| Idelette Stordeur de Bure (Boer) Calvin | |
| Birth Name: | Idelette de Bure |
| Spouse: | John Stordeur (until his death); John Calvin |
| Occupation: | Housewife |
| Known For: | Only wife of John Calvin |
Idelette Stordeur de Bure Calvin (1500–1549) was the wife of the French reformer John Calvin (Jean Cauvin).
Idelette de Bure was born in Liège and first married John Stordeur from the same city. At some stage they moved to Strassburg where they were recorded as being Anabaptists. Idelette and John Stordeur had two children (Charles, Judith) before Stordeur died after a brief illness, leaving Idelette a widow.[1]
Calvin was so caught up in his labors that he did not seem to consider marriage until age 30 or so. He asked friends to help him find a woman who was "chaste, obliging, not fastidious, economical, patient, and careful for (his) health".[2] His fellow laborer Martin Bucer had known Idelette and recommended her to Calvin in confidence that she would fit the bill. They married in August 1540.
Idelette bore Calvin one son and possibly a few daughters, all of whom died in infancy.
Though she survived the plague when it ravaged Geneva, Idelette died after a lengthy illness in 1549. Upon her deathbed she was patient, and her words, edifying, e.g.: "O God of Abraham, and of all our fathers, in thee have the faithful trusted during so many past ages, and none of them have trusted in vain. I also will hope".[2]
What Calvin wrote to Pierre Viret some days after her death will illustrate her character further. and,