MARTIN LUTHER’S FAMILY LIFE

INTRODUCTION

In a recent television special discussing the one-hundred most important people to have lived during the past millennium, Martin Luther was identified as the third most important. This is not surprising since Luther made contributions in so many areas. While we think of him primarily as a theologian who contributed to the area of religion, he also contributed to the areas of linguistics, politics, education, and family living. It is this last area that we want to consider today. Luther is recognized as having re-established the biblical concept of the Christian family. By this we mean a man and woman living together in a loving, committed relationship with their children. During the Middle Ages wives had been viewed for the most part as chattel, owned by their husbands and used to sire offspring and perform menial tasks within the household. "Romantic love" was reserved not for wives, but rather for mistresses. Luther changed this by bringing to the forefront the biblical concepts of marriage and family. For this we can we so very thankful!

MARTIN LUTHER

Martin Luther was born in 1483 in Eisleben. He became a monk in 1505. Consequently, he did not ever plan to get married. While Luther stated once that he was not a "sexless stone or hostile to marriage," he was content in his celibate state. Luther began writing against enforced celibacy in 1519 in his Sermon on the Estate of Marriage. He continued his attack on what he viewed as a teaching contrary both to Scripture and nature in his 1520 essay, Babylonian Captivity of the Church and his 1521 treatise, On Monastic Vows. After he was condemned as a heretic in 1521, Luther fully expected to die at any time through martyrdom. When monks and nuns began leaving their cloisters in late 1521 and early 1522, Luther supported their decisions and actively helped find husbands for many of the former nuns. In view of his precarious situation, however, he was convinced that marriage was simply out of the question for himself.

KATHERINE VON BORA

Katherine von Bora was born in 1499 in a village outside Leipzig. Her father was of the minor nobility. Katherine’s mother died when she was six years old and not long after her father remarried. When Katherine was nine or ten she was placed in a Cistercian nunnery, Marienthrone, in Nimbschen near Grimma. As a young woman in her late teens she began reading the works of Luther and became convinced of the truth of the gospel. Because her nunnery lay within the territory of a very Catholic prince, she and others of the nuns who wished to leave the nunnery could not under penalty of death. In April 1523, Leonard Koppe, a supplier of fish to the nunnery, helped nine nuns escape in empty herring barrels covered by canvas. Among those nuns were Katherine, her aunt, and the sister of Johann von Staupitz (Luther’s father confessor as a young monk). Koppe brought the nuns to Wittenberg, where Luther set out to find them husbands. Katherine met a young man, Jerome Baumgartner, and fell in love with him. When Baumgartner, a member of a noble family from Nurenberg, approached his father about marrying Katherine, his father refused his blessing. Luther wrote the young man in October 1524 and stated, "If you still wish to hold your Kathie von Bora, you had better act fast before she is given to another who is at hand. She still has not conquered her love for you. I would certainly be happy to see you two married." The young man, however, did not return, and the courtship ended. Further attempts to arrange a marriage for Katherine failed, with Katherine ultimately stating that she would marry with Amsdorf or Luther, were either willing.

LUTHER’S MARRIAGE TO KATHERINE VON BORA

Luther and Katherine were married on June 13, 1525 in a private ceremony at the Black Cloister, which would become their home. Johannes Bugenhagen officiated with four witnesses in attendance. The marriage was publicly announced and reaffirmed on June 27, 1525. Luther stated that he married for three reasons: 1) To please his father; 2) To spite the pope and the devil; and 3) To seal his witness before his martyrdom. While Luther and Katherine were not romantically in love at the time of their wedding, they enjoyed a very close and loving marriage. Luther had many fond names for Katherine—"my rib," "my lord," "my Morning Star of Wittenberg." On one occasion he was recorded as having said, "I wouldn’t give up my Katy for France or for Venice, first because God gave her to me, and second because I have often observed that other women have more shortcomings, than my Katy (although she, too, has some shortcomings, they are outweighed by many great virtues), and third, because she keeps faith in marriage, that is fidelity and respect." Katherine, in turn, demonstrated great respect for her husband and brought tremendous blessings into their life together. Luther had been known not to make his bed or change his linens for months, and at times had lived on a diet of dry bread and herring. This changed dramatically after the two began their life together.

LUTHER’S FAMILY AND FAMILY LIFE

Luther and Katherine had six children: Hans (June 7, 1526); Elizabeth (December 10, 1527); Magdalene (May 4, 1529); Martin (November 9, 1531); Paul (January 29, 1533; and Margaret (December 17, 1534). Elizabeth died as an infant in August 1528. Magdalene died in her early teens in 1542. Their home was noted for its liveliness and its happiness.

In addition to their own children, Luther and Katherine had numerous other people living in their home with them. Katherine’s aunt, Lena, lived with them for many years. They helped raise eight orphaned nieces and nephews and provided lodging for various tutors, exiled clergymen, escaped nuns, government officials and visitors, university colleagues and many students. Many meals were eaten with as many as twenty-five at the table! All visitors were expected to take part in family customs, devotions, and prayer.

For recreation the Luthers enjoyed a bowling lane of sorts in their garden, board games such as chess, and music. They had a pet dog. They grew much of their own food in a small garden at the Black Cloister and then later as a farm outside Wittenberg.

Luther and Katherine were diligent parents, disciplining their children, but doing so in love. Luther commented once to Justus Jonas children were the "best gifts of God," and lamented that so many parents seemed to overlook and ignore them. Luther prepared his Small Catechism with parents and children in mind. He used it diligently within his own home. He also wrote hymns for his children to share with them the wonders of the gospel. The well-known Christmas hymn, From Heaven Above to Earth I Come, was written by Luther for his children. While away to from Wittenberg at the time of the Diet of Augsburg, Luther wrote his son a charming letter describing heaven as a pleasant garden filled with delightful activities for faithful boys and girls.

Luther and Katherine provided a wonderful example of genuine love and biblical family life! For this we can be truly thankful!

-- Pastor Paul D. Nolting