Martin Luther - Clinton Twp. Michigan - Statues of Religious Figures on Waymarking.com

He was born Martin Luder on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany. Shortly after Martin’s birth his family moved to Mansfield where his father went into the copper mining business. His schooling began at a Latin school, that he attend until the age of 13. From here he was off to a boarding school for one year when he moved to Eisleben to live with relatives. At age 18 martin was off to University of Erfurt which was which was one of the best universities in Germany. The university specialized in the study of Law, Medical and Theology. Martin’s farther had hopes of Martin studying law and having a secure future. In 1505 Martin Luther received his Masters degree, it was also the year that he swore himself to becoming a Monk.

Martin entered the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt in 1505 and took his monk's vow in 1506. The life of a monk during Luther's time was hard, and consisted of fasting, prayer and work. A monk's day began at 3 am with the first hourly prayers. In 1507, Luther was ordained as a priest in Erfurt and started studying Theology at the University of Erfurt. After receiving his doctorate in Theology in 1512, Luther took a position as Theology Professor at the Wittenberg University 'Leucorea'. In 1514 Luther became priest for Wittenberg's city church.

Now being the priest of the city church of Wittenberg he was responsible for the salvation of his parish. Martin Luther observed that many people in Wittenberg were not coming to him for confession any more. They were going to towns in Brandenburg or Anhalt like Jüterbog or Zerbst to buy Indulgences. The practice of buying Indulgences, which quasi replaced confession and allowed people to buy their salvation, was completely repulsive to Luther. He strongly believed that one lived a life of humility in order to receive God's grace. In addition, the Dominican monk, Johann Tetzel, sold indulgences in the region around Wittenberg in a very ostentatious manner. Many stories started poping up about him such as, that Tetzel could redeem the sins of the deceased. Further sayings of Tetzel, such as, "When the money clangs in the box, the souls spring up to heaven", also brought protests from Luther. Prior to October 31, 1517, Luther had preached against the indulgence trade. After reading an instruction manual for indulgence traders, he wrote a letter to his church superiors hoping to get rid of this abuse. In this letter he included 95 Theses which were to be used as the basis for a discussion on the topic. This is the point of which Dr. Martin Luther became known as The Father of Reformation.

Reformation began with Luther nailing the 95 These to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg. This took place on October 31, 1517. Because of increasing pressure, Luther found it necessary to explain and clarify his theses in writing. In 1518, Luther himself said that he only wanted to take care of an abuse (indulgence) and was not striving to unhinge the papacy with his theses. The inquisition against Luther was taken up again in 1520, partly because of these works. The peak of the inquisition came on June 15, 1520, with the Papal Bull of excommunication in which Luther was ordered to recant his teachings.