Katharina von Bora

This set of portraits caught my attention. I have often seen the man’s portrait but never the woman’s. It sent a subtle reminder that women’s stories are often hidden or deemed less important. But here, they hang in unison and equality, albeit her gaze seems to be upon him.

Katharina von Bora (1499-1552) was the wife of Martin Luther (1483-1546), the Augustinian monk who launched the Protestant Reformation when he posted his 95 theses on the door of the Church of Wittenberg in 1517. She was a former nun, and he was a former priest.

Though the convent life was chosen for Katharina by per parents, likely due to their inability to provide for her, she developed many skills during her training as a nun. Ultimately, she wrote to Luther for help escaping her convent with several others, which he did. She eventually bore and cared for six children, ran their farm, operated a successful brewery, managed the entire household (including servants and finances), and assisted Luther in church. Together, they set the example of what a ministry marriage would look like as she became of the first “pastors’ wives.”

While this sounds incredible (or a recipe for burnout), and for her, it may have been, the Protestant Reformation set in motion the belief and teaching that a woman’s greatest and highest call was as a wife and mother. “With the rejection of the monastic way of life and convents in pro-Reformation cities, women lost significant opportunities for spiritual formation and vocations.” Protestant Reformers pushed an agenda that communicated “women’s true identity and calling were derived from their basic reasons for existence: to assist men in procreation, be companions to men, manage the household, and in this role embody an antidote to lust.” This is a lie. Everyone’s greatest and highest calling is to Jesus. Monasteries and convents allowed men and women to focus on this calling while remaining in community.

Katharina did not want to be a nun, but many women chose this life for themselves. And it burdens my heart that in the Protestant Reformation, much of the Church lost sight of the value convents gave to women. It allowed them a place to live out their calling as single women devoted to Jesus. It was a gift to have an undivided devotion, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 7:35.

Resources:

• “Marriage and Motherhood – The Preferred Calling,” in Women and the Reformation, 2008, 33-35

• World History Encyclopedia, https://www.worldhistory.org/Katharina_von_Bora/