Martin Luther's father, Hans Luder (as the family name was pronounced in the local dialect), was a peasant, but he did not long remain one. Local inheritance laws specified that family lands passed intact to the youngest son, so Hans was forced to leave Mohra, his home village, before his second son, Martin, was born. Just how he was earning a living in the town of Eisleben when the baby arrived on November 10, 1483, is unknown.
Whatever else might be said of Hans Luder, the young father and husband was a loyal, right-thinking sort of person who could be counted on to do what was the best insofar as he understood it. He therefore acted according to the religious dictates of the time. That very morning, probably a cold and rainy one, he took his infant son to the Church of St. Peter's to have him baptized. He was acting most sensibly in an age when infant mortality ran to 60% or more and everyone feared that an unbaptized child who died might forfeit heaven. Hans Luder followed custom in yet another way on that christening day. Because it was the Feast of St. Martin, he named the baby Martin.
Quoted from pages 31 & 32 of "Luther the Reformer" by James M. Kittelson. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1986.
HAPPY 525th BIRTHDAY,
DR. MARTIN!
No comments:
Post a Comment