This Week in Christian History: PCUSA, Martin Luther Marries, 'Under God' in Pledge

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Twitter

Martin Luther Marries a Nun - June 13, 1525

Portrait of Martin Luther, the founder of the Protestant Reformation, by Lucas Cranach the Elder in 1528.
Portrait of Martin Luther, the founder of the Protestant Reformation, by Lucas Cranach the Elder in 1528. | (Photo: Wikipedia Commons)

This week marks the anniversary of when Protestant Reformation leader and former monk Martin Luther married a runaway nun named Katharina von Bora.

The marriage of the 42-year-old Luther and the 26-year-old von Bora was controversial to many; Luther's friend and fellow reformer Philipp Melanchthon was among the critics, fearing that it would scandalize the Reformation.

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During their nearly 21 years of marriage, the couple had six children and by all accounts had a happy marriage, spending their years living in Wittenberg, birthplace of the Reformation.

Upon her husband's death in 1546, Katharina wrote, "my sorrow is so deep that no words can express my heartbreak, and it is humanly impossible to understand what state of mind and spirit I am in."

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