Biography
Olympia Fulvia Morata was born in 1526, in Ferrara, Italy, the daughter of Fulvio Pellegrino Morato, a humanist scholar and teacher at the court of the Duke of Ferrara. She grew up in a world of learning. Her father taught her Latin and Greek from an early age, and she was a child of remarkable gifts. By the age of twelve, she was giving lectures in Latin, and she wrote letters and dialogues in classical style. She was a prodigy, who was admired by the scholars of the day. She was invited to the court, where she became a companion and tutor to the duchess's daughter, Anna d'Este.
The court of Ferrara was a place where Protestant ideas were tolerated. The duchess, Renée of France, was a friend of the reformers and gave shelter to a number of Protestants, including Calvin on a visit. Olympia came under the influence of the new teaching. Her father was among those who were drawn to it, and he died in 1548. She was left to support her family. She was dismissed from the court in about 1549, as a result of the jealousy of the court circle and of the growing pressure against the reformers.
She returned home and took on the care of her mother and her younger siblings. She had a quiet and difficult time. She was a student of the Bible, and she wrote translations of the Psalms into Greek verse. In 1550, she married Andreas Grünthler, a young German physician who was a Protestant. They decided to leave Italy, where the Inquisition had grown strong. They went to Germany, to Grünthler's home in Schweinfurt, in Franconia. Their journey was hard, and they lost most of their possessions.
In Germany, they lived in poverty. In 1553, the town of Schweinfurt was besieged and burned in a war between Protestant and Catholic forces. They lost their house and their library. They escaped with nothing but the clothes they wore. She spent the rest of her life in exile. Her husband took a post at the University of Heidelberg, as a professor of medicine, and she lived in Heidelberg. She continued to write and to study. She wrote letters to scholars and friends in Europe, in which she described her suffering and her faith.
Her letters and poems are among the best records of her life. They show a woman of deep piety and of a strong love of learning. She wrote of her hope in Christ and of her trust in the Lord in the midst of loss. She was reported to have been a gentle woman and an inspiring teacher. She was also a woman who was prone to illness. She suffered from the effects of the siege and of the privations.
She died on October 26, 1555, in Heidelberg, at the age of twenty-nine, of the plague. Her husband died a few weeks later, of the same disease. On her deathbed, she is said to have spoken of seeing a vision of a bright place. Her friend Caelius Secundus Curio collected her writings and published them in 1558. Her work was widely read and was reprinted many times. She has been called one of the most learned women of the sixteenth century.
Her life shows that a gifted mind may be given to Christ in the face of loss. A young scholar from Ferrara was forced from her home by her faith, and her writings remain as a witness of her trust.