A Woman Against Luther

(This relief comes from a townhouse in Nuremberg, it was constructed between 1503-1532, no one is sure exactly when.)

Caritas Pirckheimer, the abbess of St. Clare’s Convent in Nuremberg led a relatively simple life. During her childhood, she received a humanist education and learned Latin. She joined the order of St. Clare when she was sixteen. The rise of the Reformation did not occur until much later in her life, she was in her mid-fifties at the time.

She stood against the Reformation, in the heart of a city that supported Luther and his ideas. Her strong stance against the Reformation came in part due to Luther’s preaching against Catholic buildings, especially monasteries. For Caritas this meant Luther and his speeches stood as a very real threat to her life and livelihood as an abbess. Through passive resistance and powerful friendships, she managed to keep the convent open, even though Nuremberg became a Lutheran city officially in 1525 (Zophy 183). One friendship that made her resistance possible came in the form of Philip Melanchthon. He respected the piety and education of the nuns at St. Clare’s as such he advised the city leaders to offer a more peaceful solution. Instead of being forced out, the nuns could not take new members, or receive their preachers, but otherwise could be left alone to their own work (Zophy 183). Yet by 1591, the abbey had ceased functioning, due to their inability to accept new members. 

General Facts come from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caritas_Pirckheimer