29
January 1499 A.D. Kate
von Bora: Example for Lutheran Wives
Katherine von Bora viewed
herself as a prisoner in the cloister of Marienthron. Luther's Reformation
preaching had found its way behind the convent walls and she wanted out.
It wasn't as if she had chosen
this secluded life for herself. Far from it. Her dad had brought her here when
she was just a wee mite of three when her mother died. She had been there all
her eighteen years.
Born on this
day, January 29, 1499, Katherine was destined to set the tone for
Lutheran families. But first she had to escape from her cloister. Luther had a
hand in that. When he learned that Katherine and others wanted out, he
conferred with a friend of his. Merchant Kopp often delivered herring to the
convent. One evening in 1523, he bundled twelve nuns into his wagon and packed
them in the empty fish barrels! Several of the nuns returned to their families;
Luther helped find homes, husbands, or positions for the rest.
Within two years after their
fishy ride, all of the nuns had been provided for except one--Katherine.
Gradually, through the persuasion of friends and his father--and Katie's own
impish suggestion--Luther married her himself. She was 26, he was 42.
Luther was living in the
building that had been the Augustinian monastery at Wittenberg. Katie took over
its operation in 1525, the year of her marriage. She cleaned the place up and
brought order to Luther's daily life. Soon Luther wrote, "There is a lot
to get used to in the first year of marriage. One wakes up in the morning and
finds a pair of pigtails on the pillow which were not there before." After
a year of marriage he wrote another friend, "My Katie is in all things so
obliging and pleasing to me that I would not exchange my poverty for the riches
of Croesus."
Katie managed the family
finances and freed Luther for writing, teaching, and preaching. Luther called
her the "morning star of Wittenberg" since she rose at 4 a.m. to care
for her many responsibilities. She took care of the vegetable garden, orchard,
fishpond, and barnyard animals, even butchering the stock herself.
Had she not been a hard-working
woman of pure character, the reformation might have suffered. For centuries,
the Reformer's family served as a model for German families. Luther viewed
marriage as a school for character: Family life helps train Christians in the virtues of fortitude, patience, charity, and humility. This is
because all families have their problems, and his was no exception. But in
addition to their own six children and the four orphans they raised, there were
as many as 30 students, guests, or boarders staying in the monastery, all of
whom came under Katie's care. Katie also nursed Luther's many illnesses with
herbs, poultices and massages. /p>
Katie survived her husband by
six years, dying in 1552. She lived long enough to see all her children (except
Magdalena, who had died at the age of fourteen) achieve positions of influence.
One of the last things she said was "I will cling to Christ like a burr on
a topcoat."
Bibliography:
Bainton, Roland H. Here I Stand; a life of Martin
Luther. New York: Mentor, 1950.
Petersen, William J. Martin Luther Had a Wife;
Harriet Beecher Stowe Had a Husband. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale
House, 1983.
Various segments in books on Christian women and
various internet articles.
Last updated May,
2007.
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