In the Catholic tradition of the time, the ordination of priests was also a sacrament, a ritual that elevated them above the common people. Luther maintained that such an act simply recognized the freedom of the minister to perform the duties of his office, but it didn’t give him a higher character or make him exempt from the jurisdiction of the civil courts; nor did this give him a special right to perform the sacraments unless it was understood that every Christian had such a right. Gone was the