Mythology Rewriting History

In the post-Vatican II world of the kinder, gentler Catholicism of Dignitatis Humanae, Catholics have this need to show that Rome was always just as kind and gentle as it was under the saintly grandfather figure of John Paul II. One effect of this has been a retelling of the Reformation in terms of the huffy, arrogant, rash Protestants abandoning the Roman communion when they needed to be patient and wait, as the kindly Leo X was doing everything he could to take care of things in the most pastoral, open-minded and even-handed way possible. Death sentences, closed councils, and military subjugation aren't really part of the picture.

Right, where was I?

So I'm teaching a Sunday school class on Gene Veith's Spirituality of the Cross, and one particular girl is bringing her Catholic boyfriend. We got to talking about the Reformation, as is common in Lutheran Sunday Schools, and this fellow said, "My mother told me that Luther was invited to the Council of Trent, but he refused to go." If you know the history, you'd know that Luther died shortly after the council convened, and that the eventual delegation led by Brenz was never heard (not that it would have made any difference). In particular, the confession Brenz wrote (which I am highly interested in reading some day) was not read, although Pedro de Soto eventually wrote against it. If I recall correctly from one of my Confessions classes, they weren't even admitted to the city proper, but were detained in a hamlet in the vicinity, where they were allowed to talk to a delegate who made it quite clear that nothing they said would be presented at the council. Now I have no idea where his mother heard this, but it seems pretty clear that this historical "fact" is a product of this new mythology of the Reformation. It makes me wonder what other "facts" are floating around out there.

Update: An intrepid commenter may have found the source of this particular nugget of disinformation. John Dimascio posts it here. Apparently, once you rise to the level of Internet Apologist, you are imbued with the power to recreate history by the force of your will.