CALVIN’S WIFE.

THE following account of Calvin’s wife, and of his domestic life and character, will be at once very interesting, and will very thoroughly corroborate our view of his character. It is given in the words of Monsieur G. de Felice, and is taken from the New York Observer, of which he is the able and always interesting correspondent.

IDELETTE DE BURRE.

CALVIN’S WIFE.
Preliminary Observations
— Calvin banished from Geneva and established at Strasburg
— Traits in his Character
— Various Plans of Marriage
— Idelette De Bure
— Biographical Notice
— The Marriage Ceremony
— Calvin Journey
— His Return to Geneva.

In my letter on the religious anniversaries of Paris, I said that Mr. Jules Bonnet, a distinguished writer, who had spent several years in collecting the manuscript correspondence of Calvin, had read at the meeting of the Society for the History of French Protestantism, a notice of Idelette De Bure, the wife of the great Reformer. The piece has since been published, and I am happy to communicate a sketch of it to your readers, adding some facts derived from other sources.

Idelette de Bure may be a new name, even to well informed theologians, who have carefully studied the annals of the Reformation. I confess humbly that, for my part, I had hardly read here and there three or four lines on the wife of Calvin, and that I knew nothing of his domestic life.

The same ignorance exists probably in a majority of those who will cast their eyes upon my letter. Mr. Jules Bonnet has then rendered a real and important service to the numerous friends of the Genevese Reformer: this notice of him is an historical resurrection.

Of Luther’s wife everybody has heard — that Catherine de Bora, who left a nunnery to enter the holy state of matrimony. The German Reformer often alludes to the character, habits, and opinions of his dear Katy, as he called her. He shows us under her different aspects, this good, simplehearted woman, who had little intellectual culture, but earnest piety, he acquaints us minutely with his domestic life. We weep with him over the grave of his Magdalen ; we listen to his conversations with his son, to whom he speaks in poetic terms of the joys of Paradise. In a word, Luther’s house is thrown open, and posterity see the sweet face of Catherine de Bora, drawn by the pencil of the illustrious Lucas Kranach, as distinctly almost as Luther’s. Why is it not the same with Calvin and his wife? Why is their domestic sanctuary so little known?

The chief reason is found in the marked difference between the two great founders of Protestantism. Luther, the faithful representative of the German or Saxon genus, loved home-life, and attached value to its least incidents; he was warm hearted, ever ready to introduce his friends to the joys and sorrows of his fireside, he took pleasure in sharing with his wife and children all his own emotions. Calvin had also, as we shall see, an affectionate heart, capable of strong attachments. But his natural disposition was reserved and austere. He would have regarded it as a weakness, perhaps an act of guilty pride, to draw frequent attention to himself, his sentiments, his personal concerns. He avoided expressions of warm feeling. “His soul, absorbed by the tragic emotions of the struggle he maintained at Geneva, and by the labors of his vast propagandism abroad,” says Mr. Bonnet, “rarely revealed itself, and only in brief words: which are the lightnings of moral sensibility, revealing unknown depths, without showing them wholly to our view.” No wonder that Idelette de Bure remained half concealed, the more so as she lived only a few years, and no children remained of their marriage. Yet, among Calvin’s letters are found interesting notices of this woman, who was certainly worthy of the illustrious man that had offered her his hand.

During his youth, Calvin had not thought of contracting the bonds of matrimony: he could not indeed be married. Hunted by implacable persecutors, with no house in which to repose his head; forced to hide himself sometimes in Angouleme, sometimes in Bale; preaching from place to place, and celebrating the holy supper with some friends in the depths of woods or in caves; besides, occupied day and night in composing his book on the Institutions of the Christian Religion, which was intended to plead before the King Francis I, the cause of his brethren, who were condemned to frightful punishments; how could he wish to be married?

Would he have acted wisely to aggravate his evils by domestic cares, and to call a wife to bear half of so heavy a burden?

In August, 1536, Calvin became professor and pastor at Geneva. He had acquired a home; but still his labors were great. He had to struggle against the men called libertines, who, after breaking the yoke of Romanism, abandoned themselves to the grossest licentiousness. They viewed the Reformation as a license to disregard all laws human and divine. These libertines, occupied high offices in Geneva. They were in the councils of state, and had behind them a disorderly populace. Calvin saw that the precious interests of the evangelical faith were jeoparded. He lifted his voice with invincible energy against the libertines, and refused to receive them at the holy table, exposing his blood, his life, to the discharge of his duty. Certainly, this was not the moment to seek a wife.

He was banished from Geneva by the libertine party in April, 1538; and having been invited by the pious Bucer to come to Strasburg, he was appointed pastor of a parish of French refugees. Then, for the first time, marriage seems to have occupied his thoughts; or rather, his friends, particularly Farel, tried to find for him a wise and good companion.

In a letter addressed to Farel in May, 1539, (he was then thirty years old), Calvin sketches his ideal of a wife. “ Remember,” he says to his friend, “what I especially desire to meet with in a wife. I am not, you know, of the number of those inconsiderate lovers who adore even the faults of the woman who charms them. I could only be pleased with a lady who is sweet, chaste, modest, economical, patient, and careful of her husband’s health. Has she of whom you have spoken to me these qualities? Come with her... if not let us say no more.”

Another letter to the same pastor, Farel, dated 6 February, 1540, shows us Calvin, eluding skilfully a proposal of marriage. “There has been named to me,” he says, “a young lady, rich, of noble birth, and whose dowry surpasses all I could desire. Two reasons, however, induce me to decline: she does not know our language (she was of Alsace, a German province,) and I think that she is too proud of her birth and of her education. Her brother endowed with uncommon piety, and blinded by his friendship for me, so as even to neglect his own interest, urges me to the choice, and the wishes of his wife second his own. What could I do? I should have been forced to yield if the Lord had not drawn me from my embarrassment. I replied that I would consent if the lady, on her part, would promise to learn the French language. She had asked for time to reflect...”

The plan was abandoned. Calvin had foreseen it, and congratulated himself on not marrying a lady, who, with a large fortune, was far from possessing the requisite simplicity and humility. This correspondence confirms what history relates of Calvin’s character. He was eminently disinterested. A large dowry was a small thing in his eyes. Of what importance was it for him to have a rich wife, if she was not a Christian? This is the same man who refused all the pecuniary offers of the sovereign council of Geneva, and hardly left wherewith to pay the expenses of his funeral — the paltry sum of fifty silver crowns.

A second proposal of marriage was made. The lady in question had not any fortune, but she was distinguished for her virtues. “Her praise is in every mouth,” writes Calvin to Farel, in June 1540. So Calvin requested his brother, Anthony Calvin, in connection with other friends, to make proposals of marriage. Unhappily, he learnt some time after, something unfavorable of the young lady’s character; he withdrew the proposals, and wrote sadly to his colleague: “I have not yet found a companion; is it not wisest to abandon my search?” Thus, he was discouraged by these fruitless attempts, and seemed to give up the prospect of marriage, as if the sweets of this union were not made for him. It should be remarked that though he possessed such manly firmness in questions of Christian faith, and though capable of giving his life for the cause of truth, Calvin was timid and reserved in little things of common life. “I am,” he somewhere says, “of a shy, bashful disposition; I have always loved quiet, and I seek concealment. I know that I am naturally timid, soft and pusillanimous.”

He preferred to remain a bachelor, lest he should be ill received by the young ladies whom he addressed, or not make a good choice. An unexpected incident changed his resolution. There was in Strasburg a pious lady named Idelette de Bure. She was a widow, and all her time was spent in training the children she had had by her first husband, John Storder, of the Anabaptist sect. She was born in a small town of Guelders, in Holland.

She came to the capital of Alsace as a place of refuge for victims of persecution. The learned Dr. Bucer knew Idelette de Bure, and it was he apparently who recommended her to Calvin’s attention.

Externally, there was in this woman nothing very attractive. She was encumbered with several children of a first marriage; she had no fortune; she was dressed in mourning; her person was not particularly handsome.

But for Calvin, she possessed the best of treasures, a living and tried faith, an upright conscience, and lovely as well as strong virtues. As he afterwards said of her, she would have had the courage to bear with him exile, poverty, death itself, in attestation of the truth. Such were the noble qualities which won the Reformer.

The nuptial ceremony was performed in September, 1540. Calvin was then thirty-one years old and two months. He was not constrained by juvenile passion, but obeyed the voice of nature, reason and duty. The papists who constantly reproach the Reformers are mistaken. Luther and Calvin, both of them, married at mature age: they did what they ought to do and nothing more.

No pomp in Calvin’s marriage, no ill-timed rejoicings. All was calm and grave, as suited the piety and gravity of the married pair. The consistories of Neuchatel and of Valengia, in Switzerland, sent deputies to Strasburg to attend this marriage; a striking mark of their attachment and respect for Calvin.

Hardly were the nuptials passed when the leader of the French Reformation was constrained to leave the sweets of this domestic union. A diet was convened at Worms, in which most important questions, relative to the future conditions of Protestantism, were to be discussed. Calvin was naturally called to take part in them. He went to Worms, then to Ratisbonne, trying to conclude a peace between the two branches of the Reformation. During his absence he confided his wife to the care of Anthony Calvin, and the noble family de Richebourg, where he fulfilled for some time the office of preceptor. The plague broke out at Strasburg to his great alarm, and penetrated the house where Idelette de Bure lived.

Louis de Richebourg and another inmate of the family had fallen a prey to the disease. Calvin trembled for his dear wife. “I try,” he writes, “to resist my grief — I resort to prayer and to holy meditations, that I may not lose all courage.” During his residence at Ratisbonne, where the fundamental interests of the new churches were discussed, Calvin received a deputation from Geneva, begging him earnestly to return to that city. The Libertine party had disclosed their detestable designs. The strong will and the moral power of Calvin were necessary to restore order. He resisted this call a long time. His hesitation, his tears, his anguish, attested that he viewed with a sort of horror the heavy burden which was laid upon him. At last he yielded, saying: “Not my will, O God, but thine be done! I offer my heart a sacrifice to thy holy will!” And on the 13th of September, 1541, he returned, after an exile of three years to the city of Geneva, the face and the destinies of which he changed. I am, etc., G. DE F.

Idelette de Bure settled in Geneva
— Her Christian Virtues
— Domestic Afflictions
— Her frequent Sickness
— Last Moments
— Death
— Calvin’s Grief
— Conclusion.

Before fixing his residence definitely in Geneva, Calvin had determined to go there and examine for himself the true state of things. He went alone, leaving his wife in Strasburg. But he had no sooner entered the walls of the city than the Genevese, fearing to lose once more a man of whom they stood in so much need, took all proper measures to detain him. The public councils decided that a messenger of state should be sent to Idelette at Strasburg, and should bring her with her household (these were the terms of the resolution) into the house assigned to the Reformer. Thus did this humble, Christian woman, receive honors decreed to a princess of royal blood, having a messenger of state to guide and usher her into her new dwelling.

Recent researches have been published concerning this house which the magistrates gave for Calvin’s use after his return from exile. It had belonged formerly to an abbey, and was situated in an agreeable position which opened extensive views of the smiling borders of Lake Leman and the majestic amphitheatre of the Alps. It is remarkable, this house is now again in the hands of the Roman Catholics, who have converted it into a charitable institution, under the protection of St. Vincent of Paul. In spite of the honors which were accorded by the political councils of Geneva, Idelette de Bure was not ambitious to play a brilliant part in society.

Always modest and reserved, practising the virtues which suited her sex, and shunning noise and pomp with as much solicitude as other women seek them, she consecrated her days to the duties of her pious vocation.

Her private correspondence with Calvin — on the rare occasions when he mentions his wife — makes us see her under a very engaging aspect. She visited the poor, consoled the afflicted, and received with hospitality the numerous strangers who came without knocking at the gate of the Reformer. In fact, every one recognized in her the pious woman, of whom it is said in Scripture, having “a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price, ” and worthy to be praised for ever for her works.

Idelette de Bure devoted herself particularly to the care of her husband.

Exhausted by his constant labors, Calvin was frequently ill; and treating his body roughly, after the example of Paul, he persisted amidst bodily sufferings to perform the multiplied duties of his office. Then his wife would come and tenderly recommend him to take a little repose, and watch at his pillow when his illness had assumed an alarming character. Besides, (and this will surprise the reader) Calvin had at times, like ordinary men, desponding feelings; he was inclined to low spirits. “Sometimes,” he himself says, “although I am well in body, I am depressed with grief, which prevents me from doing anything, and I am ashamed to live so uselessly.” In these moments of dejection, when the heroic Reformer seemed, in spite of his energy and incomparable activity, to sink under the weight of our common infirmities, Idelette de Bure was at hand, with tender and encouraging words, which the heart of woman can alone find; and her hand, so feeble, yet so welcome and so affectionate, restored the giant of the Reformation, who made the Pope and kings tremble on their thrones! Oh, the precious support and the magic power of a religious, attentive and loving wife!

Who can picture the salutary influence which the humble Idelette de Bure exercised over the Reformer? Calvin, as Mr. Jules Bonnet remarks, was often pained by the opposition he met with, for men submit reluctantly to the designs of genius. “How often,” adds the biographer, “in these years of struggle and of secret weaknesses which his correspondence reveals, did he become composed before the courageous and sweet woman who could make no compromise with duty! How many times, perhaps, he was soothed and quieted by one of those words which come from the heart!...

And when afterwards more gloomy days arrived, and the strife of opinions called forth Bolsec, Michael Servetus, Gentilis, (Idelette de Bure was no longer alive) who can say how much the Reformer missed the advice the sweet influence of this woman?

To return to our narrative. Idelette’s greatest pleasure was to listen to the holy exhortations of Farel, Peter Viret, Theodore de Beze, who often sat at the hospitable table of their illustrious chief, and loved to renew their courage in converse with him. Sometimes — but rarely — she accompanied her husband in his walks to Cologny, to Belle-Rive on the enchanting banks of Lake Leman. At other times, in order to repose after her fatigues, or when Calvin was called away to attend to the business of the Reformed Churches, Idelette would go and spend some days at Lausanne with the wife of Viret. We see her in this Christian family in 1545 and 1548, careful not to give trouble to her hosts, and troubled because she could not render them some good offices in return for those which they had shown her.

Bitter domestic afflictions came upon Calvin and his wife. The second year of their marriage, in the month of July, 1542, Idelette had a son. But, alas! this child, for whom they had devoutly returned thanks to God, and offered so many fervent prayers, was soon taken from them by death. The churches of Geneva and of Lausanne showed the parents marks of sympathy, feeble mitigation of so heavy a trial! It is easier to imagine than to express the grief of a mother’s heart. Calvin lets us see his sorrow and that of his companion, in a letter addressed, the 10th of August, 1542, to Peter Viret: “Salute all our brethren,” says he, “salute also your wife, to whom mine presents her thanks for her tender and pious consolations...

She would like to answer them with her own hand, but she has not even the strength to dictate a few words. The Lord has dealt us a grievous blow, in taking from us our son; but He is our Father, and knows what is meet for his children.” Paternal affection and Christian resignation are both displayed in Calvin’s letters at this time. In 1544, a new trial of this kind afflicted the hearts of these parents. A daughter was born to them; she lived only a few days, as we see in a letter addressed in 1544 to the pastor Viret. Again a third child was taken from them. Idelette wept bitterly; and Calvin, so often tried, sought his strength from the Lord; and the thought occurred to him that he was destined only to have children according to the faith. So he said to one of his adversaries, who had been base enough to reproach him with his domestic losses: “Yes,” replied Calvin, “the Lord has given me a son; he has taken him from me. Let my enemies, if they see proper, reproach me for this trial. Have not I thousands of children in the Christian world?”

The health of Idelette, already delicate, was impaired by these repeated griefs. The familiar letters of the Reformer inform us that she passed her last years in a state of languor and suffering. Often he speaks of her as sick in bed, and asks the prayers of her friends.

Often he tells how she has revived. Calvin’s affection for his wife appears in these communications; “Salute your wife,” he writes to Viret in 1545; “mine is her sad companion in bodily weakness. I fear the issue. Is there not enough evil threatening us at the present time? The Lord will perhaps show a more favorable countenance.”

There was then at Geneva a learned physician named Benedict Textor. He was a pious man, full of zeal for the Lord, and a particular friend of Calvin.

He was assiduous in his care of Idelette, and exhausted himself in seeking all the aid that human art could afford. But his efforts were fruitless, the fever increased. Calvin felt for the physician deep gratitude, and addressed him in the month of July, 1550, a letter dedicating to him his commentary on the second epistle to the Thessalonians. Early in April, 1549, Idelette’s condition inspired deep anxiety. Theodore de Beze, Hottman, Desgallers, and other colleagues of the Reformer hastened to him to console him as well as his wife in her last illness. Idelette, sustained even to the end by piety, had consented to the sundering of her earthly ties; her only anxiety was concerning the fate of the children she had had by her first marriage.

One of her friends asked her to speak of them to Calvin. “Why should I do so?” she answered; “what concerns me, is that my children may be brought up in virtue... If they are virtuous they will find in him a father, if they are not, why should I recommend them to him?” But Calvin himself knew her wishes, and promised to treat her children as if they were his own. “I have already recommended them to God,” said Idelette. “But that does not hinder that I should take care of them also,” said Calvin. “I know well,” said she, “that you will never abandon those whom I have confided to the Lord.”

Idelette saw the approach of death with calmness. Her soul was unshaken in the midst of her sufferings, which were accompanied by frequent faintings. When she could not speak, her look, her gestures, the expression of her face, revealed the faith which strengthened her in her last hour. On the morning of April 6th, a pastor named Bourgoin addressed to her pious exhortation. She joined in broken exclamations, which seemed an anticipation of heaven: “O glorious resurrection! O God of Abraham and our fathers!... Hope of Christians for so many ages, in thee I hope.”

At 7 o’clock in the morning she fainted again; and, feeling that her voice was about to fail, “Pray,” said she, “O my friends, pray for me!” Calvin approaching her bedside, she showed her joy by her looks. With emotion he spoke to her of the grace that is in Christ; of the earthly pilgrimage; of the assurance of a blessed eternity; and closed by a fervent prayer. Idelette followed his words, listened attentively to the holy doctrine of salvation in Jesus crucified. About nine o’clock she breathed her last sigh, but so peacefully that it was for some moments impossible to discover if she ceased to live, or if she was asleep.

Such is the account Calvin gives to his colleagues of the death of his beloved wife. Then he turned sadly his eyes upon his now desolate state of widowhood. “I have lost,” he said to Viret, in a letter of April 7th, 1549, “I have lost the excellent companion of my life, who never would have left me in exile nor in pain, nor in death. So long as she lived, she was a precious help to me. Never occupied with herself, and never being to her husband a trouble nor a hinderance... I suppress my grief as much as can; my friends make it their duty to console me; but they and myself effect little. You know the tenderness of my heart, not to say its weakness. I should succumb if I did not make an effort over myself to moderate my affliction.” Four days after, he wrote to his old friend, Farel: “Adieu, dear and beloved brother; may God direct you by his Spirit and support me in my trial! I would not have survived this blow, if God had not extended his hand from heaven. It. is He who raises the desponding soul, who consoles the broken heart, who strengthens the feeble knees.”

Under the weight of so grievous a loss, Calvin however, was enabled to fulfill all the duties of his ministry; and the constancy he displayed amidst his tears excited the admiration of his friends, as we read it in Viret’s reply to Calvin. The remembrance of her whom he had no more, was not effaced from his heart. Although he was but forty years of age, he never thought of contracting other ties; and he pronounced the name of Idelette de Bure only with profound respect for her virtues and a deep veneration for her memory.