The Ninety-five Theses are a list of propositions written by Martin Luther that started the Protestant Reformation, a schism in the Catholic Church. Luther, a professor of moral theology at the University of Wittenberg, Germany, enclosed them in a letter to the Archbishop of Mainz on 31 October 1517, a date now commemorated annually as Reformation Day. They advance Luther's positions against the selling of plenary indulgences, certificates that were said to reduce the punishment for sins in purgatory. Luther claimed that his positions accorded with those of the pope, but the Theses contradict a 14th- century papal bull. Luther's ecclesiastical superiors had him tried for heresy, which culminated in his excommunication in 1521. Though the Theses mark the start of the Reformation, Luther did not consider indulgences to be as important as other theological matters which would divide the church, such as justification by faith and the bondage of the will. His breakthrough on these issues would come later, and he did not see the writing of the Theses as the point at which his beliefs diverged from those of Rome.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety-five_Theses

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1913:

Public transportation workers in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., went on strike, shutting down mass transit in the city and sparking riots when strikebreakers attempted to restart services. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolis_streetcar_strike_of_1913

1917:

World War I: Allied forces defeated Turkish troops in Beersheba in Southern Palestine at the Battle of Beersheba, often reported as "the last successful cavalry charge in history". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Beersheba_(1917)

1973:

Three Provisional Irish Republican Army members escaped from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin aboard a hijacked helicopter which landed in the prison's exercise yard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountjoy_Prison_helicopter_escape

1984:

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her own Sikh bodyguards, sparking anti-Sikh riots throughout the country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Indira_Gandhi

1999:

All 217 people on board EgyptAir Flight 990 were killed when the aircraft suddenly plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, U.S. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EgyptAir_Flight_990

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

Lutheran: (Christianity) Of or pertaining to the theology of Martin Luther (1483–1546) or his followers, or the Lutheran church. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Lutheran

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I was something that lay under the sun and felt it, like the pumpkins, and I did not want to be anything more. I was entirely happy. Perhaps we feel like that when we die and become a part of something entire, whether it is sun and air, or goodness and knowledge. At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great.   --Willa Cather https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Willa_Cather