Reformed Christian Studies

Renée of France Duchess of Ferrara , Modena and Reggio Portrait by Jean Clouet , ca. 1520. ( Wikipedia ) By Simonetta Carr - Posted at Cloud of Witnesses / Place for Truth : The Jesuit Jean Pelletier, called by Duke Ercole II of Este to put a stop to the dangerous “Lutheran” practices of his wife Renée, was not impressed by his conversation with the duchess. “The poor woman has no education,” he wrote to his Father Superior, Ignatius of Loyola. “She only knows a few passages of Paul's letters in vernacular, which are misinterpreted, and a few babbles.” [1] At a time when valiant confessions and professions of faith of Protestant men and women were being published and distributed throughout Europe (Anne Askew’s Examinations was published in 1546 and Lady Jane Grey’s bold answers to John Feckenham had just begun to spread), Renée’s response seemed feeble. She capitulated too easily. Renée’s Life Born at the royal court of France in 1510, Renée lost both of her par