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On this day in 1517 the German cleric Martin Luther published his Ninety Five Theses – he also nailed them to the door of All Saints church in Wittenberg. This started the Reformation, whereby the grip of the Catholic Church in Rome was broken in much of Europe, to be replaced by Protestantism.

Luther was a Catholic priest and Professor of Theology at the University of Wittenberg. A Dominican friar named Johann Tetzel had been sent to Germany by the Pope to sell indulgences (pardon for sins) so as to raise money for the building of St Peter’s church in Rome. Luther particularly objected to a saying attributed to Tetzel that: “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul into heaven springs”.

The Ninety Five Theses were printed, and widely copied, making the protest one of the first in history to be aided by the printing press. Luther later married and had six children. He started the Reformation and changed the world. He wrote many poems and hymns too, here is one:

God is our refuge in distress,
Our shield of hope through every care,
Our Shepherd watching us to bless,
And therefore will we not despair;
Although the mountains shake,
And hills their place forsake,
And billows o’er them break
Yet still will we not fear,
For Thou, O God, art ever near.
Then though the earth remove,
And storms rage high above,
And seas tempestuous prove,
Yet still will we not fear,
The Lord of Hosts is ever near.

Today I ask that I may be as steadfast in acting out my beliefs as Martin Luther was.