Dr. Martin Luthers Werke. Bändchen 5

Although supporting sources are few, it is said that when Martin Luther was spell bounded by a storm that appeared suddenly before him, he wailed, "Help, St. Anne, and I'll become a monk." Later, Luther would abandon his study of law, against his father's wishes, in order to pursue theology at the house of the Augustinian Hermits. The decision was a fateful one not only for him but for all of Western Civilization: in 1517, he posted his famous Ninety-Five Theses on the church's door to display his sharp criticism of the Roman Catholic Church. These theses soon became the original doctrine of the Protestant Reformation movement. After a few additional critical pamphlets justifying the Reformation cause, he was excommunicated in 1521.