Friday, June 13, 2025

It is the 13th of June 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

I have been lucky enough to spend a good amount of time in that Saxon village turned Reformation-ground-zero of Wittenberg, Germany [as a quick aside, there may be a spot or two left for this year's trip with me via GTI tours at GTItours.org and there is certainly space for next year's trip].

Sure, you can walk down to the Castle Church and see a replica of where Luther may have posted his Latin theses for academic debate- the locals see their fair share of Reformation tourism. But for the locals, it’s not the Reformation Celebration on All Saints Day that brings out the party. No, the real party starts today- the 13th of June, as the town will be packed to the gills celebrating the “Luther Hochzeit”- or the marriage of Martin to the former nun Katie von Bora. The marriage took place on this day in 1525- so it’s not just “any” Hochzeit party- it’s the 500th anniversary of one of the most famous, infamous, documented, and commented on weddings of all time.

Real fast: why was this controversial? Clerical celibacy in the Latin Western church had long been practiced, but had been enforced since the 12th century. Particular marriage practices are perhaps best left to a mailbag episode, but nonetheless, by the Reformation, the Catholic stance was one of no marriage for folks taking religious orders.

Some reformers had married prior to 1525- Zwingli had married, so too had Luther’s pastor, Johannes Bugenhagen. But one of the chief arguments against the Reformation from the Catholic side was that the Protestants were making a fuss about everything as an excuse to sin, and so clergy quickly marrying could be seen as suspect. 

Luther, however, was not interested, at least personally, in marriage. He himself stated that he expected to die at any time on account of his confession.

But this would change with a series of events that began with a group of nuns from a local Cistercian convent reading Luther’s tracts in the early 1520s and asking for help from Wittenberg. Luther helped arrange an escape for 12 of them with the help of a local fishmonger. The ladies would be hidden amongst barrels of herring and taken to Wittenberg, where Luther advised the women to take husbands, even playing matchmaker for his single male friends. 

But at 42, Luther was not interested in marriage for himself- writing to a friend, “Not that I am insensible to the emotions of the flesh, being neither wood nor stone, but because I have no desire to”. He would make matches for most of the women, save Katherine von Bora- the daughter of minor nobility- a headstrong woman, Luther would write of her, “I regarded her with mistrust as someone proud and arrogant”. But then Luther would write- “But it pleased God, who wanted me to take pity on her.” And they would be married amidst great revelry in Wittenberg on this day.

Luther’s “pity” on Katie would change- as would his tepid affection as he wrote to a friend soon after the wedding- “I do not love my wife, but I appreciate her”. That “appreciation” would turn to the most devoted of affection and love over time. They would have six children and adopt four more. Living in the old monastery at the end of town, Katie became a “gardener, fisher, brewer, fruit grower, cattle and horse breeder, cook, beekeeper, provisioner, nurse, and vintner.” And most importantly, she knew how to deal with her famously mercurial husband. During one of his depressive states, she dressed in all black- when Martin asked if she was going to a funeral, she said yes, it seemed from how he was acting that God was dead, and so she wished to mark the occasion. This bit of levity would snap him out of it and is a peek into their growing understanding and intimacy. Luther would come to prize and love Katie- he would write something we might have stitched onto a pillow: “Marriage does not always run smoothly, it is a chancy thing. One has to commit oneself to it”.

Such was their trust and love that Luther made the unthinkable (and technically illegal) move of leaving everything to his wife, children, and property upon his death. When he died in 1546, this was overturned by the local magistrates, but Luther had gone from “taking pity” to seeing the two as one flesh and as partners. The legacy of the Reformation and marriage is another topic for the future, and Luther and Katie weren’t the first Reformation marriage, but certainly the most celebrated. And the party starts today- the 500th anniversary of the marriage of Martin Luther and Katherine von Bora on this, the 13th of June in 1525.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary from Ephesians 4:

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 13th of June 2025 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by someone who knows that producing a podcast is a chancy thing, one has to commit to it… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who has long thought about the logistics of the herring wagon and 12 nuns… I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.