Portrait of Katharina von Bora, wife of Martin Luther, by Lucas Cranach the Elder. 1526. Oil on panel. Warburg-Stiftung, Eisenach, Germany.

Katharina (Katherine) von Bora (January 29, 1499 – December 20, 1552) was a German Catholic nun who became the wife of Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant Reformation, who often fondly called her "my Lord Katie." Very little is known about her beyond what is found in the writings of Luther himself and some of his contemporaries. Despite this, Katharina is often considered one of the most important women of the Reformation because of her role in helping to define Protestant family life and setting the tone for clergy marriages. She is commemorated in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on December 20. Download high resolution version (461x687, 28 KB)Portrait of Katharina von Bora, wife of Martin Luther, by Lucas Cranach the Elder. ... Download high resolution version (461x687, 28 KB)Portrait of Katharina von Bora, wife of Martin Luther, by Lucas Cranach the Elder. ... January 29 is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1499 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events April - War between Henry II of France and Emperor Charles V. Henry invades Lorraine and captures Toul, Metz, and Verdun. ... For other uses, see Nun (disambiguation). ... Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546) was a German monk,[1] priest, professor, theologian, and church reformer. ... The Reformation was a movement in the 16th century to reform the Catholic Church in Western Europe. ... Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. ... The Lutheran Calendar of Saints is a listing which details the primary annual festivals and events that are celebrated liturgically by the Lutheran Church. ... The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ...

[edit] Biography

[edit] Childhood and life as a nun

Katharina von Bora was born to Hans von Bora and Anna von Bora, née von Haubitz, on January 29, 1499 in Lippendorf (south of Leipzig), Germany. Katharina grew up in a family of impoverished Saxon nobles, probably with three brothers and a sister. January 29 is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1499 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...   [] (Sorbian/Lusatian: Lipsk) is the largest city in the federal state of Saxony in Germany with a population of over 504,000. ...

Her mother died when she was quite young and her father quickly remarried, sending Katharina to the Benedictine cloister in Brehna (near Halle) in 1504 at the age of five. In 1508, her father transferred her to Marienthron (Mary's Throne), the Cistercian convent of Nimbschen, near Grimma. A paternal aunt, Magadalene ("Lena") von Bora, was a nun at the convent, and a maternal aunt, Margarete von Haubitz, was the Mother Superior. On October 8, 1515, at the age of 16, she took her vows as a nun. While at the convent, she learned reading, writing, and some Latin. Munichs city symbol celebrates its founding by Benedictine monks—the origin of its name A Benedictine is a person who follows the Rule of St Benedict. ... Cloister of Saint Trophimus, in Arles, France A cloister (from latin claustrum) is a part of cathedral, monastic and abbey architecture. ... Brehna is a town in the district of Bitterfeld, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. ... Halle (also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish from Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia) is the largest town in the German Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. ... 1504 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1508 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Order of Cistercians (OCist) (Latin Cistercenses), otherwise Gimey or White Monks (from the colour of the habit, over which is worn a black scapular or apron) are a Catholic order of monks. ... Grimma is a town in Saxony, Germany on the left bank of the Mulde. ... The Mother Superior is the nun in charge of a Christian convent. ... October 8 is the 281st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (282nd in leap years). ... 1515 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Reading is a process of retrieving and comprehending some form of stored information or ideas. ... Illustration of a scribe writing Writing, in its most common sense, is the preservation and the preserved text on a medium, with the use of signs or symbols. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ...

After several years of religious life, Katharina became interested in the growing reform movement and grew dissatisfied with her life at the convent, conspiring with several other nuns to flee from it. However, this was difficult, as leaving — or assisting others in leaving — religious life was an offense punishable by death. The women secretly contacted Luther, begging for his assistance. This article is about an abbey as a religious building. ...

On Easter eve 1523, Luther sent Leonhard Köppe, a city councilman of Torgau and a merchant who regularly delivered herring to the convent. The nuns successfully escaped by hiding in Köppe's covered wagon amongst the fish barrels and fled to Wittenberg. A local student wrote to a friend: 'A wagon load of vestal virgins has just come to town, all more eager for marriage than for life. God grant them husbands lest worse befall."^[1] Within two years, Luther was able to arrange homes, marriages or employment for all of the escaped nuns — except Katharina. Katharina was first housed with the family of Philipp Reichenbach, the city clerk of Wittenberg, and later went to the home of Lucas Cranach the Elder and his wife, Barbara. She had a number of suitors, including Wittenberg University alumnus Jerome (Hieronymus) Baumgärtner (1498–1565) of Nuremberg and Dr. (Pastor) Kaspar Glatz of Orlamünde, but none of the proposed matches worked out. Finally she told Luther’s friend and fellow reformer, Nikolaus von Amsdorf, that she would only be willing to marry either him or Dr. Luther. Easter, the Sunday of the Resurrection, Pascha, or Resurrection Day, is the most important religious feast of the Christian liturgical year, observed at some point between late March and late April each year (early April to early May in Eastern Christianity), following the cycle of the moon. ... Events April - Battle of Villalar - Forces loyal to Emperor Charles V defeat the Comuneros, a league of urban bourgeois rebelling against Charles in Spain. ... Torgau is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. ... Statue of Martin Luther in the main square Wittenberg, officially [Die] Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a town in Germany, in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, at 12° 59 E, 51° 51 N, on the Elbe river. ... A self portrait Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472 – October 16, 1553) was a German painter. ... 1498 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... // Events March 1 - the city of Rio de Janeiro is founded. ... Nuremberg (German: Nürnberg, Polish: Norymberga) is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. ... Orlamünde is a town in the Saale-Holzland district, in Thuringia, Germany. ... Nicolaus Von Amsdorf, (1483-1565), German Protestant reformer, was born on December 3rd 1483 at Torgau, on the Elbe. ...

[edit] Marriage to Luther

Luther finally relented and became engaged to Katharina on June 13, 1525 before witnesses including Justus Jonas, Johannes Bugenhagen and the Cranachs. On June 27 of the same year, they were married by Bugenhagen. Katharina was twenty-six years old, Luther forty-two. The couple took up residence in "The Black Cloister", the former Augustinian monastery in Wittenberg, which the reform-minded John Frederick, Elector of Saxony (son of Luther's protector, Frederick III, Elector of Saxony) gave to the Luthers as a wedding gift June 13 is the 164th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (165th in leap years), with 201 days remaining. ... Events January 21 - The Swiss Anabaptist Movement was born when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptized each other in the home of Manzs mother on Neustadt-Gasse, Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union. ... Justus Jonas (5 June 1493 - 9 October 1555) was a German Protestant reformer. ... Johannes Bugenhagen (24 June 1485 in Wollin, Pomerania—20 April 1558 in Wittenberg, Saxony), also called Doktor Pomeranus, introduced the Protestant Reformation in Pomerania and Denmark in the 16th century. ... June 27 is the 178th day of the year (179th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 187 days remaining. ... The Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo (died AD 430), are several Roman Catholic monastic orders and congregations of both men and women living according to a guide to religious life known as the Rule of Saint Augustine. ... Monastery of St. ... Portrait by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1531 Johann Friedrich I, Elector of Saxony (30 June 1503 - 3 March 1554), called John the Magnanimous, was head of the Protestant Confederation of Germany (the Schmalkaldic League), Champion of the Reformation. He was the son of John the Steadfast of Saxony and born... Frederick in an engraved portrait by Albrecht Dürer, 1524 Frederick III (January 17, 1463 – May 5, 1525), also known as Frederick the Wise, was Elector of Saxony (from the House of Wettin) from 1486 to his death. ...

Katharina immediately took on the task of administering and managing the vast holdings of the monastery, breeding and selling cattle and running a brewery, in order to provide for their family and the steady stream of students who boarded with them and visitors seeking audiences with Luther. In times of widespread illness, Katharina operated a hospital on site, ministering to the sick alongside other nurses. Luther called her the "boss of Zulsdorf," after the name of the farm they owned, and the "morning star of Wittenberg" for her habit of rising at 4 a.m. to take care of her various responsibilities. Binomial name Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758 Cattle (often called cows in vernacular and contemporary usage, or kye as the Scots plural of cou) are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. ... The entrance of a brewery. ...

In addition to her busy life tending to the lands and grounds of the monastery, Katharina bore Martin six children: Johannes (Hans) (1526–1575), Elizabeth (1527–8) who died at eight months, Magdalena (1529–42) who died at 13 years, Martin Jr. (1531–1565), Paul (1533–1593) and Margarete (1534–70). The Luthers also raised four orphan children, including Katharina's nephew, Fabian. January 14 - Treaty of Madrid. ... Year 1575 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. ... January 5 - Felix Manz, co-founder of the Swiss Anabaptists, was drowned in the Limmat in Zürich by the Zürich Reformed state church. ... Events June 19 - Battle of Landriano - A French army in Italy under Marshal St. ... Events April 22 - Treaty of Saragossa divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal, stipulating that the dividing line should lie 297. ... Events War resumes between Francis I of France and Emperor Charles V. This time Henry VIII of England is allied to the Emperor, while James V of Scotland and Sultan Suleiman I are allied to the French. ... January 26 - Lisbon, Portugal is hit by an earthquake - thousands die. ... // Events March 1 - the city of Rio de Janeiro is founded. ... Events January 25 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne Boleyn, his second Queen consort. ... Events May 18 - Playwright Thomas Kyds accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe. ... 1534 (MDXXXIV) was a common year in the 16th century. ... Events January 23 - The assassination of regent James Stewart, Earl of Moray throws Scotland into civil war February 25 - Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I of England with the bull Regnans in Excelsis May 20 - Abraham Ortelius issues the first modern atlas. ...

Through Luther's writings, one can get a sense of Katharina's wit and personality as seen in this exchange:

Martin Luther said, "The time will come when a man will take more than one wife." [Katharina] responded, "Let the devil believe that!" The doctor said, "The reason, Katie, is that a woman can bear a child only once a year while her husband can beget many." Katie responded, " Paul said that each man should have his own wife." To this the doctor replied, "Yes, 'his own wife' and not 'only one wife,' for the latter isn't what Paul wrote." The doctor kidded for a long time and finally the doctor's wife said, "Before I put up with this, I'd rather go back to the convent and leave you and all our children."^[2] Paul of Tarsus (b. ...

[edit] After Luther's death

When Martin Luther died in 1546, Katharina was left in difficult financial straits without Luther's salary as professor and pastor. She was asked to move out of the old abbey and into much more modest quarters with the children who remained at home, but initially refused. Almost immediately thereafter, Katharina had to leave the Black Cloister on her own at the outbreak of the Schmalkaldic War, from which she fled to Magdeburg. After her return the approach of the war forced another flight in 1547, this time to Braunschweig. In July of that year, at the close of the war, she was at last able to return to Wittenberg. The buildings and lands of the monastery had been torn apart and laid waste. Economically, they could not remain there. Katharina was able to support herself thanks to the generosity of John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony and the princes of Anhalt. She remained in Wittenberg in poverty until 1552, when an outbreak of the Black Plague and a harvest failure forced her to leave the city once more. She fled to Torgau where her cart was involved in a bad accident near the city gates, seriously injuring Katharina. She died in Torgau about three months later on December 20, 1552, at the age of 53 and was buried at Torgau's St. Mary's Church, far from her husband's grave in Wittenberg. She is reported to have said on her deathbed, "I will stick to Christ as a burr [sticks] to cloth." // Events Spanish conquest of Yucatan Peace between England and France Foundation of Trinity College, Cambridge by Henry VIII of England Katharina von Bora flees to Magdeburg Science Architecture Michelangelo Buonarroti is made chief architect of St. ... The meaning of the word professor (Latin: one who claims publicly to be an expert) varies. ... A pastor is a minister or priest of a Christian church. ... The Schmalkaldic League was a defensive league of Protestant princes in the Holy Roman Empire in the mid-16th century. ... This article is about the German city. ... Year 1547 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. ... Coordinates: Time zone: CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) Administration Country: Germany State: Lower Saxony District: Urban district City subdivisions: 20 Boroughs Lord Mayor: Gert Hoffmann (CDU) Governing parties: CDU / FDP Basic Statistics Area: 192. ... Portrait by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1531. ... Events April - War between Henry II of France and Emperor Charles V. Henry invades Lorraine and captures Toul, Metz, and Verdun. ... This article concerns the epidemic of the mid-14th century. ... Torgau is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. ... December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events April - War between Henry II of France and Emperor Charles V. Henry invades Lorraine and captures Toul, Metz, and Verdun. ...

The surviving Luther children were now adults. Hans studied law and became a court advisor. Martin studied theology but never had a regular pastoral call. Paul became a physician. He fathered six children and the male line of the Luther family continued through him to John Ernest, ending in 1759. Margarete married into a noble, wealthy Prussian family, but died in 1570 at the age of 36. Her descendants have continued to the present time. John Ernest Maquette for relief mural at IUA congress 1961 John Ernest is an American born artist working in England from 1951. ... 1759 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Margaret is a female first name. ... Events January 23 - The assassination of regent James Stewart, Earl of Moray throws Scotland into civil war February 25 - Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I of England with the bull Regnans in Excelsis May 20 - Abraham Ortelius issues the first modern atlas. ...

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Books

1. Roland H. Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, New York: Penguin, 1995, c1950. 336 p. ISBN 0-452-01146-9.
2. Roland H. Bainton, Women of the Reformation in Germany and Italy, Augsburg Fortress Publishers (Hardcover), 1971. ISBN 0-8066-1116-2. Academic Renewal Press (Paperback), 2001. 279 p. ISBN 0-7880-9909-4.
3. Hans J. Hillerbrand, ed. The Reformation: A Narrative History Related by Contemporary Observers and Participants, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1979.
4. E. Jane Mall, Kitty, My Rib, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959. ISBN 0-570-03113-3.
5. Luther's Works, 55 volumes of lectures, commentaries and sermons, translated into English and published by Concordia Publishing House and Fortress Press, 1957; released on CD-ROM, 2001.

[edit] Filmography

1. 1953: Martin Luther, theatrical film, with Niall MacGinnis as Luther; directed by Irving Pichel. Academy Award nominations for black & white cinematography and art/set direction. Rereleased in 2002 on DVD in 4 languages.
2. 1973: Luther, theatrical film (MPAA rating: PG), with Stacy Keach as Luther.
3. 1992: Where Luther Walked, documentary directed by Ray Christensen.
4. 2001: Opening the Door to Luther, travelogue hosted by Rick Steves. Sponsored by the ELCA.
5. 2002: Martin Luther, a historical film from the Lion TV/PBS Empires series, with Timothy West as Luther, narrated by Liam Neeson and directed by Cassian Harrison.
6. 2003: Luther, theatrical release (MPAA rating: PG-13), with Joseph Fiennes as Luther and directed by Eric Till. Partially funded by American and German Lutheran groups.

Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ... The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is a non-profit trade association formed to advance the interests of movie studios. ... Stacy Keach (born Walter Stacy Keach, Jr. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Not to be confused with Public Broadcasting Services in Malta. ... William John Liam Neeson OBE (born June 7, 1952) is an Oscar-nominated Irish actor. ... Joseph Fiennes (IPA: ) (born May 27, 1970) is an English actor. ...

[edit] External links

• A website devoted to Katharina von Bora (German)
• The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (USA) Concordia Historical Institute website on Katherine von Bora

This article is partially based on the article Katharina von Bora from the German Wikipædia.

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