January 15, 1529, Luther wrote to Martin Goerlitz: "Modo in parando catechismo pro rudibus paganis versor. I am now busy preparing the Catechism for the ignorant heathen" (not "peasants," for in his German Order of Worship, Luther says: "Catechism is an instruction by means of which heathen who desire to become Christians are taught"). It was formerly asserted that the expression "pro rudibus paganis" showed that Luther here meant the Small Catechism. Appealing to the statement in the Preface to the Large Catechism: "This sermon is designed and undertaken that it might be an instruction for children and the simple-minded," Koellner was the first one to assert that Luther's phrase of January 15 referred to the Large Catechism. In this he was followed by Cohrs, Enders, and others. (Enders, 7, 44.) However, according to the usage of the word catechism described above, the statement quoted does not preclude that Luther, when writing thus, was engaged on both Catechisms. And such indeed was the case. For on January 20, 1529, Roerer, the Wittenberg proofreader, wrote to Roth: "Nothing new has appeared. I believe that the Catechism as preached by D. M. for the unlettered and simple will be published for the coming Frankfurt mass. Yet, while writing this, I glance at the wall of my dwelling, and fixed to the wall I behold tables embracing in shortest and simplest form Luther's Catechism for children and the household, and forthwith I send them to you as a sample, so that by the same messenger they may be brought to you immediately. Iam novi nihil in lucem prodiit; ad nundinas credo Francofurdenses futuras Catechismus per D. M. praedicatus pro rudibus et simplicibus edetur. Hoc vero scribens inspicio parietem aestuarioli mei, affixas parieti video tabulas complecententes brevissime simul et crasse catechismum Lutheri pro pueris et familia, statim mitto pro exemplari, ut eodem tabellario iam ad te perferantur." (W. 30, 1, 428; Enders, 7, 44.)
This letter of January 20 is the first time that both of Luther's Catechisms are mentioned together and distinguished from each other. By catechism Roerer means the text of the five chief parts which Luther put at the head of his Large Catechism. "Catechismus per D. M. praedicatus" designates the explanation of this text as comprised in Luther's three series of sermons of 1528 and summed up in the Large Catechism. From this preached and later on so-called Large Catechism, which appeared in April, entitled "German Catechism," Roerer distinguishes "tables, summing up Luther's Catechism in shortest and simplest form for children and the household." He means the series of charts containing the first three chief parts, which Luther considered the Catechism par excellence. And at the time when Roerer spoke of the prospective publication of the Large Catechism for the Frankfurt mass, these tables were already hanging on his wall.
Albrecht comments: "For the moment Roerer had not remembered the very interesting novelty, which had already appeared in the first tables of the later so-called Small Catechism. However, a glance at the wall of his room reminded him of it. And from a letter of his dated March 16 we must infer that they were the three charts containing the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer with Luther's explanation. These he calls 'tables which in shortest and simplest form embrace Luther's Catechism for the children and the household,' Thus he wrote in view of the superscription: 'As the head of the family should teach them in a simple way to his household,' without implying a difference between the expression pro pueris et familia and the preceding pro rudibus et simplicibus, since the former are included in the latter. The difference between the two works is rather indicated by the words brevissime simul et crasse. But at the same time their inner connection is asserted, for by sending the tables pro exemplari, he characterizes them as a model or sample of Luther's manner of treating the Catechism. They are the catechismus Lutheri, that is, the aforementioned catechismus per D. M. praedicatus in its shortest form and draft (conceived as an extract of the sermons or of the Large Catechism). He thought that this sample would indicate what was to be expected from the forthcoming larger work." (W. 30, 1, 429.)
When, therefore, Luther wrote on January 15: "Modo in parando catechismo pro rudibus paganis versor," he was engaged on both Catechisms, and had proceeded far enough to enable him to send the first tables of the Small Catechism to the printer. Buchwald remarks regarding the letter of January 20 that Roerer probably had just received the tables from the press. However, Roerer's letter to Roth of February 12, 1529, shows that already about a month ago he had sent the "tables of the Catechism" (evidently the same to which he referred January 20) to Spalatin. Accordingly, these tables were forwarded about January 12. The following remark in the Church Order for Schoenewald in the district of Schweinitz: "First to pronounce for the people the Ten Commandments, the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, thereupon to explain them in the most simple way, as published [each] on a printed table," takes us back still a few days more. For the visitation in the district of Schweinitz, in which Luther took part, was held January 7 to 9, the time from which also the Schoenewald Church Order dates. At this visitation, therefore, even prior to January 7, Luther himself distributed the first series of tables, comprising the first three chief parts, of his Small Catechism. Cohrs opines that Luther sent this series to the printer about Christmas 1528 at the latest. However, it does not appear why the printing should have consumed three to four weeks Seb. Froeschels however, is mistaken when he declares in his book on the Priesthood of Christ, 1565, that, at a table conversation of 1528, Luther had advised Hans Metsch constantly to have with him a good small catechism, such as the one he had written. Knaake surmises that 1528 is a misprint; it should be 1538. (W. 30, 1, 430f.)
101. Completion of Catechisms Delayed.
It was almost two months after the first table-series had appeared before the second was published. This delay is accounted for by Luther's illness and his being burdened with other work, especially with his book against the Turk. March 3 he wrote to Hausmann: "By reason of Satan's afflictions I am almost constantly compelled to be a sick well man (als Gesunder krank zu sein), hence I am much hindered in writing and other work." (Enders, 7, 61.) However, in the same letter Luther informed his impatiently waiting friend: "The Catechism is not completed, my dear Hausmann, but it will be completed shortly." Enders remarks that this refers to the Large Catechism. However, it harmonizes best with Luther's usage and with the facts if the words are understood as referring to both Catechisms. "Shortly," Luther had written, and on March 16 Roerer, according to his letter of this date, forwarded "the tables of Confession, the German Litany, the tables of the Sacrament of Baptism and of the blood of Christ." Roerer calls them a novelty, recens excussa, recently printed, from which it appears that the tabulae catechismum Lutheri brevissime simul et crasse complectentes, to which he referred on January 20, did not contain the Sacraments. Thus, then, the five chief parts, Decalog, Creed, Lord's Prayer, Baptism, and Lord's Supper were completed by March 16, 1529. Buchwald and Cohrs surmise, but without further ground for their assumption, that the table with the Benedicite and the Gratias was issued together with the first series in January. At the latest, however, the prayers appeared with the second series. For March 7, 1529, Levin Metzsch wrote to Roth, evidently referring to Luther's tables: "I am herewith also sending to you the Benedicite and the Gratias, also the Morning and Evening Prayers, together with the Vice of Drunkenness." (W. 30, 1, 432.) The exact time when Luther composed the Table of Duties is not known. And the first evidence we have of the Small Catechism's appearing in book form is Roerer's letter of May 16, 1529, saying that he is sending two copies of the Small Catechism, the price of which, together with other books, is two groschen. (432.) The necessary data are lacking to determine how long Luther's manuscript was ready before it was printed, and before the printed copies were distributed.
As to the large Catechism, it was not completed when the second table series appeared in March. In a letter, the date of which must probably be fixed about the end of March, Roerer says: "The Turk is not yet entirely struck off; neither the Catechism." April 23, however, the Large Catechism was on the market, for on this day Roerer wrote: "I am sending three copies of the Catechism." It was the Large Catechism; for the price of each copy was two groschen, whereas on May 16, 1529, Roerer had sent two copies of the Small Catechism and other books for two groschen. (432.) The Large Catechism probably had appeared several weeks before April 23. Albrecht: "Even if all [of Luther's] sermons from Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday, 1529, are considered preliminary works, according to which the last paragraphs of the Large Catechism were elaborated, we can assume that its appearance in the beginning or the first half of April, 1529, was possible. To be sure, the printing must then have been advanced so far before Holy Week that the rest could be finished speedily on the basis of the manuscript delivered immediately after the sermons of Monday and Maundy Thursday had been preached.[">[
This theory fits in with the facts that John Lonicer of Marburg had already completed his Latin translation on May 15, 1529 (although, according to the title-page, it first appeared in September), and that Roerer in a letter of April 23 merely mentions the Large Catechism in passing, without designating it as an important novelty. Stephen Roth, the recipient of the letter, spent some time at Wittenberg during April, and probably purchased his first copy there; so Roerer refers to copies which were ordered subsequently. (482.)
While thus the Small Catechism in chart form was completed and published before the Large Catechism, the former succeeded the latter in book form. However, though completed after the Small Catechism, it can be shown that the beginning and perhaps even part of the printing of the Large Catechism dates back to 1528, thus preceding in this respect even the Charts of January 9. If the short Preface to the Large Catechism, as well as the exhortation at the beginning: "Let the young people also come to the preaching, that they hear it explained and learn to understand it," etc., had been written after the 9th of January, Luther would probably have mentioned the Tables, just as he refers to the Large Catechism in the Preface to the Small Catechism, which was written about the end of April or the beginning of May. (535, 17.) Since, however, Luther makes no such indication, these paragraphs of the Large Catechism were, no doubt, composed before January, 1529. (575, 1; 579, 26.) The same inference may be drawn from the fact that, in the explanation of the First Commandment, the wording of the conclusion of the Ten Commandments shows a number of variations from its wording in the Small Catechism, whereas its wording at the close of the explanation of the commandments is in conformity with it. (588, 30; 672, 320.)
102. Similarity and Purpose of Catechisms.