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500 years ago today, on 31 October 1517 Dr Martin Luther, an Augustinian friar and university teacher in Wittenberg, did something that sparked a Reformation - or a revolution, depending on your viewpoint. Martin Luther wrote a letter to his Archbishop objecting to the corrupt practices that had developed around the selling of papal indulgences. Those corrupt practices, especially statements of some preachers, had misled people as to the true nature of repentance. Included in the letter is a list of 95 theses. This was a list of questions and propositions for academic debate in the University of Wittenberg on the power and efficacy of indulgences. He may have hung this list on the door of Wittenberg Castle church, as this was a usual place for posting such notices. More significantly, the list was printed and so was quickly widely distributed and discussed far beyond Wittenberg. The rest is history - some of it dreadful, some glorious, but don't expect me to summarise 500 yea...

18th century Icon Russian Orthodox Today, 18 October is the feast of Luke the Evangelist. He is also known as St Luke. Are you marking this day?  If so, how? Here are 5 ways to celebrate Luke's Day: 1. Celebrate St Luke with food. St Luke by Pordenone Some people like to eat beef of St Luke's Day. That is because of the tradition that since early Christianity Luke's Gospel (and its writer) has been identified with the winged bull or ox, one of the 4 living creatures around God's throne, described in John's vision in Revelation. 2. Celebrate St Luke with reading Tradition attributes the Gospel of Luke and its sequel the Acts of the Apostles to Luke the physician and evangelist companion of Paul on some of his missionary journeys. Reading at least some of those books would be a fitting way to honour him. Luke's message is the message of Jesus - good news for all people, including people seen by others as outsiders. That me...

Maximilian Kolbe died in Auschwitz Concentration Camp on 14 August 1941. He died horribly after volunteering to take the place of another prisoner selected for death by dehydration and starvation. You can read a brief version of that story in  'Man in Striped Pajamas'. During World War II as a Polish Franciscan Friar, Maximilian Kolbe sheltered refugees from Greater Poland, including 2000 Jewish people in his friary at  Niepokalanów. Using amateur radio he also actively spoke against Nazi activities. Such actions led to his arrest, imprisonment and death. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1983 as a 'martyr of charity'. At the ceremony in Rome, perhaps the most significant person present was Franciszek Gajowniczek. He was the prisoner whose place Maximilian took in offering his own life in exchange. That man survived Auschwitz and lived until 1995, aged 93. You can read an interesting biography of Maximilian Kolbe in the Jewish Virtual Library .  From...