Shelter In A Storm - Katharina Zell

1497–1562

You might say that Katharina Zell invented a whole new career: pastor’s wife. One of the first to fill that role, she was also one of the best. Her writing, charitable work, and church leadership were key elements in the Protestant Reformation as it took root in central Europe.

Her husband, Matthew Zell, was a Catholic priest who bought into the teachings of Martin Luther and began preaching them in the city of Strasbourg. One of his parishioners, Katharina Schütz, was energized in her faith by Matthew’s message. As a challenge to church authority, Matthew decided to marry, and Katharina was willing to become his wife. They wed in 1523, and he was soon excommunicated—despite an impressive letter Katharina wrote to the bishop in her husband’s defense.

Their Protestant ministry was just beginning. As civil and religious tensions erupted, many refugees came to Strasbourg, where the Zells offered them relief. Katharina published an open “Letter of Consolation to the Suffering Women of Kentzingen” (a nearby town experiencing a violent crackdown against Protestants). But Katharina Zell used more than words. She worked tirelessly to help these needy ones, offering food and shelter, often in her own home.

When one minister accused her of “disturbing the peace,” she responded in self-defense: “Do you call this disturbing the peace that instead of spending my time in frivolous amusements I have visited the plague infested and carried out the dead? I have visited those in prison and under sentence of death. Often for three days and three nights I have neither eaten nor slept. I have never mounted the pulpit, but I have done more than any minister in visiting those in misery.”

Labels didn’t matter much to her. In a time when Lutherans were fighting Catholics, and everybody was fighting the Anabaptists, she refused to discriminate. Her doors were open to anyone in need. When she was criticized for this, she responded—how else?—by writing an open letter. “It is our duty to show love, service, and mercy to everyone; Christ our teacher taught us that.”

The courage, conviction, and charity of Katharina Schütz Zell make her an enduring model not only for pastors’ wives, but for all women and men in their personal ministry.

Help her in whatever she needs, for she has been helpful to many, and especially to me.

Romans 16:2