One of the most significant anniversaries in church history is the 500th wedding anniversary of Martin Luther and Katharina von Bora. On June 13, 1525, the former monk and former nun were married. They were engaged in the morning of the same day, and then married in the evening. It was a rather short engagement!

Despite the short engagement, the roots of the marriage were strong and deep. For many years, Martin Luther had been preaching the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. He had written and publicly posted his famous Ninety-Five Theses in 1519, affirmed the authority of Scripture alone at the Diet of Worms in 1521, and translated the New Testament from Greek into German in 1522.

Among other reforms, Luther had been preaching that it was unbiblical and unethical to force men and women to live in a state of idleness and celibacy in the cloisters and convents scattered around Europe. Under his influence and direction, many monks and nuns began leaving these secluded structures and returning to live with their families.

One group of nuns in the convent of Nimptsch became convinced that their vows of celibacy were unbiblical. As a result, they resolved, by the grace of God, to leave the convent and to enter the Biblical covenant of marriage. By a cunning plot, the nine nuns were smuggled out of the convent in barrels of smelly herring!

Among those secretly departing the convent was a young nun named Katharina von Bora. Of the nine nuns from Nimptsch, eight were readily married! But Katharina would not have the man that had been chosen for her. Instead, she named Martin Luther as the man she desired to marry!

For quite a long time, Martin Luther’s own father had been encouraging him to marry. At first, Luther would have none of it. He believed that he would soon meet a martyr’s death. But at last he yielded, and said, “Well then, I will do it: I will play the devil and the world this trick; I will content my father, and marry Katharina.”

At this time, Martin Luther was forty-one years old and Katharina was twenty-six. Luther’s elderly father was delighted and made the journey to attend the wedding feast! Luther’s enemies were horrified at the marriage of the two. They ominously predicted that the marriage of the monk and the nun would bring about the antichrist.

The Luthers set a new pattern for the married clergy

Luther found great blessings in marriage to Katharina. He said, “God’s highest gift on earth is a pious, cheerful, God-fearing, and home-keeping wife.” She was truly “a help meet” for Martin Luther.

The couple moved into a large former monastery called “The Black Cloister,” a wedding present from the Duke of Saxony. Luther admitted that he had been sleeping on a “mildewed bed” and eating very poorly before his “Katie” arrived to organize the home. Martin Luther and Katharina lived happily together for twenty-one years, and raised six children—three sons and three daughters. From their example, married clergy gained a new pattern for their marriages.

The Luthers made their home a center of worship and hospitality

The Luther home was filled with music and cheer. Martin Luther called his wife “Katie”; he had many playful nicknames for her, including “My lord, Katie,” “Lady Doctor,” and simply “My Rib.” Luther delighted in her companionship. Besides the cheerful affection in the Luther home, music also often filled the air as their children all learned to play instruments and to worship the Lord together in song.

Katharina was an excellent gardener, and she and the children raised produce for the table. She also was a ready hostess, welcoming visitors such as William Tyndale and many other servants of the Lord from places near and far. Their hospitality and diligent nurturing and rearing of their children made their home a pattern to others for the home as a center of ministry.

But the essential factor in the lives of both Martin Luther and his beloved Katharina was their strong faith and relationship to Jesus Christ. Katharina outlived her husband by six years. On her deathbed, Katharina declared, “I will stick to Christ as a burr to cloth.” The couple’s love for one another was deep, and their love for their Savior was even deeper.