Katherine Luther

CONGREGATION
Pastor
Officers
KIDS CORNER
History
Links
Cemetery
Home

Martin Luther's Wife Kate

Katherine von Bora (Mrs. Martin Luther)
1826
portrait by Cranach the Elder

Katherine von Bora was the daughter of a minor noble in Germany. She was sent to a cloister run by Benedictines at the age of 5. There she received her education. Later, she moved to another monastery. She became a nun.

After a few years she grew unhappy with the life of a nun. She was drawn to the movement Luther started in 1517 when he nailed the 95 Thesis on the door of the church in Wittenburg. Many other young nuns agreed with her, so she wrote a letter to Luther asking for his help in making their escape.

The 4th of April 1523 was Easter Saturday. The nuns hid in a wagon full of herring barrels to make their escape from the monastery. They were transported to Wittenburg and put under the protection of Martin Luther himself. Luther had a hard time finding respectable places for the former nuns to live. Many of their parents and relatives were not happy with their decisions. It was a serious violation of Catholic canon law to hide these refugees and, along with being upset by their daughters' choice to leave the church, letting them return to their homes to live would have caused trouble for them with the church. Luther found places for them to live with people who were part of the Reformation movement and not afraid of getting in trouble with the Catholic church!

At that time, women who weren't nuns were supposed to be married. Luther arranged marriages for all the nuns - except Katherine. She rejected every suitor! She said she would only consider marrying a close friend of Luther or Martin Luther himself. On June 13, 1525, Katherine von Bora and Martin Luther were married. The Elector of Saxony gave the couple "The Black Cloister" in Wittenberg as their home. (It had been a place where Augustinian priests had lived and studied in Wittenberg before the Reformation.)

The cloister wasn't just a house; it was an estate with farm animals, fields, and even a brewery! Kate even established a hospital where sick people could be tended, and she worked with other women as a nurse. Martin Luther (who Katherine called "Sir Doctor") was very busy with his church work, so his wife handled the affairs of the estate. Kate did a good job and the income from the estate increased under her supervision. She and Martin had six children: Hans, Elizabeth, Magdalena, Martin, Paul and Margrete. Elizabeth and Magdalena both died before they grew up. The Luthers also welcomed 4 orphans into their household. It was a busy, noisy place!

The idea of married clergymen was a new idea. For centuries, priests were expected to be married only to their work in the church. That made Katherine a very important person - especially because of Martin Luther's importance, she became a role model for the wives of clergy. Luther showed her great respect, as she did for him, and they had a long and successful marriage.

Martin Luther wrote a lot about marriage, both for ordinary Protestants and the clergy, and his experience as a husband and father was very important to his views and teachings.

After Luther died, Katherine had a difficult time. She left the Black Cloister during a short war, and returned to find it in ruins with all the livestock gone. When the Black Plague reached Wittenberg she had to leave again. She was making her way to the town of Torgau and was just outside the gates when she was thrown out of the cart she was riding on. She never recovered, and Katherine Luther died just before Christmas, on December 20, 1552. She may have left the Catholic church, but her faith never waivered. Her last words were "I will stick to Christ as a burr to the cloth."

October 2018

In the Bible	Coloring Page*	Wordsearch*	Music	Craft Project

* Opens in a new window

Top of Page

Kids Corner Home

Last Page Viewed

6637 80th Avenue North Glyndon MN 56547

Site Index

Search the Website