Proba
v. 322-v. 370 4th century
Making what you already know into the matter of praise.
Who was Proba?
A Roman aristocrat, married to a prefect of the City and mother of consuls, she had first written a poem about a civil war, then renounced the subject. She took Virgil's lines, half-verse by half-verse, and recomposed from them the story of salvation: a schoolroom exercise turned into a profession of faith. It is the oldest surviving Christian poem by a woman.
In their own words
Now, almighty God, receive, I pray, this sacred song; loose the sevenfold mouths of your eternal Spirit and unbar the depths of my heart.
It is not my care now to seek the nectar of ambrosia, nor does it please me to bring down the Muses from the Aonian peak.
Be present, God, lift up my mind: I shall tell that Virgil sang the holy gifts of Christ.