To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Ecclesiastes 3:1
"One evening, before retiring, the renowned German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe picked up from his large library a rather 
obscure collection of letters and poems from a young protagonist of the Italian Reformation and read with interest her tales of dreams and disappointments, hopes and frustrations, difficult decisions and every day struggles in one of the most travailed periods of European history.
As he put down the book, he commented in his diary, “I have read the Letters by Olympia Fulvia Morata, which have shed a whole new light on the actual condition of Protestants in those days.”
Olympia Morata (1526-1555)—The short life of Olympia Morata, the literary prodigy who died in Heidelberg late in 1555, not yet twenty-nine years of age, far from the court of Ferrara, where she was raised and educated, has never ceased to amaze. Two months later, her husband and brother were also dead. She is buried, with her husband and brother, in St. Peter's Church, Heidelberg.
It caught the imagination of contemporaries and continues to spark the interest of modern scholars. Olympia, a member of the entourage of the sometime Calvinist Duchess Renée, the French wife of Duke Ercole II Este, became deeply steeped in classical languages and culture thanks to the instruction she received from her father, Fulvio Pellegrino Morato.
The true shattering event of Olympia’s life ---her father’s death. 
Confidently returning to resume her previous position at court, Olympia was met by an unforeseen and astonishing refusal. Anna, her young student and companion, had been given in marriage to Duke Francis of Guise, a champion of Roman Catholicism, and had moved with him to France, so Olympia’s services were no longer needed.
Confidently returning to resume her previous position at court, Olympia was met by an unforeseen and astonishing refusal. Anna, her young student and companion, had been given in marriage to Duke Francis of Guise, a champion of Roman Catholicism, and had moved with him to France, so Olympia’s services were no longer needed.
Besides, Olympia was now a 22 year old woman—no longer a child prodigy to be put on display.
At this devastating time of her life, only one friend stood by her side—Lavinia della Rovere, a young noblewoman who had spent long periods of time at the Este castle during her husband’s frequent absences as a condottiero. Lavinia visited Olympia whenever possible and offered her assistance. Together, the women read and discussed Scriptures.
---Olympia left us a literary rendition of their discussions in her Dialogue Between Lavinia della Rovere and Olympia Morata.
It was at this time that the two women became involved in an effort to free Fanino Fanini, a fervent believer who had recanted his 
conversion to Protestantism and, under the burden of guilt, had embarked in a relentless evangelistic campaign around the cities and villages of the area, to the point of converting a whole nunnery. Fanini had been placed in custody directly under the authority of the duke, who showed no intention of letting him go in spite of many fervent pleas.
Olympia’s scene—Andreas Grunthler, a medical doctor from Schweinfurt, Germany.....By this time, the situation in Italy had become quite intolerable for Protestants. Nicodemism, the widespread attitude of secret adherence to the Protestant religion which John Calvin had condemned so fiercely, was becoming increasingly impossible. The only two options for Protestants in Italy were now death or flight.
It was an important case. If Fanini were to be executed, it would have been the first religious execution in the duchy. Besides, Fanini had been a well known baker and a faithful husband and father, and the popular opinion was strongly on his side.
Together, Olympia and Lavinia visited Fanini and wrote letters to generate further support to his cause.... Just as unexpected as her rejection from court, at this point a new character enters
After her marriage to a young medical student at Ferrara, Andreas Grunthler, she returned with him to his native Germany.
In Schweinfurt, his hometown, they experienced a siege by imperial forces (The couple were caught between opposing forces in the city when religious tensions broke out into war--a Protestant town, pillaged by the Spanish soldiers garrisoned there, trying to withstand the emperor's troops that were besieging Schweinfurth. The city suffered famine, bombardment, plague, and fire) where the young couple lost all their belongings, including Olympia's few writings, mostly poetry and translations.
A few verse compositions which Olympia reconstructed from memory on her deathbed were forwarded to Curione by her husband.
Curione published what he had managed to gather up in four successive editions of her writings, appearing with slightly differing titles between 1558 and 1570 in Basel.
Olympia probably devoted much of this time on a project she had 
begun before leaving Ferrara—the composition of a Greek psaltery.
As author Holt N. Parker wrote, “An English prose translation of a Greek verse translation of a Greek prose translation of ancient Hebrew verse is a curious object, and it is difficult for us modern readers to recapture why these poems were regarded by Morata’s contemporaries as her most glorious achievement.”
Surviving from those days are some short compositions on religious matters, including a satirical poem on the style of her teacher Celio Curio, De Vera Virginitate, where she explains that the virginity flaunted by nuns is actual idolatry if not accompanied by true devotion to God....In Italy, her works were soon added to the list of forbidden books.
Her short but faithful life 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.”
jhu/wiki/Leben
