Olympia Morata – Victorious Through Trials

“Consider it all joy my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance” (James 1:3).

 Though born a woman, womanly things I have left behind:
Yarn, the shuttle, threads of the loom, and baskets.
It is the flowery meadow of the Muses I admire,
And the cheerful choral dances of double-crested Parnassus.
Perhaps other women are pleased with other things.
But these are my glory, and these are my joy.

Olympia Morata (1526 – 1555) composed these lines while she was in her early teens. She was a remarkable woman, who lived a brief life, but left behind a heroic story that is still remembered by many today.

Olympia led an unusual life that started out with riches and ease, but later was filled with trials and difficulties. She was brought up in very good circumstances. Her early years were spent at the court of Duke Ercole II and Duchess Renee of France. (I have already posted a story on Renee of France elsewhere on this blog.) In 1528, Duke Ercole, married Renee of France, sister-in-law of the French king, Francis I. Renee brought with her to the Este court her views on religious reform which were influenced by Luther and Calvin.

These views were not popular with the Duke, her husband. He tolerated Renee’s religion and her advisors and visitors as long as he did not have any conflicts. Later, for political reasons, and to appease the pope, he would send Renee’s friends away, and even imprison her for awhile to win favor with the Roman pontiff.

Olympia’s father, Fulvio Morato, shared Renee’s religious views, and in 1532 was one of those forced to leave Ferrara. For six years his family lived in other northern cities, where he lectured on the teachings of Luther and Calvin.

During this time Fulvio, a widely recognized university professor, was aware of how gifted his daughter was and saw to her education. Olympia was fluent in Latin and Greek by the time she was 12. By age 13, she had already developed into a scholar in her own right, lecturing on Cicero and studying philosophy. She was well known for her poetry, which included her own metrical adaptations of the Psalms.

In 1539, when the Duke was more tolerant again, Fulvio was invited back to court. Word of his daughter’s brilliant scholarship reached the Duke and the Duchess, and Olympia was invited to tutor their eldest daughter, Anna D’Este. For seven years she lived the exciting life of a courtier, tutoring Anne, writing, and doing all the things expected of a brilliant scholar. She was, she said later, “exalted to the skies.” You can see her joy in her life in the poem printed above. We should be careful not to take these words out of the context of her cultural circumstances. Olympia was not objecting to any perceived inequality between the sexes. She was a young woman who loved her father and was pleased to work hard at the gifts that God gave her. She was thankful to God because He “gave me a mind and a talent to be so aflame for my studies that no one can divert me from them.” Like true scholars, it was her chief joy in life.

Later, she would rise to the occasion, and do the work normally expected of women when it was needed. In 1547, her father became ill and she went home to nurse him. He died the following year, and Olympia returned to court. But she found that Anne D’Este had married Francis de Guise and moved to France. Olympia’s services were no longer needed.

Also at this time, the Duke had decided to persecute those of the Reformed religion to please the pope, and most of Renee’s advisors and friends were banished from court. Olympia returned home. Fortunately, her father had saved some money and her family, though poor, was not in dire circumstances.

Though she never thought she would marry, she changed her mind when Andreas Grunthler, a German protestant who came to Ferrara to study medicine, proposed marriage. Olympia had met him before when he came to visit her father. She did not realize how interested Andreas was in her. She was pleased to accept his offer and they were married in 1549. Shortly after this, they made the decision to move in order to avoid the Roman inquisition. Many followers of the reformed religion tried to stay in their home towns and hope for change. At this time in history, the pope was very strong and had many allies and large armies. Thousands of reformers were killed or forced to flee. Andreas and Olympia decided to leave rather than take a chance and moved to Schweinfurt, Germany. They took her young brother, Emilio, with them.

Andreas accepted a position as a medical doctor for the Imperial Spanish troops who were stationed nearby. In 1553-54, he and Olympia were caught in the middle of war. They were trapped in the siege of Schweinfurt, in Franconia for nine months. There was killing outside and inside the walls. Anyone trying to leave was shot. But to stay within the city meant facing death when the plague came. It killed half the population and nearly claimed Andreas’ life as well.

Eventually, the city was seized and burned to the ground. Olympia, Andreas, and Emilio left with less than the clothes on their backs. Some of the soldiers who were sacking the city offered to let them go and not kill them in exchange for their clothing. They made a miraculous escape, nearly losing Andreas in the process.

Most of Olympia’s writings were lost in the fire. But some of her friends gathered up all they could find and in 1558 one of them, Celio Curio, published the first edition of her work, along with letters to her from others and some of her poems; other items were found and added in later editions.

In time, Andreas, Olympia, and Emilio went to Heidelberg (1554) where Andreas was to be a professor of medicine. Olympia tutored students in Greek and Latin. Olympia was very ill after they fled from Schweinfurt and within two years, she was dead. Within two years after that Andreas and her brother died, all from the ravages of the siege, famine, and plague. All three are buried in the Chapel of St. Peter at Heidelberg.

Though she lived a short life, Olympia’s reputation as a brilliant scholar was wide spread. She had been brought up with royalty, nobility, and scholars. But Olympia was a devout Christian and thanked God for all that He gave her, even when He brought trials into her life. Olympia had more than most, but she never complained. She encountered suffering martyrs and survived a bout with the black plague. She lost many of her works. But she saw God’s testing as His way of helping her to grow. She said, “The prize of life comes not from learning, but from conflict and trial.”

Olympia was grateful for her testing. We pray that we won’t ever have to undergo the dangers and near-misses with death that she did. But we shouldn’t pray for God to spare us from all challenges and trials. It is God’s means of maturing us.

Even when she knew that her body was growing weak and she would die soon, Olympia still found happiness in Christ. At the age of only twenty-eight, she wrote one last poem:

I long to fade away, so great is my confidence in Christ,
And to be with Him in whom my life thrives.