Obedient to his father’s wishes, Martin Luther on May 20, 1505, began
his post-graduate studies at Erfurt, preparatory to entering the field
of law. But after studying for only a few weeks he suddenly rejected the
whole idea and applied for admission at the town’s Augustinian
monastery.
Hans Luther was terribly angry and Martin’s university friends were
astounded. Why had he taken such a step? Many factors contributed, but
in the final analysis his decision to become a monk can be summed up in
the words “religious experience.”
His parents were God-fearing people whose piety undoubtedly had an early
influence on him. He shared fear of the horrors of hell, purgatory, and
the last judgment which was common to people at the close of the middle
ages. In the university library he had found a complete Bible and was
tremendously impressed with his own ignorance of its contents. He
attended church and daily chapel devotions regularly all through school.
His introspective nature made him starkly aware of his sins and
shortcomings. Life as a monk was held to be the best way to forgiveness
and heaven.
Several grim incidents increased his anxiety. While on a holiday from
the university he accidentally severed an artery in his leg with his
student sword. He almost bled to death and in distress prayed to the
Virgin Mary for help. The death of a number of students during a plague
moved him profoundly. While returning to Erfurt, following a visit to
Mansfeld, he was caught in a heavy thunderstorm and a bolt of lightning
struck so close that he was knocked to the ground. Overcome by panic he
invoked St. Anna for aid and vowed “Help me, and I will become a monk.”
Fifteen days later, on July 17, friends accompanied him to the gate of
the “Black Cloister,” monastery of the Order of Augustinian Hermits in
Erfurt.
That this decision came later in life than usually was the case, and
that his impressionable years had been spent not within the confines of
a monastery but in the unrestricted atmosphere of a great university,
later proved valuable to him and to the Protestant Church.