20 September 1542 A.D. Magdalena
Luther passes this life.
Wiki posts this about Luther’s
marital life and children:
Luther and his wife moved into a former monastery, "The Black Cloister,"
a wedding present from the new elector John the Steadfast
(1525–32). They embarked on what appeared to have been a happy and successful
marriage, though money was often short.[100] Between bearing six children, Hans – June 1526; Elizabeth – 10 December 1527, who died within a few months; Magdalene – 1529, who died in Luther's arms in 1542; Martin – 1531; Paul – January 1533; and Margaret – 1534; Katharina helped the couple
earn a living by farming the land and taking in boarders.[101] Luther confided to Michael Stiefel on 11 August 1526: "My Katie is in
all things so obliging and pleasing to me that I would not exchange my poverty
for the riches of Croesus."[102]
Wiki carries the following on
Magdalena who died in Luther’s arms.
Below, a painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder
Magdalena Luther (4 May [O.S. 25 March] 1529[1] – 20 September [O.S. 11 September] 1542) was the third child and second daughter of German priest and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther and his wife, Katharina von Bora. She died at the age of thirteen, unmarried.
Contents
Life
Magdalena was born in Wittenberg[1] as the couple's third child and second but first surviving daughter, as her older sister, Elizabeth, had died the year before Magdalena was born, at the age of seven months. Luther reported to Nicholas von Amsdorf that Katharina had gone into labour and after three hours, had delivered, without any difficulties, a perfectly healthy baby daughter.[2] She was a much loved child and she was nicknamed Lenchen[2] inside her family. Luther also asked Amsdorf to be godfather to "the said little heathen and to help her [enter] holy Christendom through the holy, precious sacrament of baptism.[2] During the Diet of Augsburg, in 1530, Luther received a portrait of the one-year-old Magdalena from his wife and thanked her by offering suggestions for weaning that he had received from Argula von Grumbach, one of the few women whose writing in favour of the Protestant Reformation are extant.[2]
Death
Magdalena died in Wittenberg in her father's arms[2] after a prolonged illness. Luther's letters and Table Talk testify that the death of Magdalena was an extremely trying time for both her parents and her older brother Hans, who was summoned home to be with his sister at the very end. It was later written:
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“
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The
beloved child, Magdalena, is sick. Her portrait, painted by Cranach, is seen
still in the room where she was lying, a lovely child, with large eyes, clear
and deep. Near the bed is now Luther, he prays: "I love her a lot, but
good God, if your will is to take her, I will give her to you with great
pleasure. Then, addressing her: My little Magdalena, my little girl, soon you
will not be with me, will you be happy without your father? The tired child
tenderly and softly answered: Yes, dear father, as God wants. Soon, we put
her in the coffin. Luther looked Ah! Sweet Lenchen, he says, you will rise
again and you will shine like a star, yes, like the sun! I am happy in the
spirit, but my earthly form is very sad. You have learned, he wrote to Justus Jonas: I
believe the report has reached you that my dearest daughter Magdalena has
been reborn into Christ's eternal kingdom. I and my wife should joyfully give
thanks for such a felicitous departure and blessed end by which Magdalena
escaped the power of the flesh, the world, the Turk and the devil; yet the
force of our natural love is so great that we are unable to do this without
crying and grieving in our hearts, or even without experiencing death
ourselves. The features, the words and the movements of the living and dying
daughter remain deeply engraved in our hearts. Even the death of Christ... is
unable to take this all away as it should. You, therefore, give thanks to God
in our stead. For indeed God did a great work of grace when he glorified our
flesh in this way. Magdalena had (as you know) a mild and lovely disposition
and was loved by all... God grant me and all my loved ones and all my friends
such a death - or rather such a life.[2]”
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