Catherine Luther Formerly Catherine von Bora Born the 29th of January, 1499. Died the 20th of December, 1546 Wife of Martin Luther, reformist of the Catholic Church in the fourteenth century Catherine Luther was a wonderful woman. For such a man as Martin Luther, who would change the world and rock the Popes comfortable little seat, who would be persecuted, threatened with death and filled with depression and doubt, God required a very special woman. Catherine von Bora was that very special woman. Catherine was a wife, and as such she supported her husband, kept the home fires burning for him while he was away, endured trials, and most importantly had her own walk with God. Through studying the life of this woman, we find her strength, patience and intelligence an excellent example of a Woman Used Of God. Martin Luther himself was one of the greatest reformists history has in her books. Martin Luthers early religious teaching was of the Catholic doctrine, taught to him at an early age. My religious instruction was imparted with the same severity as my secular; I turned pale and terrified at the very name of Christ. I regarded Christ as nothing more than a strict and angry judge. Luthers father was a strict disciplinarian, and, probably due to his gaining his financial security later in life, wished his children to attend Universities and become professional laymen. This, too, was what Luther would have become had he not been riding home on a certain day, when a storm broke and lighting forced him to the ground. In his terror of the thunder and lightening, he felt sure he was to die. “St Anne help me! I will become a monk!” That was the first of many statements those lips would make that would shock the world. Against his fathers will, he took up the cloth in 1505. Martin Luthers repentance of sin and desire for the assurance of salvation is overwhelming. His struggles, both mental and spiritual, were intense. His thoughts of God were that the eternal being was unloving and angry, and his own existence sinful and unforgivable. It was not until years after his struggle began, after he was finally given a Bible and he began to read of Paul, that he understood the love of God. “At last I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that “the just shall live by his faith”. Then I understood that the justice of God is that righteousness by which God quite freely and in sheer mercy, justifies us through faith…I felt as if I had been reborn and gone through open doors into paradise.” The turning point of his, and many other lives, came in 1517, when he nailed his Thesis of ninety-five topics for debate to the church door in Wittenburgs Castle Church. Thus, one humble monk challenged the authority of the Catholic Church, and stood before the Pope, a lone man, speaking only for God, and challenging the formidable force of the day. Catherine von Bora was born in 1499 on the 29th of January, in Steinlaussig. Much of her early life is unknown, but it is supposed that her mother died while Catherine was yet young and upon her fathers remarrying when she was three, she was sent to a Benedictine convent. She was moved to the convent of Mariethron in Nimptsch at the age of ten, and at the age of sixteen she took the veil. It was when she was in her early twenties that Martin Luthers theses and challenges reached the nuns ears. Martin Luthers controversial debates and publications had begun to disrupt the Catholic empire. Luther assured the public that salvation was by grace alone through faith, which eliminated the need for works. This caused the nuns to wonder if perhaps their cloister lives would not buy them a place in Gods kingdom? In one of his statements, he assured that Priests and Nuns should be allowed to marry. Luthers teachings caused monasterys and cloisters to dismantle. Catherine von Boras convent was one of those effected. Twelve of the nuns decided to escape one night, most against the will of their families. They were transported in the back of a carriage, hidden by herring barrels, to the town of Torgau. Their escape was assisted by Luther and he helped to place the girls into suitable homes or marriages. Although he originally had no intention of marrying one of the run-away nuns, he was eventually convinced to wed the last remaining woman, Catherine. On the 13th of June, 1525, almost two years after their first meeting, Martin Luther and Catherine von Bora were married. What first began as a marriage of perhaps, on Luthers part, convenience, soon became a thing most dear to his heart. Numerous letters of Luthers describe, in the meagre way words are able, his love for his wife. “Next to Gods Word, the world has no more precious treasure than Holy Matrimony. Gods best gift is a pious, cheerful, God-fearing, wife, with whom you may live peacefully, to whom you may entrust your goods, your body and life”. It is said that “together, and without the least intending it, they created an open, trusting and caring partnership that left its stamp on German home life for centuries to come.” One must wonder at Catherines tolerance under her persecution. Before she even married her husband, he was pronounced a heretic and excommunicated. It had been demanded of him that he attend numerous debates and stand up in courts before Emperors and noblemen and defend himself, and as such his life and his faith. She had the courage to marry into this situation. From all accounts, she was a strong woman. Not only did she stand tall during the onslaughts, but she also helped to prop up her husband and help him to keep going. It was said of Catherine Luther that “she made the home a haven of rest for the storm tossed man that was her husband.” It is also obvious from letters written to her by Luther while he was away on his many trips that she was aware of the religious situation at the time and understood her husbands work. One can see from his letters how much he appreciated his wife. A great deal of this appreciation is likely due to his having someone with whom he could safely converse. His previous existence had been one of tormenting silence, dealing with his own conscience and thoughts. Now, he had a woman that he could share his thoughts with. Catherine was from a similar religious background as he, since they were both from the cloth, and as such would have known a lot of what he knew regarding the sacraments and Catholic doctrine, and at the same time one can imagine the wealth of information she could have gleaned from her husband. No doubt they would have had discussions, tossing ideas back and forth, and one must wonder how many of his principals she helped to shape. Catherine also proved to me a terrific hostess. Because their home was so large (it had been a monastery and contained over forty rooms), Catherine was able to open her doors to children other than her own five, so that in all she had at some time or another eleven orphans living with her. Servants were hired to help, especially since there were also students boarding with them. Their dinner table was sometimes a large one, occasionally catering to around one hundred people. Their living children were all successful. She produced men that would later become the Councillor of state to the Elector, John Fredrick II. One of her sons was a doctor, and another, inevitably enough, became a theologian. Their daughter married the son of a Prussian nobleman. Catherine Luther helped the world by helping one man. It is amazing to look at the effects of her life. God gave her to Martin Luther. After the date of their marriage, Catherine had the opportunity to work with her husband as she felt. God is the potter and the man is the clay, but sometimes God uses the woman as one of his shaping tools for that pot. She could have dented Luther, twisted him, deformed his thoughts, but instead she was patient, she was supportive…and most importantly, she was there when he needed her. She helped to shape and strengthen Luther. Luther shaped and strengthened the people for God, breaking them away from the Catholic Church. Had she not been there to support her husband, he could not have done the things he did, nor could he have ever had such peace as he had during their marriage. Martin Luther died away from home on the 28th of January, 1546. Catherines letters to others show during this time how much she grieved. Her grief though, was not merely for herself. She understood the importance that her husband had had and all that he had done. “Who would not be grieved and full of sorrow over such a precious man as was my dear husband, who served well not town only or even a country but the whole world… if I had had an earldom or a kingdom I would not have felt their loss so deeply as now when our dear Lord God has taken from me, and not from me only but from the whole world, this dear and well-loved man”. Forced to move about again because the plague once again came to Wittenburg later that same year, Katie, as her husband had called her, was forced to move to Torgau. It was the same year of Luthers death when, as the wagon passed by a lake, she was accidently thrown from the carriage into the water. Under shock and cold and wet, she was taken the rest of the journey. Her strength had already been lessening, and she progressed to having a fever and then to pnemonia. She died on the 20th of December, 1546. It is interesting that there are not many who write or tell of Martin Luther without telling of his wife. They tell, centuries later, of her escape from a cloister, but also, they speak of the haven she made for her husband. Martin Luther lived a life of persecution and daring, but also a life of happiness and tranquility because of that one special woman that was his wife. It was very important that he do his work for God, and it was just as important that she must serve her husband, as he must serve the Lord. Catherine Luther is the reason why her husband lived so long and served so well. She is “one of the few, of the few, to whom so many owe so much”. - I have no idea who wrote this or where it came from. I found it on an old hard drive.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 00:22:56 +0000