Read Part One HERE
In this post I will focus on Katharina Von Bora. She is also known as Katherine Luther and lived from 1499 - 1552.
Katharina was a nun who wrote to Martin Luther asking for his help in freeing her and some others nuns who have converted to his teachings from their convent. Luther sent a merchant, Leonard Kopp, who regularly delivered goods to the convent, and he smuggled the women out in empty herring barrels.
These women were then free to return home, marry, or do what they wished, but many of their families could not afford to take them back, and men were reluctant to marry former nuns.
Luther found a place for all the women except Katharina, who he married in 1525. She instantly took over all the practical matters of the household, including the finances, planted gardens, brewed her own beer for sale, and helped Luther in the formulation of ideas.
She also regularly contended with harsh criticism from Luther's enemies, who denounced the marriage of two former clerics who, according to Roman Catholic traditions, were supposed to have remained celibate. After Luther's death in 1546, Katharina struggled to maintain her home but was forced to flee during the Schmalkaldic War and died of an unknown disease in 1552.
Read Part Three HERE
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