Who is THIS guy?

You might not recognize this guy, but he's really rather famous. His name is Martin Luther. He was born in Germany in 1483.  (That's just nine years before Christopher Columbus sailed off to look for a new way to get to Asia and ran into North America.)

When Martin was growing up, he wanted to be a lawyer, but one stormy day he changed his mind. He was going back to college after a visit home to see his parents. There was a terrible thunderstorm and a bolt of lightning struck close by.

Martin was really scared and so he prayed.  He promised that if he made it back to school safely, he would become a monk.  When he made it to the university, he packed his belongings, sold all his books and joined a monastery.

A monastery is a building or buildings where a group of men, called monks, live together and serve God. They study the Bible, they worship and pray together and they may do good works for people outside the monastery.

This is the Augustinian monastery where Martin went to become a monk.  He was 22 years old when he got there.  It's in Erfurt, Germany.  After two years he became a priest.  Then he studied to become a teacher.  When he was 29 he became a professor of theology.

Do you know anything else about Martin Luther? You can share what you know with the rest of us in the Comments section.