Paul Speratus (13 December 1484 – 12 August 1551) was a Swabian Catholic priest who became a Protestant preacher, reformer and hymn-writer.

[1] 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.

[3] On 31 October 1517, Martin Luther wrote to his bishop, Albert of Mainz, protesting the sale of indulgences and enclosing a copy of his 95 Theses, which his friends had translated from Latin to German by January 1518.

[2][3] It was while imprisoned that Speratus wrote his most famous hymn, Es ist das Heil uns kommen her.

[3] He was active there in defending the tenets of faith advanced by Luther, and in attacking such rival sects as the followers of Caspar Schwenckfeldt and Andreas Osiander.