Through The Blood

 "All and every baptizer and every baptized man and woman of understanding age should be deprived of their life by water, sword, or other equivalent means."                                                  -Archduke Ferdinand

1533...

"Bitte Hör auf ich widerrufe" (please stop I recant) Katharina's shrill voice rang breathless through the prison cell. The burning on her arm was far more then she could take. 

"Was ist der wahre glaube?" (What is the true faith?) The guard yelled. 

"Der Katholische kirche.(the catholic church)" She answered barely standing from the unbearable pain from the cuts on her feet and the excruciating pain on her arms. 

The guards then left her in her cell, bringing peace to her afflicted body and soul. God had to understand why she had to leave this place by any means necessary. He just had to. She shoved her conscience to the back of her mind, one lie won't hurt, she'll make up for it when she's released. The torture was just too much to take, the branding was too painful.

Resting her tired body on the stone cold walls she closed her eyes and pictured the beautiful mountains of Tyrol. Her home that had become hell. A place where they had hunted her like a dog and brought her to this place, stripped her dignity and pride. But even worse they had made her deny her Christ. 

Hot tears rolled down her cheek, "Jesu Christus verzeig es meiner.(Jesus Christ forgive me)" Wrapping her hands around what remained of her torn dress she lay down in the corner and cried. "Bitte, bitte, bitte, ich habe das falsche getan, verzeig es meiner" (Please, please, please, I did the wrong thing, forgive me.) 

The cell door opened as the guard stomped in again, she quickly crawled backwards into the farthest corner, shivering in fear. "Hehr auf weinen, du kannst gehen."(stop your crying you can leave.) 

As she walked the streets of Tyrol her stomach trobbing from hunger, in pain and nowhere to go, her heart looked inward to find some comfort in this present moment. She was alive, though by denying her God, her heart was still beating, her arms were trobbing with agonizing pain, but they were still attached to the rest of her body. And if by some miracle God hadn't forsaken her, as he had ever right to do, He would help her find a way out of this God-forsaken city. She would have to dip deep into her heart to find the well of courage and drink deeply to survive this. 

"Katharina" 

She looked around searching for the voice. 

"Katharina Purst?" Her heart leapt at the sound of her name, it sounded like heaven in comparison to the ungodly names the guards had hurled at her in prison.

She found the owner of the voice that had called her name, Frau Gall who had been captured along with her stood a few feet from her. She reached out and grabbed her by her hand, she yelped in pain but the woman paid no attention. 

"Hurry Schnell." She was dragged into a back alley where they stopped infront of her husband, Herr Gall, he was bruised, bloodied and looking worse then she felt. 

"What happened? Why are you free?" She gasped.

"I'm guessing for the same reason you are standing before us now." He replied sorrowfully.

Tears of shame welled in her eyes as she remembered the the lie and betrayal. "I had no choice." She rolled up her sleeves to show them she was justified, though she was trying to comfort herself more then them, red angry, blistered scars which had been burned into her delicate skin. 

"Well you held on longer then we could, but are you planning on keeping your vow to forsake your faith?" Herr Gall stared at her.

" Ach Nein, I did more than enough damage by denying my Christus, I will follow him to my death, but how and where can we go?"

Frau Gall  laughed in delight, "we were hoping your faith would have remained unbroken, Jacob Hutter is in Moravia, where it is safe for us to live and practice or faith, he built a community and we were waiting for you to travel with us? Though it will be dangerous until we reach them." 

Katharina weighed her options, die here of starvation or go on with them, probably die on the way to this promised land to the man who had baptized her years before, or worse yet maybe there was no promised land. But anything was better then staying here in this hell wasn't it?

"Yes I will join you." 

Time jump... 1535 

"JAKOB" 

The screams rang through the streets of Klausen, Austria as Katharina watches in horror her husband Jakob Hutter being dragged along the road. Kicking the soldier holding her arm, her desperation was met with a laugh. 

"There's nothing you can do know, we will watch you and your husband burn like the devils you are." He scorned.

"Halt dich fest an deine glaube, (hold fast to your faith)" were the last words Jakob would ever speak on this earth to his wife of only two years, and his unborn child. He would be burned at the stake for his beliefs in Innsbruck, Austria in 1536. 

But the story doesn't end there for Katharina...

Holding her stomach in her hands she listened for the 3rd time the priest rant and rave about the evil nature of her faith. She said a prayer to God that her captures had spared her life, even the devil had remorse and mercy toward the unborn. Her child was her saving grace and she would make sure the child got to her saviors arms unharmed, even if she had to carry it home while it was still growing inside her.

"I refuse to make even a pretense of recantation. I reject the mass, the Eucharist, the church building, and infant baptism is useless, and an abomination before God, and from the devil, God be my judge." She answered him for the 3rd time, but again her words fell on ears as deaf as those of Judas had been. And for the 3rd time she was left in utter darkness, alone, rats, roaches and tears her only company.

Shortly after her arrest Katharina escaped prison and managed to evade capture for two years reappearing in 1538 in the village of Schőneck,Germany where she was once again arrested, this time for the final time ...

Two soldiers grasping her arms dragging her from her home, forcefully tying her feet and her neck to their horses.

"Watch her neck, not too tight, we are going to kill the witch in a very special way." He spat at her.

Katharina knew her earthly life had run its course, she had escaped death too many times, her God had come to call, for that her heart sang, she held her head high as she was driven through the village like a dog. Her voice sang. 

"Gott ist die liebe, last mich erlesen, ehr liebt auch mich." Though it quivered she kept on singing.

They had reached their destination by evening, her legs groaning in pain.

They led her to a trough filled with water, her heart beat from fear, but her head remained high, unwavering. 

"You wanted to be baptized again? Well you have your wish, go a meet your maker." They mocked.

"May God forgive you." Katharina answered as they plunged her head into the icy water, and watched her breathe her last breath on earth.

No records have been found to show what happened to Jakob and Katharina's child, but Jakob Hutter became the namesake of the present day Hutterites, as they modeled their life after the church he founded in Moravia. 

Though the events, names,places and dates in this story did happen, I took some liberties to add to the storyline to make it into a readable story and not just a bunch of facts in a history book.