The Catholic Church ruled Europe for a very long time but, in the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation was created by several men who recognized the false teachings of the church. They stood up for their beliefs and some even died for the cause.
On October 31, 1517, a man named Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses, a disagreement with the Catholic church, to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. This began the Reformation when a lot of the people in the area were moved by this and started following Luther. They then began teaching things what the Catholic Church did not.
The Reformation started in Germany then spread into other countries such as France, Switzerland, Scotland, England, Italy, Poland, and Sweden. The beliefs of the Reformers were compiled into a list of five Latin phrases:
• Sola scriptura- ‘Scripture alone’
• Sola fide- ‘Faith alone’
• Sola gratia- ‘Grace alone’
• Sola Christus- ‘Through Christ alone’
• Sola Deo gloria- ‘To God alone be the glory’
As you can imagine, the Catholic church was very unhappy to hear of this new movement. So they started to hire people to kill or try “Re-reform” the Reformers. This didnt work well though because the Reformers were strong in their beliefs. Finally, the Reformation ended after a Peace Treaty in 1648.
"Hopes Blog corner" 