Although reluctant to marry, Luther changed his mind when God sent him a wife.

Martin Luther and Catherine von Bora were legally married in Wittenberg on June 13, 1525, in the Black Cloister where Luther was living. Two weeks later, a short service at the City Church served as the public announcement that they were husband and wife.

Preparing to wed

Six years had passed since John Staupitz released Martin from his monastic vows and the pope had excommunicated him. Some of Luther's followers and colleagues wanted him to marry, as an example and as encouragement to former monks and nuns who were not certain that they could in good conscience marry. While still a bachelor, he wrote a treatise on monastic vows and another on the estate of marriage. As an outlaw and because he was subject to chronic ill health, he himself had been reluctant to marry.

When he did finally marry, at age 41, his motives were several. He wanted to put his convictions regarding the married estate into action. He wanted to set an example for other former monastics. He wanted to spite the pope. He wanted to please his father. The overriding circumstance that prompted his marriage, however, was that God sent him a wife.

Luther's writings had convinced a number of sisters in the Cistercian convent near Grimma that their vows were not binding. In April 1523 they fled. Soon after, a food purveyor's wagon arrived in Wittenberg. Twelve fugitive nuns emerged from barrels on the wagon. In those days there was almost no place for an unmarried woman to find an honorable occupation. Eight of the nuns soon married, and three returned to their parental homes.

One nun remained single for almost two years. One young man's parents rejected her as a bride for their son, and she herself rejected another match. She did suggest to a friend that she would be willing to marry Dr. Nicholas Amsdorf—or Luther himself.

Catherine von Bora (1499-1552) was the daughter of a minor noble of Bohemian descent. After her mother's death she was placed in a convent. She took her final vows at age 16.

Married life

The first Lutheran parsonage was the Black Cloister in Wittenberg. The Augustinian community had disbanded, and Elector John of Saxony granted the Luthers the right to live there. What had been the residence of 40 monks provided plenty of space for the growing Luther family (six children), the members of the extended family (including Catherine's Aunt Lena and nine children of Martin's two deceased sisters), the many guests (including foreign students, colleagues, fugitives, and government officials), and a few servants.