She was almost mine ...

Today, my reading and research brought me to Luther's wife, Katie von Bora. According to Dr. Ken Curtis (anyone remember Glimpses?), Katie was a wonderful woman:

Katie managed the finances of the family and helped free Luther's mind for his work of writing, teaching, and ministering. Luther called her the "morning star of Wittenberg" since she rose at 4 a.m. to care for her many responsibilities. She took care of the vegetable garden, orchard, fishpond, and barnyard animals, even to the butchering of them herself. Often there were as many as 30 students, guests, or boarders staying in the monastery, all of whom came under Katie's care.

Wow. No wonder Luther married her! But she was almost a Glatz before she became a Luther. Although she married Luther in 1525, history records the following for 1524: "Courted by Pastor Glatz, but she refused him". Some dubious website called Sermons from Seattle dramatizes the event as follows:

Martin: Come on Katie, don't pretend otherwise. We both know that you took the initiative and told my good friend that you wanted to marry me.

Katie: Ooooooohhh. Amsdorf. You're talking about Amsdorf.

Martin: Yes, I was trying to set you up with Pastor Glatz.

Katie: Glatz!!! (makes gesture that Pastor Glatz is fat. ) He was such a bore. I couldn't bear the thought of spending a lifetime with that tiresome man, so I went to Amsdorf and said: "I don't want to marry Pastor Glatz. I would rather marry a man of courage... a man of strong character... like Dr. Martin Luther." But he wasn't listening to me. He didn't understand. And so I shouted: "I refuse to marry Pastor Glatz!" and stormed out and slammed the door.

Ouch! Five hundred years later, that still hurts! Apparently, Katie really, really, really didn't want to marry my predecessor. When she approached the aforementioned von Amsdorf to talk about Glatz, von Amsdorf asked her if she thought she was too good for him: after all, Glatz was a doctor, a professor, and a pastor. Katie said that she’d have no objection to marrying von Amsdorf or Luther - both doctors, professors, and pastors - but that Glatz was out of the question. (See the Theologica blog.)

Suddenly, the reformation is losing its romantic appeal for me.