In the summer of 1505 Luther entered the Augustinian convent at Erfurt and became a monk, as he thought, for his lifetime. The circumstances which led to this sudden step we gather from his fragmentary utterances which have been embellished by legendary tradition. He was shocked by the sudden death of a friend struck dead by lightning at Luther's side. Shortly afterward, on the second of July, 1505, two weeks before his momentous decision, he was overtaken by a violent thunderstorm near Erfurt, on his return from a visit to his parents, and was so frightened that he fell to the earth and tremblingly exclaimed: "Help, beloved Saint Anna! I will become a monk."
If there ever was a sincere, earnest, conscientious monk, it was Martin Luther. His sole motive was a concern for his salvation. To this supreme object, he sacrificed the fairest prospects of life. Luther was welcomed by his brethren with hymns of joy and prayer. He was clothed with a white woolen shirt, in honor of the pure Virgin, a black cowl and frock, tied by a leather girdle. He assumed the most menial offices to subdue his pride: he swept the floor, begged bread through the streets, and submitted without a murmur to the ascetic severities. He said twenty-five Paternosters with the Ave Maria in each of the seven appointed hours of prayer. He was devoted to the Holy Virgin and regularly confessed his sins to the priest at least once a week. At the same time, a complete copy of the Latin Bible was put into his hands for study, as was enjoined by the new code of statutes drawn up by Staupitz.
At the end of the year of probation Luther solemnly promised to live until death in poverty and chastity according to the rules of the holy father Augustin, to render obedience to Almighty God, to the Virgin Mary, and to the prior of the monastery. He was sprinkled with holy water, as he lay prostrate on the ground in the form of a cross. He was greeted as an innocent child fresh from baptism and assigned to a separate cell with a table, bedstead, and chair.
The two years which followed, he divided between pious exercises and theological studies. He read diligently the Scriptures, he excited the admiration of his brethren by his ability in a disputation on scholastic questions.
His heart was not satisfied with brain work. His chief concern was to become a saint and to earn a place in heaven. "If ever," he said afterward, "a monk got to heaven by monkery, I would have gotten there." He observed the minutest details of discipline. No one surpassed him in prayer, fasting, night watches, self-mortification. He was already held up as a model of sanctity.
But he was sadly disappointed in his hope to escape sin and temptation behind the walls of the cloister. He found no peace and rest in all his pious exercises. The more he seemed to advance externally, the more he felt the burden of sin within.
From APO-04 & NR6-14 - How to Lead a Roman Catholic to Christ (990919PM)
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