Katharina’s early years
Think of bold women in our faith tradition, and Katharina von Bora Luther might not immediately come to mind. Katherine was born in the eastern German state of Saxony on January 29, 1499. Hers was a noble family, but a family without much wealth. When Katherine was about five years old, her mother died, and her father sent Katie to a Benedictine convent school near Halle. At ten years old,
Katherine was sent to a Cistercian nunnery in Nimbschen, where she was consecrated as a nun six years later, in 1515, when she was 16 years old. Life in the cloisters gave Katherine something that most women outside the cloister did not have: the ability to read and write. Katherine even learned some Latin.
While in the Nimbschen cloister, Katherine and others learned of the reforming work of Martin Luther. The budding Reformation teachings appealed to several of the sisters. On Holy Saturday in 1523, after the Easter Vigil, Katherine and 11 other nuns secretly escaped under the dark of night. They traveled to Torgau and Wittenberg, where Luther assisted the women in establishing new lives. At that time, leaving religious life or assisting someone with leaving were offences punishable by death. Katherine and the other women boldly risked their lives for freedom. Martin Luther and merchant Leonhard Koppe also risked their lives facilitating the escape by hiding the nuns in a wagon.
“I will stick to Christ as a burr to cloth.”
Katherine von Bora
In November 1524 Luther said in a letter to Georg Spalatin, “the way I feel now, and have felt thus far, I will not marry.” In April 1525, in another letter to Spalatin, Luther said he had “no thought of marriage at all.” Two months later, Luther married Katie. By 1531 Luther had commented, “I wouldn’t give up my Katie for France or for Venice.” Luther had many nicknames for Katie over time, including “my rib,” “Lord Katie,” and “my kette” (or chain). He also called her “the morning star of Wittenberg” because the energetic Katie was known to rise at 4:00 a.m. each morning.
This marriage between a former monk and a former nun was quite controversial, but each stood up to the criticism they received. Luther was called a “most insane and libidinous of apostates,” for example, and Katie a “poor, misled woman.” Commentaries and plays were written attacking the two. “Protestant pigs” were depicted entering the church in one woodcut, “followed by the biggest pigs of all, Catharina von Bora and Martin Luther.”
Six years after Martin’s death, Katie died December 20, 1552, in Torgau. She had left Wittenberg due
to an outbreak of the Black Plague. Her final words are reported to have been, “I will stick to Christ as a burr to cloth.” Katie was buried in St. Mary’s Church in Torgau. Today, Torgau is home to the only known museum dedicated to the life of Katharina von Bora Luther