Katharina Zell

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Katharina Zell (born in Strasbourg in 1497/1498 – 1562) was a German Protestant writer during the Reformation. The priest Matthias Zell was excommunicated for marrying her. She defended the Protestantism of herself and her husband in Briefe an die ganze Bürgerschaft der Stadt Straßburg (1557) [Letter to the Entire Citizenry of the Town of Strasbourg]

Katherina Zell married Matthew Zell of Strasbourg, who once scolded a minister for speaking harshly of another reformer. The minister responded by saying that she had, “disturbed the peace.” She answered his criticism sharply by saying:

“Do you call this disturbing the peace that instead of spending my time in frivolous amusements I have visited the plague-infested and carried out the dead? I have visited those in prison and under sentence of death. Often for three days and three nights I have neither eaten nor slept. I have never mounted the pulpit, but I have done more than any minister in visiting those in misery.”