In this post I will focus on a woman named Olympia Morata. She lived from 1526 A.D. - 1555 A.D. in Italy.
Olympia's father was a scholar, and brought her up so that by the age of 12, she was called as a companion and tutor to the young Anna d'Este of Ferrara, the future wife of Francois, Duc de Guise. During her time at the court of Ferrara, she was invited to lecture to the court in Greek and Latin! After leaving court to take care of her declining father, she fell out of favour with the Duke. It seems that is was during this time that these convictions, previously held more intellectually along with her broad philosophical and literary interests, now awakened in her a true and living faith in Jesus Christ, and marked a turning point in her life.
It was also during this time that Andreas Grunthler, a Reformed German doctor, classically-trained and a lover of literature, sought her hand in marriage. They married around 1550. Life was not easy, as they travelled back to Germany where her husband hoped to find a position in a university. They met with persecution, were even imprisoned, and barely escaped with their lives before finally finding peace in Heidelberg. Her health suffered as a result, and when the Elector Palatine offered her the incredible position of lecturing at a university, she seemed to have turned it down. She died shortly thereafter.
Her short but faithful life, which included activities such as correspondence with Reformers Martin Luther, Philip Melanchton, John Calvin and Matthias Flacius, was well-summed up in her own words when she wrote: "There is no part of the world so distant that we would not be glad to live in it, if we could but serve God there with full liberty of conscience."
Read Part Four HERE
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