In the church of Luther's time monks, priests and other clergy never married. Martin Luther had preached vehe­mently against this Roman practice of celibacy. Not only was his teaching of salvation by faith alone (Romans 1:17) widely accepted but also his thoughts about the unscriptural practice of mandatory celibacy were becoming more and more accepted. So much so that in some of the convents the nuns wanted to escape in order to find a husband and establish a happy and Christian family life.

In one of the convents, in the city of Nimptsch, in Germany, there was a group of nuns who diligently searched the scriptures and realised their mistake in trying to serve God by shutting themselves away from the world. They wrote to their parents, saying,

The salvation of our souls will not permit us to remain any longer in a cloister.¹

However, their parents refused to receive them.

These nuns, all nine of them, secretly established contact with Luther. Luther, with the help of some friends, arranged for a tradesman to go to the cloister with his wagon. All nine nuns found a good hiding place on the back of the wagon and hid under some material. If they had been discovered all of them including the tradesman would have been severally punished and most likely killed. After a strenuous and uncom­fortable journey they finally arrived in Wittenberg. Katharina von Bora was one of the escapees. They all found a hospitable home among the reformed families. It was a pleasure to share their newly discovered riches of the gospel that salvation could not be purchased by indulgences, but it was a gift of our faithful God and Father. Katharina was a hard worker and quickly learned housekeeping in the home of one of these families.

Soon Luther and his friends set them­selves the task of finding suitable husbands for these nuns. After all, Luther had started all this with his teaching, so now it was also up to him to help them find husbands. One of his associates, Dr. Amsdorf, visited Katie and mentioned to her that one of his friends, Dr. Glatz, a fine gentleman, was in love with her. But Katie did not want him as a husband, even though he was a former rector of the University of Wittenberg and was now a dedicated pastor.

'No! No! Dr. Amsdorf, I would never marry him. Never!'
Breaking the silence that followed, she had a question.
'Did Dr. Luther suggest that you ask me to marry Dr. Glatz?'
Amsdorf smiled. 'He and I have discussed it many times. Yes, he made the suggestion. He would even perform the ceremony!'
'Well, there will be no such ceremony!'
'Why not?'
'Because I don't love him'.
Then Amsdorf asked her: 'Is there anyone in Wittenberg you would marry?'
'Yes, there are two.' Replied Katie promptly
'Two! And who are they?' His eyes widened.
'They are both distinguished men', she teased.
'Who?'
'Either you or Dr. Luther!'
Amsdorf slapped the desk with both hands and roared with laughter. While still shaking his head, he exclaimed,
'Katie von Bora, you're as proud as a peacock! But I like you anyway. However, I'm going to remain a celibate, and Dr. Luther has assured me he will never marry.'²

However, man proposes, but God disposes. Even though Luther had vowed never to marry, God had different plans for him and Katie. Katharina was convinced that if she were to marry, it would have to be to a godly man. Who would have expected Luther, who never wanted to marry, to marry Katie? Indeed, to everyone's surprise, the 41 year old Luther agreed to marry 26 year old Katie. They were engaged on 13th June in 1525 and were married the same day. Their marriage took place during a tumultuous time in Germany but it was the beginning of a wonderful relationship which was to develop into a deep abiding love and respect for one another. Luther's father had urged him to marry and, of course, Katharina agreed with that sound advice for she said: "You have a wise father".

Naturally Dr. Martin Luther's life changed dramati­cally after his marriage to Katie for she was a force to be reckoned with. She had to get up early in the morning for there was much work to be done on the farm including the oversight of many workers in the home and on the farm. Luther often referred to his wife as "the Morning Star of Wittenberg". She had to quickly learn how to do everything such as looking after the finances, running the busy household, gardening, raising livestock and various other things. She even learned how to brew their own beer just for family use. It was indeed a very busy household with many guests coming and going. Their marriage was blessed with six children. Only four, however, survived to adulthood. Elizabeth died before she reached the age of eight months and Magdalene only reached the age of thirteen. They also adopted eleven more children. It was good for Luther to have a wife who was very thrifty and kept his expenditure under control. He was known to be very generous and no beggar would ever be turned away from his door. But Luther often forgot that his own family had to eat too. Katharina had to run a boarding house to supplement the family's income and to sustain the numerous guests who often dined at their table.

Katie showed great interest in her husband's work. She took a lively interest in her husband's affairs and was not shy about giving him a piece of her mind and passing on some advice. At times this irritated Luther and then he would refer to his wife as "My chain". But generally speaking their marriage and family life was an example of what a Christian marriage and family ought to be like. There was peace, joy and always much singing. And when there was peace in the home it gave Luther a wonderful opportunity to teach and to preach around 150 sermons annually. By being such a great support to her husband and family Katie made a tremendous contribution to the Reformation behind the scenes. Katharina provided a wonderful example of what it meant to be a woman dedicated to God, not cloistered in a convent, but unselfishly serving her husband and family and the church. Right through the years of their married life Katie supported, encouraged and at times, when necessary, corrected her husband as can be seen in the following anecdote.

Katie Luther was the sort of person who could take a joke – and Martin was certainly the type who enjoyed dishing it out. In his letters he often teased her about matters such as her frugality, negligence, and worries. Katie also had a sense of humour, along with a way of correcting her husband in just the way that he needed. Once, when Luther was so depressed that no words of counsel seemed capable of penetrating his darkness, Katie decided to don a black dress.

Luther asked: 'Are you going to a funeral?'
'No,' she replied, 'but since you act as though God is dead, I wanted to join you in the mourning.'
Luther quickly recovered!³

After many years of faithful service in the church of Jesus Christ, His Master and Saviour, and some happy years together with Katie, his wife, Luther died in 1546, and Katharina six years later at the age of 53. Her last recorded words were: "I will stick to Christ as a burr on a top coat".⁴  What a wonderful and rich confes­sion of faith from someone who was rescued from the unscriptural teachings of the Roman Catholic church and set free, by the grace of God, within the circle of Reformed believers. Now Katie and her husband are singing the praises of God together with the heavenly choir. Their singing is a continuation of their songs of praise here on earth as W. Meijer wrote:

There was great happiness in Luther's home and they were always singing.⁵