06/08/2026
June 7, 1526: Katie gave birth to the Luthers' first child Johannes, more commonly known as Hans. He was named after Martin’s father and also great family friend Pastor Johannes Bugenhagen. It was Bugenhagen who lifted the child from the baptismal font as he was baptized by Deacon George Rörer at 4:00 in the afternoon of the day he was born. Young Hans’ other baptismal sponsors, besides Bugenhagen, were Professor Justus Jonas, artist Lucas Cranach, and the wife of Wittenberg Mayor Hohndorf. Sponsors by proxy were Strassburg Professor Nikolaus Gerbel, the Electoral Vice-Chancellor Christian Baier, and Mansfeld Chancellor Müller.
Here’s what Ernst Kroker says about him in his biography of Katie:
This little Luther was a miracle child [Wunderkind]. What firstborn child isn’t? He shows up in letters to his father’s friends, giving and receiving greetings and gifts, before he was even a week old. Although he didn’t tolerate milk well at first and Katie could give him only a little nourishment, in one year he thrived and developed into cute and strong little Hans, so that his father could proudly write about the homo vorax ac bibax, the little man who heartily gobbles and gulps. In good time, at six months, his first little tooth had come, and his mumbling became more intelligible so that it soon sounded like scolding, but sounded delightful indeed. (Kroker: “The Mother of the Reformation” p. 123)
The young boy in red in Lucas Cranach’s famous altar painting in St. Mary’s church in Wittenberg is thought to be Hans Luther.
-Rebecca DeGarmeaux for Katie Luther
