Tuesday, October 6, 2026

It is the 6th of October 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

We don’t know when Ursula of Muensterberg was born. It was sometime in the 1490s, but no detailed record was kept, despite her being of noble birth. She was the granddaughter of the King of Bohemia and the cousin of the Dukes of Saxony, George and Heinrich. Despite this, we know she was frail and, despite her family connections, had little money for a dowry herself. Her parents both died, and sometime between the ages of nine and fifteen she was sent to the Convent of Mary Magdalene the Penitent in Freiburg.

This was in Saxony, ruled by her cousins George and Heinrich. George was committed to the old faith and was a staunch enemy of the Reformation movement spreading in nearby territories. Heinrich was sympathetic to the Reformation and we have reason to believe that his wife, Katherine, had plans for the monastery. By the mid-1520s, stories had spread about those nuns and monks who had joined the Reformation movement. In 1523 the archetype of the “runaway nun”- Katie von Bora (and soon-to-be Luther) had herself escaped her Cistercian Convent.

Katherine and Heinrich knew that those who had taken religious orders were generally literate and theologically minded- if they could smuggle in the right works, they could bring down the monasteries and convents from within. Katherine helped arrange 3 successive chaplains for the convent who had all been sympathetic to the Reformation. Katherine and Heinrich helped arrange for many of Luther’s works- especially his sermons- to be printed nearby, disguised, and smuggled into the convent. Because of the sympathetic chaplains, and the fact that the convent was not exclusively cloistered, sacks and sacks of Luther's works and sermons were smuggled in sacks through the choir window.

By 1528 Ursula had decided she was no longer content to be the “woman on the inside” but rather a catalyst for a kind of jailbreak for the nuns. Early in that year Ursula began to write out her own apology for why she would leave the convent and embrace the teachings of Luther. Her defense leaned heavily on the role of the conscience and the desire to receive the unadulterated Word of God stripped of those supposed Catholic superstitions.

And so it was on this, the 6th of October in 1528, between 6 and 7 pm, that there were the sounds of rumbling near the doors. It was the next morning that a veil was found left behind and that three women, including Ursula were nowhere to be found.

They would end up in Wittenberg; after all, everyone knew the story of nuns and monks fleeing to stay with Luther at the Monastery that was transformed into his own home. This caused such a stir that investigators were sent to the Monastery to see how far the “Lutheran infection” had gone. Reports were that at least a third of the 70+ had Lutheran sympathies and another third were torn.

The brothers George and Heinrich wrote to their cousin, Duke John, who oversaw Wittenberg, to demand they send Ursula and the others back. Reading these letters in retrospect is interesting, knowing that Heinrich had secretly been behind smuggling in Luther’s works to Ursula. Roland Bainton has translated, transcribed, and abbreviated the letters. Essentially, George and Heinrich say to John, “send her back,” to which John says, “hmmm, why don’t you send someone out here to see if she is here and talk to her?” The brothers respond: “No way- we aren’t sending our people into enemy territory.” Then we have a letter between the brothers George and Heinrich. Heinrich says, “Well, we tried… can’t say we didn’t… let’s leave it alone.” George seems to agree, but they send one more letter to John saying, “Hey, we heard Ursula had written about her escape and reasons… could you make sure those aren’t published?” To which John responds, “Whoops, already printed and sold, and our own Martin Luther has written the preface… would you like me to send you two copies? It’s really quite good.”

The historical record on Ursula then goes dark. We assume she lived in Wittenberg at the Luther home, and we have record of her being alive as late as 1534, but no record of her death. No birth date, no death date- but one specific day we do know about in the life of Ursula of Muensterberg- this, the 6th of October in 1528, when she and two others- consciences pinging- escaped the convent and made their way to Wittenberg and the Reformation.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and a real doozy from 2 Corinthians 5:

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 6th of October 2026 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose favorite Ursulas include K. Le Guin, Bond girl Ursula Andress, and the sea witch from The Little Mermaid- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who works with an Ursula whose mannerisms match Angela Lansbury’s, Mrs. Lovett… 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.