He entered the Dominican order[3] in 1489, became a famous preacher, and was in 1502 commissioned by Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, later Pope Leo X, to preach the Jubilee indulgence, which he did throughout his life.

[4] Luther began to preach openly against him and was inspired to write his famous Ninety-five Theses in part due to Tetzel's actions,[4] in which he states,27.

When Karl von Miltitz accused him of perpetrating frauds and embezzlements, he withdrew to the Dominican monastery in Leipzig where, worn out by the controversies surrounding him, he died in 1519.

[5] When Luther heard that Tetzel was mortally ill and on his deathbed, he wrote to comfort him and bade him "not to be troubled, for the matter did not begin on his account, but the child had quite a different father.

He became known for a couplet attributed to him: As soon as the gold in the casket rings The rescued soul to heaven springs[8] This oft-quoted saying was by no means representative of the official Catholic teaching on indulgences, but rather, more a reflection of Tetzel's capacity to exaggerate.

His teaching was, in fact, very definite, and quite in harmony with the theology of the (Catholic) Church, as it was then and as it is now, i.e., that indulgences "apply only to the temporal punishment due to sins which have been already repented of and confessed"...

As regards these there is no doubt that Tetzel did, according to what he considered his authoritative instructions, proclaim as Christian doctrine that nothing but an offering of money was required to gain the indulgence for the dead, without there being any question of contrition or confession.

"[9] Luther claimed Tetzel had received a substantial amount of money at Leipzig from a nobleman, who asked him for a letter of indulgence for a future sin he would commit.