Katharina von Bora
(1499-1552)

is one of the most significant women in Church history. She became Martin Luther's wife after escaping from a convent with 11 other nuns. She was a devoted wife to Luther, who referred to her as "my lord Katie" and together they had 6 children, 4 of whom lived to be adults.
She was a wonderful manager of the household, despite limited funds and a large number of guests. She grew vegetables, bought a farm to raise cattle and chickens and brewed beer.

Click here to read her time-line.

Issue #76: Katie Luther: Establishing a Pattern for the Christian Family.

CATHERINE VON BORA was only eighteen at the time Martin Luther issued his now famous 95 theses from Wittenberg. She had lived in a convent since she was three; her father had taken her there after her mother's death.

Catherine and several of the other nuns at the cloister heard of Luther's Biblical teaching. Once they believed the principles Luther taught, they wanted to leave the cloisters. When Luther heard of this, he encouraged a merchant friend to help them escape. Merchant Kopp often delivered herring to the convent, and one evening in 1523, he bundled twelve nuns into his wagon 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 escape, all the nuns had been provided for except one--Catherine.

Gradually, through the persuasion of friends and his father, Luther proposed to marry Katie himself. Luther had been given the building of the Augustinian monastery at Wittenberg by the Elector, and into the monastery Katie moved after her marriage in 1525. She cleaned up the monastery and brought some order to Luther's daily life. Luther wrote a friend, "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 Luther 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." Luther, the former celibate monk, now exalted marriage, exclaiming, "There is no bond on earth so sweet, nor any separation so bitter, as that which occurs in a good marriage."

Katie managed the finances of the family and helped free Luther's mind for his work of writing, teaching, and ministering. 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 to the butchering of them herself. Often there were as many as 30 students, guests, or boarders staying in the monastery, all of whom came under Katie's care. Luther was often ill, and Katie was able to minister to him in his illnesses because of her great medical skill.

Katie's life was not just concerned with the physical, however. Martin encouraged his Katie in her Bible study and suggested particular passages for her to memorize.