Luther first mentioned the plan of publishing a catechism in a letter of
February 2, 1525, to Nicolaus Hausmann. He informs him: "Jonas and
Eisleben [Agricola] have been instructed to prepare a catechism for
children. I am devoting myself to the Postil [last part of the Winter
Postil] and to Deuteronomy, where I have sufficient work for the
present." (Enders, 5, 115.) In a letter of March 26, 1525, also to
Hausmann, Luther repeats: "The Catechism, as I have written before, has
been given to its authors, _ist seinen Verfassern aufgetragen worden._"
(144.) However, when Jonas and Agricola (who soon moved from Wittenberg
to Eisleben) failed, Luther resolved to undertake the work himself,
which, according to his letter of February 2, he had declined merely for
the reason that he was already sufficiently burdened. The execution of
his plan, however, was deferred. September 27, 1525, he wrote to
Hausmann: "I am postponing the Catechism, as I would like to finish
everything at one time in one work." (246.) The same letter shows what
Luther meant. For here he speaks of the reformation of the parishes and
of the introduction of uniform ceremonies. Evidently, then, he at that
time desired to publish the Catechism together with a visitation tract,
such as Melanchthon wrote in 1527. Besides, his _Prayer-Booklet,_
containing the "Brief Form," as well as the _Booklet for Laymen and
Children,_ offered a temporary substitute for the contemplated
Catechism. The deplorable conditions, however, which the Saxon
visitation brought to light would not permit him to tarry any longer.
"The deplorable, miserable condition," says Luther in the Preface to his
Small Catechism, "which I discovered lately when I, too, was a visitor,
has forced and urged me to prepare this Catechism, or Christian
doctrine, in this small, plain, simple form." (535, 1.) Thus the Small
Catechism sprang, as it were, directly from the compassion Luther felt
for the churches on account of the sad state of destitution to which
they had been brought, and which he felt so keenly during the
visitation. However, Luther's statements in the _German Order of
Worship_ concerning the catechetical procedure in question and answer
quoted above show that the thought of such a Catechism did not first
occur to him at this time. Still it was the visitation that added the
decisive impulse to put the idea into immediate execution. Besides, it
was a time in which Luther was entirely engrossed in the Catechism,
having preached in 1528 on the five chief parts no less than three
times. Thus the harvest was at hand. In January, 1529, according to his
own letters, Luther was engaged in this work, having probably begun
about the close of 1528. He was able to make rapid progress, since ample
material was at his command.
The old moot question which of the two Catechisms appeared first was
decided when Buchwald discovered the Stephan Roth letters, which show
that the Small Catechism appeared in chart form in January and March,
1529, while the first Wittenberg book edition appeared in May, after the
Large Catechism had meanwhile come off the press in April. From the fact
that Luther simply called his Large Catechism "German Catechism" one may
infer that he began work on this first, and that, when writing the
title, he had not yet begun the Small Catechism nor planned it
definitely; but not, that Luther completed the Large Catechism first. On
the other hand, from the title "Small Catechism" one can only infer that
Luther, when he wrote thus, had already begun to write, and was working
on, the Large Catechism, but not, that the Small Catechism appeared
later than the large. Albrecht: "One may certainly speak of a small book
before the appearance of a large book of similar kind, if the latter has
been definitely planned, worked out at the same time, and is almost
completed." (W. 30, 1, 569.)