The Vaudois Revisited By Archibald F. Bennett

n morning last September Pres- their vindictive encircling enemies. ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN ident James L. Barker of the Burned at the stake, buried alive, stoned, PIEDMONT OFrench Mission and I set out sawn asunder, hanged, herded into vile from Paris. By assignment from and disease-laden dungeons, the Avenge, 0 Lord, thy slaughtered saints, President Alma Sonne of the European repeated objects of pitiless crusades, whose bones Mission we were to visit the Vaudois in their homes burned and possessions Lie scatter'd on the Alpine mountains their homeland amid Alpine valleys. plundered, hunted down by cold; Even them who kept thy truth As the car sped across France bloodhounds, pursued from glen to glen. so pure of old, toward northern Italy, President Barker over rocks and crags and icy mountains, When all our fathers worshiped stocks refreshed my mind on the history of this yet they defied their assailants, defended and stones, unique and valorous people.* their rugged defiles, putting whole Forget not. In thy book record their Aptly described by one author as armies to rout, and maintained their groans "Israel of the Alps," the Vaudois or ancient faith. Who are thy sheep, and in their Waldenses are probably the oldest Thirty-five or more persecutions ancient fold continuous Protestant community in the have been launched against them. Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that world, and their church influential Francis I ordered their extermination in rolled Mother with infant down the among other reformed churches. By 1541. In 1655, their overlord, the Duke rocks. Their moans tradition they are credited with a line of of Savoy, issued his dread edict, The vales redoubled to the hills, and pastors running back even to the time of proclaiming that all his Vaudois subjects they To heaven. Their martyred the apostles. All other dissenter groups must renounce their religion or be blood and ashes sow were crushed by the massacred. The tale of atrocities which O'er all the Italian fields, where still power of Rome. brought death to thousands horrified all doth sway Detested by popes and monarchs as Protestant peoples. The poor Vaudois The triple tyrant; that from these may teachers of dangerous doctrines, they who were able to escape, concealed in grow A hundred-fold, who having have suffered centuries of horrible and their Alpine fastnesses, sent to Cromwell learnt thy way Early may fly the desolating persecution, scarcely a in England for relief. It was then that Babylonian woe. generation escaping barbarous torture Milton, in righteous and indignant and massacre, or the fire and pillage, remonstrance, penned his great sonnet: (The reference in lines seven and eight, famine and treachery and assaults of we are told, is to an actual incident. ) Cromwell, the Protestant champion, several, put others in chains, and was the signal for renewed persecution. was aroused and called a general fast in compelled the rest to fly into Another horrible edict decreed that all England, and a national contribution of desert places, and to the Vaudois churches should be destroyed mountains covered with snow, and every Protestant should publicly where some hundreds of families renounce his error within fifteen days are reduced to such distress, that under penalty of death or banishment. it is greatly to be feared they will There were then only 15,000 of this in a short time all miserably people, with 2,500 capable of bearing perish through cold and hunger. arms against the combined might of France and Savoy. But from the Touched with "extreme grief and mountains rang their cry of defiance, compassion for the sufferings and "Death rather than the mass!- In solemn calamities of this afflicted people" he assembly, under the leadership of a called upon the duke to vouchsafe to valiant pastor, Henri Arnaud, with abrogate this edict and put an end to hands raised to the sky, they swore to their oppressions. To the rulers of the defend their homes and their religion to United Provinces of the Netherlands, the death as their fathers had done Milton wrote for Cromwell: before them. Enemies from all quarters poured in But if he still persist in the same upon them. The king of France assailed obstinate resolutions of reducing them from his side, and an armed force to utmost extremity those people marched against them from Turin. For (among whom our religion was three days the embattled Vaudois either disseminated by the first valiantly withstood this sanguinary MARGUERITE STALLE doctors of the Gospel, and invasion and were victorious in every BARKER preserved from the defilement of engagement. Against overwhelming superstition, or else restored to odds and lured by false promises they £40,000 was raised to aid the sufferers. its pristine sincerity long before were compelled to submit. Their He called upon the heads of other other nations obtained that surrender was followed by devastation reformed states to voice with him their felicity), and determines their condemnation of these outrages. utter extirpation and destruction; Milton, as his Latin secretary to the we are ready to take such other council of state, wrote in powerful course and councils with protest to the Duke of Savoy. yourselves, in common with the rest of our reformed friends and Letters have been sent us ... confederates, as may be most wherein we are given to necessary for the preservation of understand, that such of your just and good men, upon the royal highness' subjects as brink of inevitable ruin, and to profess the reformed religion, make the Duke himself sensible are commanded by your edict, that we can no longer neglect the and by your authority, within heavy oppressions and three days after the calamities of our orthodox promulgation of your edict, to brethren. Young women in Valdese costume depart their native seats and habitations, upon pain of o great was the terror of Cromwell's in every hamlet and unheard-of capital punishment, and for name, backed up by his threat to barbarities even upon women and feiture of all their fortunes and Ssend forces to the rescue, that the infants. Over half the survivors, estates, unless they will give persecution was stopped, and the crowded to suffocation in thirteen security to relinquish their surviving inhabitants of the valleys were prisons, perished of hunger and thirst religion within twenty days, promised restoration of their homes and and disease. After six months only and embrace the Roman freedom of worship. three thousand remained alive. Catholic faith. And that . . . a But Cromwell died, and the rulers These were pardoned and released, part of your army fell upon broke faith. In 1685, Louis XIV of but banished forever from their homes them, most cruelly slew France revoked the Edict of Nantes. This and habitations. Hundreds of children were forced from their parents to be As I contemplated [while in Arriving in Genoa, Italy, on July 1, reared as Catholics, never to see their England) the condition of Italy, with 1850, he sent Elders Toronto and families again. The destitute remnants deep solicitude to know the mind of the Stenhouse to visit the Protestant valleys crossed the mountains to Switzerland, Spirit as to where I should commence of Piedmont. Three weeks later, in a hundreds more perishing on the roads my labors, I found that all was dark in letter to President Franklin D. Richards of cold and hunger. Sicily, and hostile laws would exclude of the European Mission, he reported: Three years later occurred "The our efforts. No opening appeared in the Glorious Return of the Vaudois to cities of Italy; but the history of the I have felt an intense desire to Their Valleys." An intrepid band of Waldenses attracted my attention. know the state of that province exiles, eight hundred strong, led by Amid the ages of darkness and to which I had given them an their warrior-pastor, Henri Arnaud, cruelty, they had stood immovable appointment, as I felt assured it assembled on the shores of Lake almost as the wave beaten rock in the Geneva, and recrossing the Alps retook stormy ocean. When the anathemas of SHAFT OF WORDS their homelands at the point of the Rome shook the world and princes fell By Christie Lund Coles sword and maintained themselves there from their thrones, they dared to brave until less than three hundred were left. the mandate of the Pope and the armies I SENT a shaft of words At this juncture they were saved by a of the mighty. To my mind they Out thoughtlessly, quarrel between France and Savoy, and appeared like the rose in the wilderness, Words harshly cruel the duke recalled and reinstated their or the bow in the cloud. The night of With irony. exiled brethren. A portrait of the hero time has overspread their origin; but I saw a heart in pain, Arnaud bears this inscription: these dissenters from Rome existed ages Hurt and bent more low I preach and fight-I have a before Luther was born. During the Because my words echoed. double commission, and these fierce persecutions to which they have Added to its woe. two contests occupy my soul. been subjected, their limits have greatly Zion is now to be rebuilt, and decreased. I picked a gentle phrase the sword is needed as well as A few narrow valleys, which in some Softly to be said, the trowel. places are only a bow's shot in breadth, Full of faith and courage. are all that now remain in their One found them bread, possession except the mountains by which they are engirdled. But a period of Found in them new hope, deep calm has at length arrived, and Faith to lift him up. since the storm of persecution swept Man thirsts for kindliness. over Europe, they have received many 0, fill the cup! privileges from the Sardinian government. Thus the way was opened would be the field of my only a short period before the mission. Now, with a heart full appointment of this mission, and no of gratitude, I find an opening other portion of Italy is governed by presented in the valleys of such favorable laws. Piedmont, when all other parts A flood of light seemed to burst of Italy are closed against our upon my mind when I thought upon the efforts. I believe that the Lord Panorama of Torre pellice subject, and I endeavored to procure has there hidden up a people some information in relation to this amid the Alpine mountains, n February 17, 1848, the king of people. The librarian to whom I applied and it is the voice of the Spirit Sardinia granted to his subjects, informed me he had a work of the that I shall commence Othe Vaudois, the right to description I required, but it had just something of importance in exercise their religion, to enjoy civil been taken. He had scarcely finished the that part of this dark nation. and political rights and to attend sentence, when a lady entered with the (Ibid., p. 121.) schools and universities. book. -0,- said he, ''this is a remarkable The very next year Apostle Lorenzo circumstance; this gentleman has just A few days later he himself arrived at Snow was called to open a mission in called for that book." I was soon La Tour, in the valley of Lucerne. He Italy. As we rode. I took from my convinced that this people were worthy wrote: pocket some notes I had copied the to receive the first proclamation of the This country bears a striking night before from his Gospel in Italy. (Pp. 122-123.) resemblance to the valley of the Autobiography, and read: Great Salt Lake. Piedmont is situated at the foot of the Alps, child, and he recovered. To the rejoicing and over winding, zigzag roads and the highest mountains in parents Elder Snow said, "The God of hairpin curves, thence speeding along Europe. . . . The clouds often heaven has done this for you." the level roads of the fertile Po Valley. enwrap these mighty On September 19 they organized a Our itinerary called for us to remain eminences, and hide their branch of the Church in Italy and began that night in Milan. Both of us felt the frowning grandeurs from our active missionary labors, in impressive urge to push on, and in this event it was view. At other times they are manner. well that we did. covered with snow, while at From Turin the next morning early their feet the vine and fig tree We ascended a very high we drove to Torre Pellice, the Italian are ripening their fruit. ... The mountain, a little distance from form of the La Tour of President Snow, fertile portions of these valleys La Tour, and having taken our the chief village of the Vaudois. It was are rich in their productions; position on a bold projecting a market day, and the crowds were out but two-thirds or more present rock, we sang praises to the God on the street. We were impressed with nothing but precipices, ravines, of heaven. and offered up the the large percentage of blond and rocky districts, or such as following prayer: complexions among them. Surely have a northern aspect. The . . . In Thy name, we this persecution had indeed made them a inhabitants are far too day lift into view before this distinct race. numerous for the nature and people and this nation the ensign Before leaving our hotel room products of the soil. They are . . . of Thy kingdom once more President Barker and I had prayed for often compelled to carry mould to be established among men. . .. guidance in the important task ahead, on their backs to form gardens From the lifting of this ensign that we might secure permission to amid the barren rocks. (Ibid., p. may a voice go forth among the microfilm the records of all these 127.) people of these mountains and Vaudois parishes. On our way we then valleys, and throughout the planned to go first to the parish of I felt assured that the Lord had length and breadth of this land, Prarustin, the birthplace of President directed us to a branch of the and may it go forth and be unto Barker's mother, Marguerite Stalle. house of Israel, and I was thine elect, as the voice of the With good fortune we might find the rejoiced to behold many Lord, that the Holy Spirit may pastor still there who twenty years circumstances that reminded fall upon them imparting before had helped obtain Brother me of those with whom I had knowledge in dreams and Barker's genealogy of his mother's been associated in the valleys visions concerning this hour of family. From the pastor we might learn of the West. We endeavored to their redemption. (Ibid., pp. if there was some official in their lay a foundation for future 130-131.) church who might grant us permission usefulness in silently preparing to copy all the parish registers, and thus the minds of the people for the Here now were we two, almost save the effort of visiting each pastor in reception of the Gospel, by exactly ninety-seven years later, on our turn. Thus we reasoned. cultivating friendly feelings in way to revisit the scene of the labors In the car we followed a narrow the bosoms of those by whom which followed that solemn dedication. and tortuous cart trail up the steep we were surrounded. (Ibid., p. President Barker told how in mountain-like hill to Saint Barthelemy, 128.) succeeding months and years numbers of a cluster of houses forming the center Vaudois families were gathered into the of the parish. We met the pastor, On September 6, Joseph Grey, the Church, including his own grandparents Umberto Bert, a young man, who three-year-old son of their host, lay at and his mother. John Daniel Malan was cordially invited us into his simple the point of death, reduced to a the first baptized convert, on October 27, office, and listened sympathetically to skeleton. Fully awake to the position of 1850, "opening a door which no man can our appeal for per mission to film the the missionaries, Elder Snow called shut," as Elder Snow expressed it. The registers. He was highly interested to upon the Lord to assist them. Next day Cardons, Stalles, Gaudins, the Beuses, learn that President Barker's mother they fasted and retired to the mountains and the Chatelains followed, with many had been born in his parish, and to pray. As they left. the cold others, represented in America today by brought in for our inspection a number perspiration of death covered the child's a noble lineage. of the registers. In one of them was body, and the father whispered, -II found the baptism or christening of rneurtl- (He is dying!) They called upon IGHT fell upon us as we entered Marguerite Stalle in 1850. He himself the Lord in solemn, earnest prayer to Switzerland. On September 11, favored the filming of these precious spare the life of the child. Returning in Nwe crossed the St. Gothard Pass church books which had survived the the afternoon they administered to the through mountains of imposing grandeur periods of persecution, and told us that fortunately the moderateur or primate mark of courtesy and deference, descended towards the of all the Vaudois churches in Italy was introducing us to his delightful family. Angrogna River, a singular right then in Torre Pellice, and would We told them the story of microfilming, scene was presented: the clouds have the authority to speak for all the and they showed real interest. When we were suddenly rent asunder, as eighteen parishes. indicated our desire to see the if they had been a sheet of Led by President Barker we moderateur, he willingly accompanied paper, and the side of Mount climbed the steep hillside, up and ever us to that dignitary, and even assisted us Brigham was visible, in a upward, till at length we gazed upon the in urging the importance of having the moment, from the top to the ruins of the home where his mother had records copied for preservation. The bottom. I exclaimed, "The veil been born. Here in November 1855, moderateur, M. Virgilio Sommani, said over Italy has burst," and yet, at President Franklin D. Richards and two he should like to present the proposal to the instant, I knew not what I other elders took refuge from a mob. La Table Vaudoise or the executive was saying. I stood paralyzed The Stalle family fed them on goat's governing committee of the church, with the magnificent views milk and bread and butter and cheese. which would again be in session in the which opened on every side; As they left, President Richards told morning. "Come back at ten in the then with a prayer to Israel's Sister Stalle to prepare to leave for morning," he said, "and I will have an God, we entered the stream. Zion. That same year she sailed for answer for you." (Ibid., pp. 177-178.) Zion with her husband and their Next morning, prior to that hour, we children and a group of neighbor halted our car on the outskirts of Torre. On a later date, when the gospel had converts. As we sat there, we read once again taken root, Elder Snow wrote: From that eminence, we had a excerpts from the Autobiography of commanding view of the valleys and of Lorenzo Snow, when a branch of the . . . more favorable opportunities the steep hillsides with rock terraces. Church was first organized here, nearly now seem to present themselves, "Each year," said President Barker, a century before. and the Book of Mormon will "these mountain folk on the higher Alps lend its powerful aid in building had to carry their eroded soil in baskets We ascended a very high up the Church.... it was no small on their backs up the hill, and spread it mountain, a little distance from pleasure to find it welcomed by in its original location. They lived from La Tour, and having taken our the Saints in Italy as a heavenly the chestnuts, grapes, figs, and other position on a bold projecting treasure. . . . Nor can I express fruits they cultivated, together with the rock, we sang praises to the God the delight which I experienced in products of their few sheep and goats of heaven. . . . gazing upon Mount Brigham, on and the culture of the silkworm." whose rocky brow we had He told also of how his There before us was Mont Vaudelin organized La Chiesa di Gesu grandparents had joined one of the first (Monte Vandalino in Italian ) and there Christo dei Santi degli Ultimi handcart companies. Disease had plainly visible was Castaluzzo, like a Giorni, in Italia. The Waldenses sapped the strength of the father of the tiny castle, the bold, projecting rock of were the first to receive the family. He became helpless and had to his account. We read further: Gospel, but by the press and the be put in one of the wagons. One day exertions of the Elders, it will be he told his wife he would never reach Elder Snow proposed that this rolled forth beyond their the valley but predicted that once they mountain be known among the mountain regions. (Ibid., p. 209.) arrived, no one of them would ever lack people of God, henceforth and for bread; and some day their daughter forever, as Mount Brigham, and And again: Margaret would be in easy the rock upon which we stood circumstances. When they looked upon the Rock of Prophecy. We have here no temple-no him later in the wagon, he was dead. building made by human hands, They wrapped his body in a sheet and For here he had predicted the great but the mountains tower around placed it in a grave between two layers future of the gospel in Italy. us-far above all edifices. . . . On of sagebrush. On February 24, 1851, two young Sunday, the twenty-fourth of Vaudois were to be baptized. Elder November, we ascended one of ACK in Torre Pellice we called Jabez Woodard reported: these eminences which seem to upon the former pastor of occupy a position between earth BPrarustin, Auguste Jahier, now It rained and snowed amain, and and sky, and which, on a former retired. When he saw President Barker, the atmosphere was so dense occasion, we had named -Mount he recognized him immediately and that we could not see distinctly a Brigham." During our tedious received us into his home with every little way ahead. But as we ascent, the sun shone forth in all its brightness; but in such parts as For the strength of the hills we bless Next spring, when mountain passes were shaded, we found snow on thee, Our God, our fathers' God. are open, we hope to have a the ground, and many a craggy photographer accompany President peak and rocky summit on every We are watchers of a beacon, Barker to the three Protestant valleys of side were white with the snowy Whose light must never die: the Piedmont, and copy the Vaudois fleeces of winter. We are guardians of an altar, records for preservation. Having reached the place we 'Midst the silence of the sky. sought, we gazed with rapture on The rocks yield founts of courage, The improvement Era the enchanting scenes of Struck forth as by thy rod; Janary 1948 surrounding nature. Before us For the strength of the hills we bless was a plain so vast that it seemed thee. as if immensity had become Our God, our fathers' God. visible. . . . Light and shade produced their effect in that This beautiful and stirring hymn, magnificent picture, in a revised to apply to the mountains of surprising degree; for while the Zion in the West, has long been printed clouds flung their shadows on one in our hymnbooks with the words TAVOLA VALDESE part. another was illuminated with "Altered by Edward L. Sloan" in lieu of TORRE PELLICE the most brilliant sunlight as far the name of the original author. Authorization is given Mr. as the eye could reach. Subdued in our feelings reminiscent Archibald F. Bennett, Secretary But there was one hallowed of the blessings of the past and the glory and Librarian of the Genealogical Society of Salt Lake City, to reflection which threw all around of the future, convinced that unseen photograph the Registers of a brighter lustre than the noontide forces were aiding us mightily, we drove Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths firmament: it was in that place, on into Torre Pellice. With Pastor Jahier of the Vaudois Parishes, with the approbation of the Parishes two months before, that we we ascended once more the stairs to the themselves. organized the Church of Jesus meeting place where La Table was in This concession has not only the Christ in Italy. If we had stood session. He rapped on the door. objective of favoring in America the establishment of a Library upon a pavement of gold and Moderateur Sommani came out, smiling which will receive the vital records diamonds, it would not have a warm welcome. He took us into his of all the Evangelical Churches of produced an impression like the office and had us sit down. We were the world, but also that of furnishing us with positive copies imperishable remembrance of that watching his every move intently. Upon of all the Registers, so that we sacred scene. his desk was a typed official letter. He should be able to reproduce them Amid the sublime display of reached for his pen, signed the entirely in case the originals should be destroyed, for any cause the Creator's works, we sang the document, stamped it with his official whatsoever. praises of his eternal name. (Ibid., seal, and handed it to us triumphantly. Le Moderateur pp. 173-174.) We read, in French, his good message de l'Eglise Vaudoise

(see box, page 13 ). VIRGILIO SOMMANI What hymns they sang with full We thanked each other profusely, and hearts is not recorded, but it would set out on our return journey, happy in have been highly appropriate had they the complete success of our undertaking. 64t4 44.4. as4-; sung President Snow's own hymn. In In a day and a half we had achieved what thinking of the Vaudois he wrote about might have consumed days of time. Had this time: we tarried a night in Milan this fortunate result would have been of necessity The following hymn expresses the delayed, for the next day was Sunday. feelings engendered by their romantic Back at the Jahier home we said our situation: good-byes and adieus and au revoirs amid every manifestation of friendship. For the strength of the hills we bless Pastor Jahier graciously tendered us one Thee, Our God, our fathers' God: of the histories of the Vaudois which he Thou hast made Thy children mighty had written. Finally we closed the doors By the touch of the mountain sod. of the car and drove away "with many a Thou hast fixed our ark of refuge, thanks and many a backward bow" on Where the spoiler's foot ne'er trod; their part and on our own.

Footnotes: 1. *Dr. Daniel B. Hill Richards, who served as a missionary in Europe for ten years, wrote an extensive history of the Vaudois, and also of the establishing of the Italian Mission by President Lorenzo Snow, then a member of the Council of the Twelve, in his The Scriptural Allegory. This book was published by the Magazine Printing Company, Salt Lake City, Utah, in April 1931.

2. Behind Torre Pellice lies Mount Vaudelin with its bold, projecting rock, Castaluzzo, renamed by Elder Lorenzo Snow: Mount Brigham and the Rock of Prophecy, respectively.