Catharine de Bora: Social and Domestic Scenes in the Home of Luther

by John G. Morris

CHAPTER IV.

Luther’s Domestic Life—Character of Catharine—Perils of Luther—Sickness—Death of his Parents—Private Life—Catharine.

Luther led with Catharine a very peaceful and happy domestic life. It would be doing him great injustice and placing him in the rank of common men, to judge of his conjugal and domestic demeanor from his public character. Here there was no trace of that severity and violence which can only find an apology in the frequent insulting conduct of his enemies, the unrefined spirit of the times, but, above all, in his burning zeal for the glory of God and the truth of the Gospel. No! in the circle of his family he was an affectionate husband and tender father; kind and condescending to all his household, and benevolent to the poor. In writing to Stiefel (Aug. 11, 1526), he playfully says: “My rib, Kate, salutes you. She is well, with God’s help; she is amiable, obedient, and obliging in all things to a greater degree than I could have hoped for, thank heaven, so that I would not exchange my poverty for the wealth of Crœsus.” When he had finished his commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, he cried out, “This is my letter to which I am betrothed; it is my Katy von Bora!” On the 31st of August, 1538, he thus writes to Bernard von Dohlen: “If I were a young man again, now since I have experienced the wickedness of the world, if a queen were offered to me after my Catharine, I would rather die than marry a second time.” “I could not have a more obedient wife unless I would have one hewn out of stone.” Many such expressions occur in his table-talk. Among other things, he says, “I hear that there are much greater faults and occasions of disagreement among married people than I find in my wife. This is an abundant reason that I should love and esteem her, because she is sincere and upright, as a pious and discreet wife should be.” “I have a pious and faithful wife in whom the heart of her husband doth safely trust.” Prov. 31; 11. “I value her more highly than I would the whole kingdom of France and the sovereignty of Venice; for God has given me a pious wife.” “The best and most valuable gift of God is a pious, affectionate, godly, domestic wife, with whom you can live at peace, to whom you may entrust all that you possess; yea, your very body and life.”

But Catharine had in Luther not only an affectionate husband, but a man who, on account of his enlightened understanding, his widespread usefulness, and his undaunted heroism, deserved all the veneration he received from all the truly pious of his generation.

From this time forth, Catharine was totally and forever weaned from the monastic life, and all the anxieties for the future which may have distressed her on her first escape, had now vanished. Though Luther’s worldly circumstances were not the most flourishing, yet he was aided by the liberality of the princes and other noble-minded men to such an extent, at least, that he did not absolutely suffer for the necessaries of life.[8] In this respect, Catharine’s circumstances were much improved. However, many dangers threatened the bold champion of truth, right, and liberty, which were calculated to disturb the happy serenity of his wife. He had several alarming attacks of sickness, which occasioned her painful solicitude. In the first year of his marriage some noblemen conspired against him because he effected the escape of thirteen nuns out of a cloister in the territory of Duke George. He himself acknowledges this in a letter to Stiefel, and says of it, “I have chased away Satan from this booty of Christ.” Hence, with tears, she entreated him not to leave Wittenberg at such a perilous time when he was invited to the wedding of Spalatin, and he yielded. But he was not accustomed to be alarmed at the thunder-clouds which rolled over him. Even as early as 1526, he undertook a journey in company with Catharine, and yet that was the time he had most to fear. But he was never free from danger. In 1530, when his father was lying on his death-bed, he dared not venture to visit him, but wrote an affecting letter, stating that his friends positively forbade his leaving Wittenberg, lest he might be murdered. A Jewish physician of Posen was hired for two thousand golden guilders to poison him. In 1541 he was waylaid by an assassin, but escaped. Notwithstanding his vigorous constitution, which seemed to promise extreme old age, yet from early youth he was subject to frequent severe attacks of sickness, and under such circumstances we may well wonder, that besides his numerous professional labors, he was able to prepare so many theological works, to conduct so extensive a correspondence with men of every class of society, and accomplish so many journeys, which must have consumed much time.[9] His master-piece, The Translation of the Bible, was a work which scarcely any learned man of the present day could have accomplished in the same space of time, under similar circumstances. Let it be remembered that the first time he ever saw the whole of the Bible in the Latin language he was already twenty-two years of age; that he had few of the preliminary aids essential to such a work, and that the German language was at that time still very imperfect. In twenty-eight years the translation of the whole Bible was finished and printed.[10] He suffered most from hæmorrhoidal affections, the treatment of which was little understood at that time. These attacks appeared mysterious to him, and in his depression of mind occasioned by them, and in the indulgence of a lively imagination, he ascribed the painful anxieties which he felt, agreeably to the notions of that day, to the temptations of the devil, who tried to hinder him in prosecuting his good work by assuming various forms and appearances. Attacks of sickness, which were in part the result of his severe fastings during his monastic life, were aggravated by his extraordinary mental labors, by his sedentary habits, and the numerous painful mortifications of spirit to which his unconquerable love of the truth exposed him. Above all, it was the unhappy sacramentarian controversy in 1525 which had the most injurious influence on his health. Hence these corporeal sufferings could never be entirely removed. Yet amid all his painful and melancholy hours Catharine was to him a ministering angel. By her affectionate sympathy, her tender nursing, and prudent accommodation to his whims, she greatly relieved his bodily and mental sufferings. She had frequent occasion to display these amiable qualities, for her husband had often recurring attacks of sickness. To notice but a few instances, we will state that as early as 1526 he suffered with hæmorrhoids, accompanied with severe oppression of the breast. But it was particularly in 1527 that he was attacked in a manner that brought him to the very borders of the grave. In July, he was so suddenly and dangerously seized that his wife and friends trembled for his life. But both of them displayed a greatness of soul and dignity of deportment which were truly admirable. Christian fortitude, perfect resignation to the will of God, and unshaken confidence in an all-controlling Providence, animated them both in the highest degree. They endured their present trials with pious submission, and with comfortable security they anticipated future dangers. Luther did not think that he would recover, but believed that he should have to part with the wife whose husband he had been but two years. Catharine was full of terrible apprehension of being left a poor widow and mother of one child, without being able to count much on human aid, and having no means of support. He was to leave the sacred work which he had begun, and for which he would have sacrificed his all, and she was to be dependent on the kindness of some real and many equivocal friends. Yet Luther prayed with a submissive heart, and commended his wife to God’s paternal care. “My loving and most benevolent Father! I thank thee from my heart that it was thy will I should be poor on the earth, and hence I can leave neither house, field, money, nor any other property, to my wife and son. As thou hast given her to me, so I restore her to thee,” &c. He also consoled his wife with these words; “My beloved Kate, I beseech you to submit to God’s gracious will, if it should please him to take me to Himself this time. You are my faithful wife, let the blind, ungodly world say what it may. Let your conduct be governed by the word of God, and hold fast to it, and thus you will have certain and constant comfort against all the temptations and blasphemies of Satan.” When, at his request, they brought his infant son to him, he said, “O you good, poor little child! now I commend your beloved mother and you, poor orphan, to my good and faithful God. You have nothing; but God, who is the father of the orphan and the judge of the widow, will richly provide for you.” Here he again turned to his wife, and said, “You know that, excepting the silver cups, we have nothing.” These, and similar expressions, awakened the most painful emotions in the heart of Catharine, and yet she tried to conceal her grief, and to encourage him, “My dear Doctor,” said she, “if it is God’s will, I would rather you should be with Him than with me. But it is not only I and my child who must be taken into account, and for whom your life would be valuable, but there are many pious and Christian souls who have need of your presence and services. Do not distress yourself about me; I commend you to His divine will. I trust he will graciously preserve you.” Eight days after, Luther recovered, to the great joy of his wife and all his friends.

Not long after, in the same year, a contagious disease broke out in Wittenberg, which created so much alarm that the students precipitately fled, and the University was transferred to Jena. The Elector, John the Constant, advised Luther to repair to Jena also; but this main pillar of the new-born church would not leave Wittenberg, although there were cases of the contagion in his own family. Bugenhagen also remained at the post of duty. Nov. 1, Luther wrote to Amsdorff, “My house is an hospital. I begin to feel anxious about my wife, who is in a delicate condition. My infant son has been sick these three days; he eats nothing and is extremely unwell.” But these attacks were not contagious, and their alarm soon subsided. In the following year, Luther suffered from a pulmonary affection and constant headache. In 1532, he was so severely attacked with vertigo that apoplexy was apprehended. He also occasionally suffered from obstinate boils; in his later years, symptoms of calculus were also apparent. In 1536, an affection of the hip-joint confined him to bed a fortnight. But in 1537, Catharine had especial occasion to display her affectionate solicitude, for her husband was again brought to the very brink of the grave. During this year he was commanded by John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, to proceed to Smalcald on important church business. Although he suffered severely from calculus, and the weather was extremely cold, he set out on his journey on Feb. 1. But he had scarcely arrived at Smalcald, when the pains increased to such an extent, to which an obstinate ischury was super-added, that everybody was doubtful of his recovery. The Elector, who was present, contributed everything in his power to his restoration. He visited and consoled him. On his departure, he thus addressed him: “If it should please God to take you away, be not concerned about your wife and children. I will take them into my protection.” He recovered sufficiently to enter on his journey home on the 26th. Dangerous as travelling appeared to be under the circumstances, yet it was of immediate service. On the way, he was relieved of the principal cause of his intense suffering, and communicated the joyful event to his wife and the sympathizing Melanchthon. To the former he wrote, “Yesterday I left Smalcald. I was not well three days whilst there; in a word, I was dead, and I had commended you and the children to God and my gracious Elector, for I never expected to see you again; but God had mercy on me. Most fervent prayers to God were offered for me, and many tears were shed on my account. God heard these prayers, and last night I was relieved. I now feel like a new-born man. Thank God for this; and let the dear children, with Aunt Magdalena, thank the Heavenly Father, for you had almost lost me, the earthly father. God performed wonders towards me last night through the intercession of pious persons. This I also ascribe to you, for I presume the Elector ordered word to be sent to you that I was dying, so that you might come and speak to me, or at least see me before I died. That is not necessary now, you may remain at home, for God has so mercifully helped me that I expect soon to meet you happily in our own house. To-day we are stopping at Gotha.” Something similar to this he wrote to Melanchthon: but, unfortunately, he had a relapse at Gotha, and anticipated death so certainly, that he requested Bugenhagen to administer to him the Lord’s Supper. As soon as Catharine heard of this she could be no longer restrained from setting out to meet him. She remained with him all the time, and accompanied him home. Thus Luther, for the present, had escaped all apparent dangers, but every year, for the ensuing nine, he was attacked by some disease. Dysentery, Rheumatism, fever, violent vertigo, and headache, painful cutaneous eruptions, and pulmonary affections, embittered all his days.

The affectionate sympathy, faithful watching, and tender nursing which he received from his wife, not only on these occasions, but always when bowed down under the immense weight of his other cares, moved him deeply. He frequently alluded to it in the most touching language. On his sick bed at Gotha, on Feb. 28, 1537, he commended Catharine, who had enlivened twelve years of his life, to Bugenhagen, and bore this favorable testimony to her character: “She has served me not only as a wife, but with all the fidelity and industry of a servant.” Afterwards, he said, “I inconsiderately look to Catharine and Melanchthon for greater benefits than to Christ, and yet I know that neither they nor any human being on earth can or will ever suffer for me as he has done.” Soon after, he said, “How intensely I longed after my family when I was lying at Smalcald, almost dead! I thought I should never see them again. How painful the idea of separation was! I now believe that this natural inclination and love which a man has for his wife, and children for their parents, are most intense in dying persons.” In his last will, (Jan. 6, 1542,) he said of her “that she had always been a pious and faithful wife, and she always conducted herself handsomely and worthily, as became a pious and faithful spouse.”[11]

But Catharine’s love for her husband was extended also to his parents. The most striking proof of this she gave, when, in Feb., 1530, Luther’s father was lying very sick. She most heartily wished that he might be conveyed to Wittenberg, where she could nurse him. “Dear Father,” wrote Luther to him, “my brother Jacob has informed me that you are dangerously sick. I wished most eagerly to go and see you, but my friends dissuaded me from my purpose, fearing the danger to which I would expose myself, for you know that the Peasants are so violently opposed to me.[12] But it would rejoice me greatly if it were possible for you and mother to come to us. My wife also, with tears, expresses her desire that you should come. We will here nurse you most tenderly.” But the father was unable to go, and died in a few months after, whilst Luther was residing at Coburg, where he had concealed himself during the diet of Augsburg. As soon as Catharine heard of the event, she was very solicitous about the effect of the intelligence on her absent husband, of whose affectionate attachment to his father she was well aware. She wrote to him a letter full of consolation, and in order more effectually to calm his troubled heart, she sent him a likeness of his favorite child, Magdalena, at that time an infant of a year old. She was not disappointed in her hopes. His secretary, Veit Dietrich, answered the letter, and said, “You have done a good work in sending the likeness to the doctor; he forgets many troublesome things in looking at it. He has hung it on the wall opposite the table at which we dine. When he first saw it, he did not recognize it. ‘Why,’ said he ‘Lena’s complexion is dark!’ But now he is remarkably well pleased with it, and the more he looks at it the better he likes it. * * * I pray you, do not be troubled about the doctor; he is, thank heaven, well and in good spirits. For the first two days he was much depressed respecting his father’s death, but has now recovered his usual vivacity.” When, in the following year, Luther’s pious mother was attacked with a dangerous sickness and his numerous engagements did not allow him to visit her, he wrote her a consolatory letter, the conclusion of which expresses in a very striking manner the cordial affection which Catharine and her children entertained for this excellent woman. “My wife and children are praying for you. They weep and say, ‘Grandmother is very sick.’” She also died, to Luther’s most profound regret, on June 30, 1531.

It was not only in seasons of affliction and distress that Catharine deeply sympathized with her husband. In times of prosperity and rejoicing she equally displayed her interest, and was ever proud of his growing reputation and of the honors conferred on him.

These are proofs sufficient that their matrimonial life was happy; yet the foulest slanders were heaped upon them by the enemies of the cause of which Luther was now the acknowledged champion.