When Luther became a priest and celebrated his first Mass, in 1507, he trembled so much he nearly dropped the bread and cup. He became so terrified of the presence of Christ in the sacrament that he tried to run from the altar.

By the end of his life, Martin Luther wrote 60,000 pages, yet he hoped that "all my books would disappear and the Holy Scriptures alone be read."

On his way to the ecclesiastical hearing at Augsburg, when he feared the heretic's stake lay ahead, Luther's thoughts turned to the welfare of his mother and father. "Now I must die," he said. "What a disgrace I shall be to my parents!"