Paul Speratus

Paul Speratus (13 December 1484 – 12 August 1551) was a Catholic priest who became a Protestant preacher and song-writer. In 1523, he helped Martin Luther to create the First Lutheran hymnal, published in 1524 and called Achtliederbuch.

Early life

Paul Speratus was born in Rötlen (a village now part of present-day Ellwangen) in Swabia, on or about 13 December 1484, probably to a wealthy family. His original surname, Latinized to "Speratus," may have been "Spreter," "Hoffer," or "Offer." In later years would write his name as "von Rötlen" (of Rötlen) or "von Ellwangen, Priester der Diöcese Augsburg" (of Ellwangen, Priest of the Diocese of Augsburg).

Early studies took him to Paris and Italy, as well as (probably) Freiburg and Vienna. In 1506, he was ordained a Roman Catholic priest. In 1517, he was the author of a poem praising the Johann Eck, a conservative Catholic soon to be an important Catholic critic of Luther's new doctrines. At about the same time, the Pope named Speratus a Papal count palatine. In 1520, after having spent some years as cathedral preacher in Salzburg, he became the cathedral preacher in Würzburg.