“The Best Companion Of My Life” - Idelette Calvin

D. 1549

John Calvin was extremely organized in his theology—and in his love life. Trained as a lawyer, this thinker was one of the giants of the Protestant Reformation, but he was not a “people person.” When Calvin was about thirty, friends began urging him to get married (perhaps trying to soften his bristly personality). He told his would-be matchmakers he was not one of “those insane lovers . . . smitten at first sight with a fine figure.” No, he announced, “This only is the beauty which allures me, if she is chaste, if not too nice or fastidious, if economical, if patient, if there is hope that she will be interested about my health.”

After rejecting three candidates, Calvin noticed a young widow in the church he was leading in Strasbourg—Idelette de Bure Stordeur. She and her husband were Dutch Anabaptists who had fled persecution, landing in this free city and adopting Calvin’s Reformed views. Then the husband died in a plague, and Idelette was left with two children, ages twelve and six. She seemed to meet Calvin’s requirements, and they were married in August 1540.

Their nine years together were full of pain, sickness, and challenge. Yet, with Idelette’s support, John did some of the best work of his life. Both became sick immediately after the wedding. Then John was called away to a theology conference that dragged on for months. When another plague threatened Strasbourg, Idelette trundled herself and the kids out of town for a while. So much for wedded bliss.

A year into their marriage, John felt called to move his work to Geneva, and Idelette had to get used to a new city. The Calvins had three children who died at or shortly after birth. Then Idelette herself became ill in 1545 and never fully recovered. After her death in 1549, John wrote, “I have been bereaved of the best companion of my life. . . . She was the faithful helper of my ministry.” He never remarried.

Sometimes God asks a woman or man to change the world. And sometimes he asks us to support someone else who is changing the world. That was Idelette’s calling.

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”

Genesis 2:18