very deep chests was committed and surrendered to the church wardens, so that with it they could provide for the completion of the minster, and might use it or spend it in no other way. (4)
The Second Romfahrt of 1478
Despite the tremendous sum gained from Berne’s 1476 indulgence festivities, it was soon found that the amount still fell short of the costs needed to complete the cathedral. In 1478 Berne requested Sixtus IV to authorize a second Romfahrt with “an indulgence of all sins for punishment and guilt.” (5) Berne’s magistrates proposed that the revenue from the second Romfhart be divided between the city and the pontiff, two-thirds to be dedicated to the completion of St. Vincent’s and one-third to be given to the pope to fund military campaigns against the Turks in the Mediterranean. Sixtus approved the request and a second Romfarht was scheduled for Michaelmas of 1478.
Heynlin was again requested to preach the indulgence, although by now he had moved up to Tübingen as a professor of theology. He nevertheless agreed and returned to Berne in September. Again, the terms of the indulgence were read aloud, and again Heynlin preached twice in the minister to overflowing crowds. Again he was assisted by other preachers and members of the Franciscan Observants.
The crowds were as large in 1478 as in 1476, some coming from as far away as Italy. Schilling records that the church was better prepared in terms of confessors, this time keeping hundreds on hand. Twelve-hundred penitents were counted for the public procession on St. Michael’s day. Schilling reports the story of one particular penitent, a woman from Zurich who had left her husband. She confessed, was absolved, and took part in the penitential procession. In return, the Bernese city council provided her with a letter to the magistrate of Zurich, asking him to “kindly help the woman, that she might come again to her husband; for she has here in the Romfahrt confessed and done penance and is willing in the future to conduct herself in a proper wifely manner.” (6)
The Third Romfahrt of 1480
A third and final Romfahrt was requested from Sixtus IV for 1480, with funds to be used for St. Vincent and the ancillary structures. Unlike the previous two events which had taken place at Michaelmas, the 1480 Romfahrt was scheduled for Lent.
Again the Bernese council sought the celebrated Johannes Heynlin, who had again been promoted, this time as pastor of Baden-Baden. In his new capacity, Heynlin was somewhat beholden to the wishes of the temporal lord, the Margrave Christopher of Baden, and requird the lord’s permission to travel to Berne. The council accordingly sent letters to the Margrave and Heynlin, eagerly requesting the latter’s services. The letter to Margrave Christopher praised Heynlin’s preaching and zeal and urged the lord to send Heynlin. To Heynlin himself, they made an interesting comment—calling Heynlin “their tried friend,” they insisted that they did not wish him to come to Berne
only in order that they might parade him about during the Romfahrt, or only so that they might use him to fill the coffers destined for the church building fund; they really entertained the same God-fearing sentiments as he. (7)
This reassurance from the council that they truly wanted Heynlin because of his message and not just as a celebrity fundrasier suggests that perhaps, after two years, Heynlin may have entertained a nagging skepticism as to whether the Berne city council truly valued his message of penance or merely regarded him as a cash cow for the municipal coffers. This is admittedly free speculation, but if true, it would be justified by the tenor of their request. If this was Heynlin’s perception, the council’s letter worked to smooth things over, as Margrave Christopher gave his assent and Heynlin expressed willingness to come to Berne a third time.
The indulgence festivities were scheduled to begin on Laetare Sunday, and again, Heynlin preached two sermons a day throughout the ten days of the Romfahrt. So thoroughly did Heynlin please the Bernese that at the end of the indulgence they wrote a letter to Margrave Christopher asking his permission for Heynlin to remain in Berne till the end of Lent due to his great popularity. The Margrave agreed, and Heynlin stayed on throughout the end of the season, preaching, hearing confessions, and reforming the morals of the city, to the great delight of the people and magistrates. Heynlin also left his mark in the civic life of Berne: through his infuence were enacted a series of municipal ordinances aimed at the sanctification of holy days, the punishment of slander and cursing, and the removal of various other abuses. Furthermore, on Heynlin’s advice, a new school house was built and a better qualified teacher employed. If Heynlin had entertained any concerns about the sincerity of the Bernese, they must have surely been put to rest after this third successful indulgence solemnity.
The Success of the Bernese Romfahrts
The indulgence solemnities of the late Middle Ages are often ridiculed as superstitious ceremonials, characterized by religious theatrics and unscrupulous, simoniacal trafficking in indulgences. The testimony of Diebold Schilling concerning the Bernese Romfahrts paint a different picture, however. These observances were times of penance, conversion, and sincere spiritual improvement. Indulgence solemnities, such as those held by Berne in 1476-1480, were occasions of tremendous blessings for spiritual and civic life. The study of late medieval indulgence festivals, such as the Romfahrts of Berne, helps us see behind the stereotypes in order to appreciate the rich spiritual fruits medieval indulgences were capable of bearing.
(1) The details of the this article are found in Nikolaus Paulus, Indulgences as a Social Factor in the Middle Ages, trans. Elliot Ross (Devin-Adair: New York, 1922).
(2) Quoted in Paulus, 29
(3) Ibid., 30
(4) Ibid.
(5) Ibid.
(6) Ibid., 31
(7) Ibid., 32
Phillip Campbell, “The Great Indulgence Solemnities of Berne,” Unam Sanctam Catholicam, Feb. 22, 2026. Available online at https://unamsanctamcatholicam.com/2026/02/the-great-indulgence-solemnities-of-berne