Dec. 20 was the commemoration of Katherine Von Bora Luther, Martin Luther’s famous “Katie.”
OK, so we all know the story of her escape in the pickle cart. But I personally love the way she refused all the husbands Luther tried to throw her way and said she’d only have him.
It’s kind of a love story in a more real sense. No great romance at the start; Luther married her more to set an example than anything else.
But they grew to love each other and faced life together. She bore six children; one died at birth and a daughter died at age 13.
They also raised four orphans. She cooked, cleaned, gardened, brewed beer and held her own against Luther.
But her last years are really sad.
When Luther died in 1546, she was left with no income and was asked to move out of the abbey they lived in while she still had children at home.
Although she refused, she ended up having to flee the Schmalkaldic War.
When she was able to return, her properties were ruined by the war and she and her children lived in poverty.
When the plague broke out she had to move again.
She was badly injured when a horse was injured in the move. She died a few months later at the age of 53 on Dec. 20, 1552. Because of the war she could not even be buried by her husband in Wittenberg and was buried far away in Torgau.
I’m but a stranger here,
Heav’n is my home;
Earth is a desert dread,
Heav’n is my home.
Danger and sorrow stand
Round me on every hand;
Heav’n is my fatherland,
Heav’n is my home.
— Thomas R. Taylor
Originally posted Dec. 20, 2011, at Skating in the Garden in High Heels Under My Alb. Republished with permission of the author. Find a link to Joelle Colville-Hanson’s entry on the blog Skating in the Garden in High Heels Under My Alb at Lutheran Blogs.
