Katharina (Katy) von Bora was placed in a convent at the tender age of six. She took vows as a nun at sixteen but by her early twenty’s, she wanted out. Reformation principles were already taking hold in her convent, and she was no longer convinced celibacy was her calling. She and seventeen fellow nuns appealed to the reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) for help. It was a risky proposition. Persons abandoning their monastic vows could be tortured and imprisoned for the rest of their lives. Martin arranged with a sympathetic merchant to smuggle the nuns out of the convent in a covered wagon among fish barrels on Easter eve in 1523. Martin was able to find husbands for all of them except Katy. She refused to be matched with the man Martin proposed. She insisted, “I will marry only one man, Martin, and that man is YOU.” They eventually married and moved into an abandoned forty-room monastery. Martin came to rely on Katy’s business acumen. She was a gardener, brewer, fruit grower, horse and cattle breeder and beekeeper. They adopted four children and had six biological children of their own.
Martin was susceptible to long bouts of moodiness and depression. Katy showed up for breakfast one morning dressed in funeral apparel. Martin asked, “Who died?” Katy replied, “God died.” Martin took offense at her outrageous reply. She waited until he was finished with his rant and said, “Well, Martin, the way you were acting, I thought He was dead.” A most improbable love story on this Valentine’s Day between a runaway nun and an outlaw monk. Martin Luther leads us to pray:
Martin Luther
O God the Father graciously give us all that we need for body and soul.
O Son of God, deliver us from sin, be gracious to us, and give us your Spirit.
O God, Holy Spirit, heal, comfort, and strengthen us against the devil and give us endless victory and resurrection from death. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.