Observance Daily What day is today, and why are we celebrating it?
Reformation Day is observed on 31 October by Lutherans and other Protestants to commemorate the start of the Protestant Reformation.
History: on 31 October 1517 Martin Luther, professor of moral theology at the University of Wittenberg in Germany, sent his Ninety-five Theses, formally the Disputation on the Power of Indulgences, to Albert of Brandenburg, Archbishop of Mainz. According to tradition he also posted them on the door of All Saints Church, the Castle Church, in Wittenberg. The Theses were 95 short propositions for academic debate, challenging the sale of plenary indulgences — certificates believed to reduce punishment for sins — and arguing that true repentance is inner and spiritual, not merely external confession. The Theses were quickly printed, translated and spread across Germany and Europe, starting a pamphlet war with indulgence preacher Johann Tetzel. Luther was later excommunicated in 1520, refused to recant at the Diet of Worms in 1521, and while in hiding at Wartburg Castle began translating the New Testament into German. Reformation Day was made an annual holiday in Electoral Saxony in 1668 and spread to other Lutheran lands; the 500th anniversary in 2017 was a national public holiday in Germany.
How to mark it: read about Luther and the Reformation, visit a church history display, learn about the printing press and how it spread new ideas, and reflect on the lasting changes to Christianity and Europe.
Facts: the Theses were written in Latin; the day was commemorated as early as 1527, when Luther and friends raised a glass to the trampling out of indulgences; the bronze doors of Wittenberg Castle Church now bear the Theses in German.
Related: see also https://observancedaily.com/october-31