Not long after this there appeared at Wittenberg a man who was to be one of the greatest Hungarian reformers. One day, in 1529, Luther was visited by a young man who so completely won his heart that he admitted him into his house and to his table; and, during his stay at Wittenberg, the young Magyar had the privilege of listening to the pious discourses and the witty talk of the great doctor. This student was born at Deva in Transylvania, near the banks of the river Maros, in the waters of which gold is found. The town stands on the road to Temeswar, which passes by the defiles of the mountains and the Iron Gates, at a short distance from the ruins of Sarmizegethusa, the capital of the ancient Dacians, on the site of which the Romans afterwards erected Ulpia Trajana. Here Mathias Biro Devay was born, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, of a noble family. It is supposed that he was one of the disciples of Grynaeus at Buda. In 1523 he went to the university of Cracow, where he matriculated at the same time as his friend Martin of Kalmance. He remained there about two years, and was known as a sincere Roman Catholic. Devay returned from Cracow towards the close of 1525, and having become priest and monk he showed himself a zealous friend of the pope. He who was to beat down the idol was at this time on his knees before it. It appears to have been in the second half of the year 1527 and the first half of the year 1528 that his mind was enlightened by the Gospel. He embraced the faith in Christ the Saviour with all the frankness and energy of his nature. The catholics, who had known his devotion to the doctrine of Rome, were in consternation. ‘He has been a Roman priest!’ they said, ‘and a man most devoted to our Catholic faith!’ Devay felt the need of getting established in the evangelical doctrine and of qualifying himself to defend it. He therefore went to Wittenburg, and on December 3, 1529, matriculated there.