The article deals with the observant Thuringian-Saxon reform congregation of Augustinian hermits around 1500, the order that Luther joined in Erfurt in 1505. The emergence and organization of the reform congregation is examined in a comparative perspective and embedded in the overarching, contemporary context of church and piety history. Finally, it is asked which instruments the observant Augustinian canons had at their disposal to spread their observant piety among the population and how effective these were.