Martin Luther

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MARTIN LUTHER: THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY PROF. M. M. NINAN Marriage Martin Luther, as well as many of his friends, were at first unsure of whether he should even be married. Philipp Melanchthon thought that Luther's marriage would hurt the Reformation because of potential scandal. Luther eventually came to the conclusion that "his marriage would please his father, rile the pope, cause the angels to laugh, and the devils to weep." Martin Luther married Katharina on June 13, 1525, before witnesses including Justus Jonas, Johannes Bugenhagen, and Barbara and Lucas Cranach the Elder. He was 42 and she was 26. There was a wedding breakfast the next morning with a small company. Two weeks later, on June 27, they held a more formal public ceremony which was presided over by Bugenhagen. Von Bora was 26 years old, Luther 41. The couple took up residence in the "Black Cloister" (Augusteum), the former dormitory and educational institution for Augustinian friars studying in Wittenberg, given as a wedding gift by the reform-minded John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, who was the son and nephew of Luther's protectors, John, Elector of Saxony and Frederick III, Elector of Saxony. John Frederick, the son of John, the brother and successor of Frederick the Wise, Luther’s patron and Elector of Saxony, gave the Luthers the Black Cloister, the former Augustinian monastery and dormitory for students from the order studying at the University of Wittenberg. The Luthers moved in and Katharina immediately began to run the household as well as the lands that came with the cloister. This was no small task: she had to manage the farms as well as take care of the thirty or so students and guests who lodged at the Black Cloister, an important supplement to the family’s income. Along with those duties, she also began breeding and selling cattle and brewing beer. She 50
MARTIN LUTHER: THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY PROF. M. M. NINAN was very successful in her business ventures, so much so that the family began to depend less and less on Martin’s salary and was largely supported by her efforts. She also contributed directly to the ministry at Wittenberg. She ran a hospital in the Black Cloister, working alongside the other nurses in caring for the sick. Martin sometimes even consulted her on church matters and allowed her to deal with his publishers. Mostly, though, she oversaw the household to allow Martin to devote his time to his work in the church and at the University. Response of the Catholic Church The Catholic establishment was scandalized by von Bora’s departure from her monastic vows. This publication by Joachim von der Heiden, a Leipzig University professor, urged her to repent and return to her monastic seclusion: “Woe unto you, poor misguided woman, not only that you have been led from light into darkness, from God’s grace into His disfavor, from holy monastic devotion into a damned and shameful life, but also because you left your convent dressed in lay clothes, like a dancing girl, and went to Wittenberg and cast your eyes on that rascal, Luther, and lived with him in flagrant immorality, and finally took him for your husband; by this breach of faith to your bridegroom Christ you became faithless and perjured. . . . Think of your eternal punishment, and speedily leave this devilish life . . . and repent your past sins, as did the fallen Mary Magdalene.” Johann Hasenberg, a professor at Leipzig, attacked Katharina von Bora in this publication, which he addressed directly to Martin Luther. The work concludes with two woodcut illustrations: at the left, Christ and the Virgin Mary lead pious nuns into a holy monastic house; this is contrasted at the right by Luther’s procession to the Gates of Hell with von Bora http://www.smu.edu/Bridwell/SpecialCollectionsandArchives/Exhibitions/Luther/Controversies/BRA012 51
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Published Books by Prof.M.M.Ninan w
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Martin Luther

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