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GYC Southeast

Great in God's Sight Season 3

Rhonda Grakov

Martin Luther: Captive Conscience

Ulrich Zwingli: Of Switzerland and Sola Scriptura

Marguerite of Navarre: Faith over France

William Tyndale: Singing the Same Note

Menno Simons: A Forbidden Book

Albrecht Dürer: Brushstrokes of the Reformation, Part 1

Albrecht Dürer: Brushstrokes of the Reformation, Part 2

Katherine Parr: The Survivor

Philipp Melanchthon: Nothing but Heaven

Ursula Von Münsterberg: Escape Artist for God

Hello and welcome to Grating God's Sight, the podcast that explores underrated heroes.

This is the final episode of Season 3, and we're so glad you've joined us for today's story entitled Ursula von Munsterberg, Escape artist for God.

Please be sure to subscribe and check out the fantastic artwork that goes along with today's story on our website, thegreatpodcast.org.

Late 1 evening, in a darkened convent in Germany, 3 nuns discussed the future of their lives.

Repetitive prayers and late-night vigils had become all too familiar to them over the course of their monastic lives, but this conversation was different.

Their convent had recently been visited by a chaplain who supported Martin Luther's controversial reform ideas.

He opened the scriptures to them and taught the sisters the importance of faith for salvation.

Although they knew it would have to be a carefully guarded secret, the sisters wholeheartedly embraced the new doctrine.

Now after further reflection on Luther's writings, Ursula von Münsterberg and 2 friends made whispered plans to escape the convent.

They had set their minds and hearts to follow the word of God alone, even if it meant forsaking all they knew.

The 3 nuns found a golden opportunity to flee when a relaxed, less vigilant prioress became the newly appointed head of the convent.

1 October evening in 1528, a small side door to the convent garden slowly cracked open, allowing the 3 holy conspirators to slip through.

The moon and stars lit their escape route as they stole into the silence of night, carefully avoiding all crackling leaves and twigs on the ground.

The only noise to be heard was that of a droning voice within the convent, offering a repetitive prayer during her night vigil.

Ursula and her friend's disappearance remained unnoticed until the next morning, when someone spotted a veil hastily dropped by the back garden gate.

The prioress immediately alerted the authorities, but by then, the 3 nuns had safely arrived at the abode of a Lutheran sympathizer.

Ursula and her companions soon reached Wittenberg, where they found Luther and the other reformers ready and willing to aid them.

These 3 escapees were not unique in their experience.

Nuns were leaving the convents in hordes during this time, with many fleeing to Wittenberg.

Martin Luther himself married 1 of these runaway nuns, Katharina von Bora.

What made Ursula von Musterburg's story unique, however, was that her grandfather had been King George of Bohemia.

As important members of the nobility, her cousins George and Heinrich now ruled as Dukes of Saxony, her home state in Germany.

Ursula's escape was also uniquely well documented.

Her royal background made her escape particularly newsworthy, and we can still read her own account of it.

Ursula faced great hardship early in life when she lost both of her parents before her tenth birthday.

Taken in by her aunt, she was forced into a convent at an early age.

The life of a nun, including fasting and all-night prayers, did not agree with her fragile constitution, and she soon developed a strong distaste for the convent.

She was hungering and thirsting for something more, which prepared her to become an avid sympathizer of Luther.

Ursula's family dynamics were somewhat complicated.

Her cousin, Duke George, remained a staunch Roman Catholic all his life.

On the other hand, Duke Heinrich, her other cousin, eventually warmed up to Luther and the Reformation.

This was due in part to the influence of his wife, Katharine von Mecklenburg, who was an early supporter of Luther and strongly encouraged her husband to embrace Reformed doctrine.

In fact, it was Heinrich and Catherine who dispatched the Lutheran chaplain to Ursula's convent to introduce the nuns to justification by faith.

Ursula's curiosity was piqued by the new teaching, and she requested more information about Luther's work.

Heinrich's wife gladly complied and secretly sent her some of Luther's writings.

Ursula and a few accomplices then smuggled the volumes into the convent through the choir window and proceeded to distribute them among the sisters.

Ursula's distribution must have been effective because an estimated one-third of the nuns became Lutheran sympathizers, while another third remained undecided.

After this success in converting her fellow sisters, Ursula hatched a plan to escape.

Her decision to flee to Wittenberg was far from arbitrary.

Not only was it Martin Luther's stronghold, but it was also the dominion of Ursula's distant relatives, Prince Frederick the Wise and his heir John.

Frederick had championed Luther during the controversy surrounding his Ninety-Five Theses, and John, Frederick's successor, would protect Ursula from threats to her freedom.

When her cousins, the Dukes George and Heinrich, learned of her escape, they insisted that she return to the convent.

They even wrote to Prince John, demanding that he forcibly send her and her companions back.

Instead, John warned Ursula of their machinations.

He also wrote back to her cousin, saying, We would like you to know that in our school at Wittenberg, nothing is preached but the pure word of God in the gospel.

We assure you that we had no hand in her escape." John believed there was nothing to hide at Luther's school.

Everything was taught directly from the Bible.

However, in spite of John's reassurances, George and Heinrich still feared that Ursula's escape would unsettle other nuns and encourage them to flee the convent as well.

Their fears multiplied when Ursula penned a defense of her decision to flee the convent.

George and Heinrich again complained to Prince John, insisting that the work should not be published.

John responded by sending them each a copy, complete with a preface by Luther.

It is important to note that Ursula's apology was dated before her escape from the convent, revealing that her convictions had solidified prior to her arrival in Wittenberg.

It may, therefore, also provide an accurate portrayal of the beliefs of the Lutheran nuns who remained behind.

It also reveals that Ursula's decision to escape was made over 5 months before she made the daring move.

In her apology, Ursula shared several Bible verses that convinced her to leave, many of them dealt with salvation by faith alone.

Ursula's apology targeted 6 separate reasons for leaving the convent.

The first 2 stated that the vows and works required in the convent resulted in unbelief, contradicting the biblical principle that faith is the only work necessary for salvation.

Here the influence of the Lutheran chaplains and Luther's writings can be seen.

The following 2 points summed up Jesus' 2 greatest commandments, love God first and foremost, and love 1 another.

It appears that Ursula's view of the convent was 1 of dull, loveless rituals, so her emphasis on love was a logical response.

In her sixth point, Ursula cited Matthew 4.4, "...man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Convent life was devoid of God's Word and Ursula wanted to make it clear that it shouldn't be that way.

It appears that Ursula lived at least 6 more years after her adventurous escape from the convent.

Although we don't know when she died, we do know that her apology became very influential, despite her cousin's objections.

We also know what happened at her old convent.

Many of the Lutheran nuns freely chose to remain, but they elected a new prioress, 1 from their own ranks, who sympathized with Luther's beliefs.

This created a profound transformation to the lifestyle and doctrines taught at the convent.

Ursula's smuggling left lasting results, and her life seems to complement the stories of faith found in Hebrews 11.

It could be said, by faith, Ursula left everything and followed God.

Thank you for listening to Great in God's Sight, a podcast by GYC Southeast.

We hope you have enjoyed this adventure through time and pray it serves to deepen your relationship with God.

While we strive to bring you a unique perspective on each believer, we encourage you to use your God-given curiosity to explore these topics for yourself.

Please remember to hit the subscribe button and share this episode with your friends via text or social media.

Until next time, we wish you God's blessing as you

Series

Great in God's Sight Season 3

Ursula Von Münsterberg: Escape Artist for God

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

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Mark: One Young Man

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John Bunyan: Progress in Prison

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The Celestial Railroad: Part 4

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Jerome, Cyril, and Methodius: Bibles for East and West

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