Martin Luther Facts
Martin Luther the 16th century German priest that is well known for the 95 theses reform. Here are some facts about the Reformer you might not know.
1. Martin Luther was a 16th century German professor of religion, and a Catholic priest. Best known for beginning the Protestant Reformation in Europe.
2. Luther was born in 1483 in Eisleben in the Holy Roman Empire, which today is Germany. He studied Latin, grammar and logic and described these years as like being in Hell.
3. Luther decided to become a monk, joining a friary in Germany in 1505. He made this decision as his life was spared when he was riding a horse during a violent thunderstorm.
4. Martin Luther began to reject the principles of the established Roman Catholic Church. In 1517, he nailed a paper containing 95 statements to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany.
5. His Reformation Movement was helped by the newly invented printing press, copies of these statements spread all over Germany. Today, the statements can be seen engraved in a bronze door which replaced the original wooden one.
6. The Pope at the time Pope Leo X objected to this and insisted that Luther leave the Church. Luther decided to organize a new Church, the Lutheran Church, despite becoming a wanted man.
7. Martin Luther came up with a new form of worship, wrote a German mass and translated the Bible into German. He also wrote many hymns – often based on events in his own life.
8. In 1524, the peasants revolted, thinking Luther with his radical ideas, was on their side. The peasants demanded more freedom from landowners and over 100,000 of them were killed.
9. In 1525, he married a former nun whom he had smuggled out of a convent in an empty fish barrel. Luther’s marriage made it more acceptable for religious people to get married and have children.
10. Martin Luther died in 1546 and was buried in Castle Church in Wittenberg. He had several ailments including kidney stones, arthritis, vertigo and a cataract in one of his eyes.
11. Martin Luther King, the American pastor and one of the leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement, was named after Martin Luther. In 1934, Martin Luther King’s father, a pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, traveled to Germany and became inspired by the Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther.
God Bless,
