January 15, 1529, Luther wrote to Martin Goerlitz: "_Modo in parando
catechismo pro rudibus paganis versor._ I am now busy preparing the
Catechism for the ignorant heathen" (not "peasants," for in his _German
Order of Worship,_ Luther says: "Catechism is an instruction by means of
which heathen who desire to become Christians are taught"). It was
formerly asserted that the expression "_pro rudibus paganis_" showed
that Luther here meant the Small Catechism. Appealing to the statement
in the Preface to the Large Catechism: "This sermon is designed and
undertaken that it might be an instruction for children and the
simple-minded," Koellner was the first one to assert that Luther's
phrase of January 15 referred to the Large Catechism. In this he was
followed by Cohrs, Enders, and others. (Enders, 7, 44.) However,
according to the usage of the word catechism described above, the
statement quoted does not preclude that Luther, when writing thus, was
engaged on both Catechisms. And such indeed was the case. For on January
20, 1529, Roerer, the Wittenberg proofreader, wrote to Roth: "Nothing
new has appeared. I believe that the Catechism as preached by D. M. for
the unlettered and simple will be published for the coming Frankfurt
mass. Yet, while writing this, I glance at the wall of my dwelling, and
fixed to the wall I behold tables embracing in shortest and simplest
form Luther's Catechism for children and the household, and forthwith I
send them to you as a sample, so that by the same messenger they may be
brought to you immediately. _Iam novi nihil in lucem prodiit; ad
nundinas credo Francofurdenses futuras Catechismus per D. M. praedicatus
pro rudibus et simplicibus edetur. Hoc vero scribens inspicio parietem
aestuarioli mei, affixas parieti video tabulas complecententes
brevissime simul et crasse catechismum Lutheri pro pueris et familia,
statim mitto pro exemplari, ut eodem tabellario iam ad te perferantur._"
(W. 30, 1, 428; Enders, 7, 44.)
This letter of January 20 is the first time that both of Luther's
Catechisms are mentioned together and distinguished from each other. By
catechism Roerer means the text of the five chief parts which Luther put
at the head of his Large Catechism. "_Catechismus per D. M.
praedicatus_" designates the explanation of this text as comprised in
Luther's three series of sermons of 1528 and summed up in the Large
Catechism. From this preached and later on so-called Large Catechism,
which appeared in April, entitled "German Catechism," Roerer
distinguishes "tables, summing up Luther's Catechism in shortest and
simplest form for children and the household." He means the series of
charts containing the first three chief parts, which Luther considered
the Catechism _par excellence_. And at the time when Roerer spoke of
the prospective publication of the Large Catechism for the Frankfurt
mass, these tables were already hanging on his wall.
Albrecht comments: "For the moment Roerer had not remembered the very
interesting novelty, which had already appeared in the first tables of
the later so-called Small Catechism. However, a glance at the wall of
his room reminded him of it. And from a letter of his dated March 16 we
must infer that they were the three charts containing the Ten
Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer with Luther's
explanation. These he calls 'tables which in shortest and simplest form
embrace Luther's Catechism for the children and the household,' Thus he
wrote in view of the superscription: 'As the head of the family should
teach them in a simple way to his household,' without implying a
difference between the expression _pro pueris et familia_ and the
preceding _pro rudibus et simplicibus,_ since the former are included in
the latter. The difference between the two works is rather indicated by
the words _brevissime simul et crasse._ But at the same time their inner
connection is asserted, for by sending the tables _pro exemplari,_ he
characterizes them as a model or sample of Luther's manner of treating
the Catechism. They are the _catechismus Lutheri,_ that is, the
aforementioned _catechismus per D. M. praedicatus_ in its shortest form
and draft (conceived as an extract of the sermons or of the Large
Catechism). He thought that this sample would indicate what was to be
expected from the forthcoming larger work." (W. 30, 1, 429.)
When, therefore, Luther wrote on January 15: "Modo in parando
catechismo pro rudibus paganis versor," he was engaged on both
Catechisms, and had proceeded far enough to enable him to send the first
tables of the Small Catechism to the printer. Buchwald remarks regarding
the letter of January 20 that Roerer probably had just received the
tables from the press. However, Roerer's letter to Roth of February 12,
1529, shows that already about a month ago he had sent the "tables of
the Catechism" (evidently the same to which he referred January 20) to
Spalatin. Accordingly, these tables were forwarded about January 12. The
following remark in the Church Order for Schoenewald in the district of
Schweinitz: "First to pronounce for the people the Ten Commandments, the
Creed and the Lord's Prayer, thereupon to explain them in the most
simple way, _as published [each] on a printed table,_" takes us back
still a few days more. For the visitation in the district of Schweinitz,
in which Luther took part, was held January 7 to 9, the time from which
also the Schoenewald Church Order dates. At this visitation, therefore,
even prior to January 7, Luther himself distributed the first series of
tables, comprising the first three chief parts, of his Small Catechism.
Cohrs opines that Luther sent this series to the printer about Christmas
1528 at the latest. However, it does not appear why the printing should
have consumed three to four weeks Seb. Froeschels however, is mistaken
when he declares in his book on the _Priesthood of Christ,_ 1565, that,
at a table conversation of 1528, Luther had advised Hans Metsch
constantly to have with him a good small catechism, such as the one he
had written. Knaake surmises that 1528 is a misprint; it should be 1538.
(W. 30, 1, 430f.)