(Die Lutherin, Käthe von Bora, Katharina Luther)
born on January 29, 1499 in Lippendorf near Leipzig, the Holy Roman Empire
died on December 20, 1552 in Torgau, the Holy Roman Empire
German pastor's wife, wife of Martin Luther
525th birthday on January 29, 2024
Biography
For her husband, the famous Protestant Reformer, she was Carissima or My dearest Käthe; he also addressed her as mea domina or meus dominus Ketha in letters. All that is known about her childhood is that she came from impoverished Saxon nobility. Her mother died young and her father placed her in the Nimbschen Abbey near Grimma when she was ten years old. She had lessons in reading, writing and even in Latin, but she probably devoted most of her time to learning humility, obedience and prayer.
We can only guess how she and eight other nuns came to the courageous decision to flee the constraints and confines of the convent. Presumably writings by the reformer, in which he spoke out against monasticism and celibacy, were secretly smuggled into the convent.
They asked Luther for help. He sent a delivery man to the convent, and the nuns were thus able to escape unnoticed in the man’s covered wagon, arriving in Wittenberg on Easter in 1523. Luther arranged accommodation and marriage for them there. Only three of the nuns remained in the end, including Katharina who proclaimed that she would only marry the reformer himself.
Luther, who was 15 years older, was at first reluctant to enter into a marriage, but in 1525 he married her in accordance with all the customs and conventions. These included blessing by his friend P. Bugenhagen, a wedding in front of witnesses, and a festive wedding feast. The household was set up in an old, neglected Augustinian monastery in Wittenberg that had been provided to them as a wedding gift by the sovereign lord Johann, Elector of Saxony. With diligence and efficiency Katherina made it more habitable through extensions and conversions for the ever-growing family. In addition to their own six children, it came to house a varying number of orphans and relatives. She used the extensive land holdings for vegetable cultivation, livestock breeding and a brewery and was thus able to feed the numerous students and guests who were attracted by her husband's fame. In times of plague, she took in people in need of care. Her husband, who was often ill and prone to depression, also required a great deal of her attention. She worked tirelessly.
Katharina was no beauty; a portrait by Cranach shows a face with broad cheekbones, strikingly slanted eyes and a finely drawn mouth. For the difficult Luther, she was the best wife he could have wished for: Not only was she an extremely thrifty and prudent housewife, but she was also a spiritual companion with whom he could share theological and political problems.
After Luther's death in 1546, Katharina fell on hard times. She had to flee Wittenberg twice with her children in the turmoil of war and her property was destroyed. After the reconstruction, the plague forced her to flee once again. She had an accident and died as a result in 1552.
Their marriage and their family life became the model for a Protestant pastor's household with its patriarchal austerity, its piety and its large number of children.
Author: Ursula Schweers
(Text from 1998; translated with DeepL.com; edited by Ramona Fararo, 2023.)
Please consult the German version for additional information (pictures, sources, videos, bibliography).
Quotes
I would not give up my Käthe for France and Venice [...], for God has given her to me as he has given me to her. (From: Tischreden Doktor Martin Luther; in English Luther’s Table Talk)
... what difficulties there are in a marriage! Adam made our nature unstable. Adam and Eve will often have bickered: 'You ate the apple!’ And he: 'Why did you give it to me?’ (Luther on marriage)
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