Runaway Nun - Katharina Von Bora

1499–1552

She was a runaway nun who couldn’t find a husband. She became a wife and a mother and a powerful force behind the man who caused one of the greatest religious upheavals in history.

Katharina von Bora was in a convent in Germany when she read about the fascinating new ideas of Martin Luther: salvation by God’s grace, “the just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17, KJV), every believer having access to God. Along with eleven other nuns, she wrote to Luther, asking for help escaping the nunnery. He devised a plot involving the delivery of twelve barrels of smoked herring—and the removal of those barrels with nuns inside.

Some of these sisters returned to their parents. Others got domestic jobs. Others found husbands. Katie was the last of the lot. A failed romance left her heartbroken, and in desperation she mentioned she wouldn’t mind marrying Luther himself.

How’s that for a proposal? To everyone’s surprise, including his own, the forty-one-year-old bachelor agreed.

It made sense for Martin Luther to be married. He had challenged the Catholic church on many points, including the celibacy of priests and nuns. It might be the calling for some, but he didn’t find it biblically necessary. He had often written about the value of marriage in God’s eyes—he had just never wed. One problem was that, with all the opposition against him and his Reformation, he feared that any wife he took would soon be a widow. Perhaps a greater problem was that he needed a special kind of woman to put up with him.

Katie was that kind of woman. Independent, sharp tongued, yet deeply loyal, she ran the Luther household like an empress. It is hard to imagine that Martin Luther would have had the same influence without Katie in his home and in his heart.

This was her calling. What’s yours? Some women are called to remain unmarried and use their freedom to serve the Lord. Some are led through the difficult straits of divorce or widowhood and emerge with hearts full of mercy. And some are called to marry, leveraging their gifts with those of a husband, to honor God in creative ways.

I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.

Ephesians 4:1