Happy Reformation Day

On October 31, 1517, a German monk named Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenburg Castle church sparking the Reformation.

Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms – Anton von Werner – 1877

Most of the world is celebrating Halloween today, but today is also Reformation Day. Reformation Day marks the occasion when Martin Luther (1483-1546), a German professor of theology, priest and monk nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenburg Castle church in Germany on October 31, 1517 which sparked the Reformation.

There were earlier attempts to reform the Catholic Church before Luther. John Wycliffe (1331-1384), for instance, published the first English Bible.  Jan Hus (1369-1415) was executed for his criticism of the Catholic Church. Peter Waldo (1140-1218) was the first to commission a translation of the New Testament into the vernacular, in this particular case, the Franco-Provençal (Artipan or Romand) language that was spoken in parts of France, Switzerland and Italy.