Luther led with Catharine a very peaceful and happy domestic life. It would be doing him great injustice and placing him in the rank of common men, to judge of his conjugal and domestic demeanor from his public character. Here there was no trace of that severity and violence which can only find an apology in the frequent insulting conduct of his enemies, the unrefined spirit of the times, but, above all, in his burning zeal for the glory of God and the truth of the Gospel. No! in the circle of his family he was an affectionate husband and tender father; kind and condescending to all his household, and benevolent to the poor. In writing to Stiefel (Aug. 11, 1526), he playfully says: “My rib, Kate, salutes you. She is well, with God’s help; she is amiable, obedient, and obliging in all things to a greater degree than I could have hoped for, thank heaven, so that I would not exchange my poverty for the wealth of Crœsus.” When he had finished his commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, he cried out, “This is my letter to which I am betrothed; it is my Katy von Bora!” On the 31st of August, 1538, he thus writes to Bernard von Dohlen: “If I were a young man again, now since I have experienced the wickedness of the world, if a queen were offered to me after my Catharine, I would rather die than marry a second time.” “I could not have a more _obedient_ wife unless I would have one hewn out of stone.” Many such expressions occur in his table-talk. Among other things, he says, “I hear that there are much greater faults and occasions of disagreement among married people than I find in my wife. This is an abundant reason that I should love and esteem her, because she is _sincere_ and _upright_, as a _pious_ and _discreet_ wife should be.” “I have a _pious_ and _faithful_ wife in whom the heart of her husband doth safely trust.” Prov. 31; 11. “I value her more highly than I would the whole kingdom of France and the sovereignty of Venice; for God has given me a _pious_ wife.” “The best and most valuable gift of God is a pious, affectionate, godly, domestic wife, with whom you can live at peace, to whom you may entrust all that you possess; yea, your very body and life.” But Catharine had in Luther not only an affectionate husband, but a man who, on account of his enlightened understanding, his widespread usefulness, and his undaunted heroism, deserved all the veneration he received from all the truly pious of his generation.