 John Calvin was born as Jehan Cauvin on 10 July 1509 , in the town of Noyon in the Picardy region of France . He was the first of four sons who survived infancy . His mother , Jeanne le Franc , was the daughter of an innkeeper from Cambrai . She died in Calvin 's childhood , from an unknown cause , after bearing four more children . Calvin 's father , Gérard Cauvin , had a prosperous career as the cathedral notary and registrar to the ecclesiastical court . He died in 1531 , after suffering for two years with testicular cancer . Gérard intended his three sons — Charles , Jean , and Antoine — for the priesthood . 
