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John Calvin to Pierre Viret, 1549

Calvin writes to his friend Viret that he is bearing the death of his wife with as much self-control as grief allows.

April 7, 1549.

Although the death of my wife has been exceedingly painful to me, yet I subdue my grief as well as I can. Friends, also, are earnest in their duty to me. It might be wished, indeed, that they could profit me and themselves more; yet one can scarcely say how much I am supported by their attentions. But you know well enough how tender, or rather soft, my mind is. Had not a powerful self-control, therefore, been vouchsafed to me, I could not have borne up so long. And truly mine is no common source of grief. I have been bereaved of the best companion of my life, of one who, had it been so ordered, would not only have been the willing sharer of my indigence, but even of my death. During her life she was the faithful helper of my ministry. From her I never experienced the slightest hindrance.

She was never troublesome to me throughout the entire course of her illness; she was more anxious about her children than about herself. As I feared these private cares might annoy her to no purpose, I took occasion, on the third day before her death, to mention that I would not fail in discharging my duty to her children. Taking up the matter immediately, she said, "I have already committed them to God." When I said that that was not to prevent me from caring for them, she replied, "I know you will not neglect what you know has been committed to God." Lately, also, when a certain woman insisted that she should talk with me regarding these matters, I, for the first time, heard her give the following brief answer: "Assuredly the principal thing is that they live a pious and holy life. My husband is not to be urged to instruct them in religious knowledge and in the fear of God.

If they be pious, I am sure he will gladly be a father to them; but if not, they do not deserve that I should ask for aught in their behalf." This nobleness of mind will weigh more with me than a hundred recommendations. Many thanks for your friendly consolation. Adieu, most excellent and honest brother. May the Lord Jesus watch over and direct yourself and your wife. Present my best wishes to her and to the brethren.--Yours,

JOHN CALVIN.

Why this letter

Idelette de Bure was John Calvin's wife of about nine years; she died on 29 March 1549 in Geneva after a long illness. Pierre Viret was a fellow reformer and one of Calvin's closest friends, based in Lausanne, with whom Calvin corresponded for decades. Writing a little over a week after her death, Calvin describes Idelette as a faithful partner who never hindered his work and, in her final days, was more anxious about her children's future than her own. The letter is restrained in the manner of the period, but its grief is plain underneath the consolation.

Provenance

Author
John Calvin (1509–1564)
To
Pierre Viret
Written
7 April 1549
Source
Letters of John Calvin, Volume II, ed. Jules Bonnet (Philadelphia, 1858)
Rights
Public domain — John Calvin died in 1564; this text follows the English edition of Bonnet's Letters of John Calvin (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1858).
Translation
From Latin by Unnamed translator, Bonnet edition (Philadelphia, 1858), 1858
Formatting
Paragraph breaks added for readability; the wording is unchanged.

From Letters of John Calvin, compiled and edited by Jules Bonnet, English edition (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1858); the title page names Bonnet as compiler and editor but does not name the translator.

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