To Mrs. Martin Luther [Eisleben,]1 February 10, 1546 Luther writes with both gravity and humor in this letter. He thanks his wife for her great concern on his behalf and tells her that her worries have almost resulted in his death. Since she has begun to worry he has almost been burned to death and struck by a large stone that could have squashed him, had the angels not protected him! Citing Psalm 55:22, Luther admonishes his wife to put into practice what she has learned from the Catechism. Then Luther informs his wife that he is healthy, that Jonas had a slight accident, and that he is eager to come home, if this be God's will.
Text in German: WA, Br 11, 291.2
To the holy lady, full of worries, Mrs. Catherine Luther, doctor, the lady of Zölsdorf,3 at Wittenberg, my gracious, dear mistress of the house
Grace and peace in Christ! Most holy Mrs. Doctor! I thank you very kindly for your great worry which robs you of sleep.4 Since the date that you [started to] worry about me, the fire in my quarters, right outside the door of my room, tried to devour me;5 and yesterday, no doubt because of the strength of your worries, a stone almost fell on my head and nearly squashed me as in a mouse trap. For in our secret chamber6 mortar has been falling down for about two days;7 we called in some people who [merely] touched the stone with two fingers and it fell down. The stone was as big as a long pillow and as wide as a large hand; it intended to repay you for your holy worries, had the dear angels not protected [me]. [Now] I worry that if you do not stop worrying the earth will finally swallow us up and all the elements8 will chase us. Is this the way you learned the Catechism and the faith?9 Pray, and let God worry. You have certainly not been commanded to worry about me or about yourself.10 "Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you," as is written in Psalm 55[:22] and many more passages.
We are chipper and healthy, praise be to God, except that the affair11 is disgusting to us and that Jonas12 would also like to have a bad calf;13 and so he accidentally bumped into a chest. So great is human envy that he did not want me to have a bad calf all by myself.14
With this I commend you to God. We would gladly be free [of the matter] now15 and drive home, if God would will it. Amen.
Your Holiness' willing servant, Luther's statement in his letter of February 10 (No. 322) that his wife worried so much that she was unable to sleep suggests that Luther had in hand a letter in which his wife made a statement to this effect.
This was the latest in a series of letters sent by Katie to her husband, letters which reflected Katie's increasing fears over the welfare of her husband. Luther had left Wittenberg in the midst of a bitterly cold winter; see WA, Br 11, 277, n. 12. Then a sudden thaw occurred; p. 292. Rumors about the breakup of the ice and the flooding of the Mulde and Saale rivers, which Luther had to cross, reached Katie and she started to worry about her husband. Luther's letter of January 25 (No. 314) arrived in Wittenberg on or shortly prior to January 31 (see p. 287, n. 22); in it the rumors about the breakup of the ice and flooding were confirmed, but more importantly, Katie was assured that her husband and her sons were in good condition, and that her husband had been sensible enough to wait out the bad weather in Halle. In the meantime, not at all at ease, Katie had apparently written to her husband in Eisleben (see p. 290, n. 6) asking him how he was, and pleading with him to take care of himself. Perhaps Melanchthon, too, wrote a similar letter (see p. 295, n. 22). By February 1 Luther had these letters in hand, and on that day he answered both Katie and Melanchthon (Nos. 316, 317). Quite matter-of-factly he informed his wife and Melanchthon of his illness; but he also assured them that he was now totally well again. Thus Luther apparently thought that he had dissolved his wife's fears, and in the following letters (Nos. 318, 319, 320)
Luther concentrated on day-by-day affairs. When the February 1 letters arrived in Wittenberg cannot be established. But the news about the cold wind which made Luther's brain turn almost to ice (see p. 291) did not put the Wittenbergers at ease, notwithstanding Luther's assurance that he was now well. Thus the