Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a German monk, theologian, and university professor whose challenges to the Roman Catholic Church set off the Protestant Reformation. His teachings reshaped Western Christianity and gave rise to the Lutheran tradition.

Luther was born on November 10, 1483, in Eisleben, in the County of Mansfeld in the Holy Roman Empire. His father, Hans Luder, was a copper miner and smelter, and his mother, Margarethe, ran the household; the family later moved to nearby Mansfeld.

He studied at the University of Erfurt, earning a master's degree in 1505, then entered an Augustinian monastery after a thunderstorm vow. He was ordained a priest in 1507 and received a doctorate in theology in 1512, taking up a chair of biblical studies at the University of Wittenberg.

In 1517 he posted his Ninety-five Theses, attacking the sale of indulgences. The papal bull Exsurge Domine threatened him with excommunication in 1520, and he defended his views at the Diet of Worms in 1521. He translated the New Testament into German at the Wartburg, married Katharina von Bora in 1525, and wrote hymns such as A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. He died in Eisleben on February 18, 1546.

Their name Martin derives from the Latin name Martinus, from Mars, the Roman god of war. Martin has long been a common given name across Europe and the Americas.