The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1870-07-05

The NAuDors. - The territory of the
Vaudois embraces scarcely sixteen square
miles. The three valleys can never have
contained population of more than
twenty thousand. In every age the man.
ners of the people have been the same.
They are tall, graceful, vigorous a
mountain race accustomed to labor or to
hunt the chamois in his native crags.
The women are fair and spotless; their
rude but plaintive hymns are often heard
resounding from the chestnut groves their
native refinement softens the apparent
harshness of their frugal lives. Over the
whole population of the Vaudos valleys
has ever rested the charms of a spotless
purity. Their fair and tranquil counte-
nances speak only frankness and simplici-
ty their lives are passed in deeds of
charity, in honest labors, and in unvary-
ing self-respect The vices and the foil.
les, the luxury and the crime that have
swept over Europe never invaded the
happy valleys, unless carried thither by
the papal troops. No pride, no avarce,
no fierce resentment disturbs the peaceful
Vaudois no crime is heard of in this
singular community. TO wait upon
the sick, to aid the strangers, are eagerly
contended for as privilege; compassion
even for their enemies, is the crowning
excellence of the generous race When
their persecuter Victor Amandeus H.,
was driven from Turin by the French, he
took refuge in the valleys he had desolat-
ed, in the cottage of a Vaudois peasant
Here he lived in perfect security. The
peasant might have filled his house with
gold by betraying his guest he refused !;
the duke escaped and rewarded his pre-
server with characteristic parsimouy. In
the French wars of the last century, when
Suwarrow was victorious among the Alps,
three hundred wounded Frenchmen took
shelter in the village of Bobbio The
Vaudios cared for their scanty means
allowed, and then, taking the wound
ed soldiers on their shoulders, carried
them over the steep Alpine passes and
brought them safely to their native
France.
We may accept, for we cannot refutc
the narrative of their early history given
by the Vaudois themselves. Soon after
the dawn of Christianity, they assert, their
ancestors embraced the faith of st. Paul,
and practiced rites and usages described
Justin or Tertulian. The Scriptures be-
came their guide the same belief, the
same sacraments they maintain to-day, they
held in the age of Constantine and Syl-
vester. They relate that, as the Romish
church grew in power and pride, they
repeled its assumptions and refused to
submit to its authority; that when, in
the ninth century, the use Of inimage was
enforced by superstitious popes, they, at
least, never consented to become idolaters,
that they never worshippod the Virgin,
nor bowed at an idolatrous mass. When
in the eleventh century Rome asserted
its supremacy over kings and princes, the
Vaudois were its bitterest foes. The
Vaudois missionaries travelled into Hun
gary and Bohemia, France England,
even Scotland, and aroused the people
to sense of the fearful corruption of the
church. They pointed to Rome as the
untichrist, the centar of avo-y ~Lomina.
tion. They taught, in place of the Rom
ish innovations, the pure faith of the
apostolic age Lollard, who led the way
to the reforms of Weyliffe, was preacher
from the valleys, the Aloigeeses of Prov.
ence, in the twelfth century, were the
fruits Of the Vaudois missions Germany
and Bohemia were reformed by the
, teachers of Piedmont Huss and Jerome
. did little more than proclaim the Naudoia
faith and Luther and Calvin were only
, the necessary offspring of the apostolic
. churches of the Alps.
OF all its opponents Rome most hated
the Vaudos. To bind one of the primi.
tive Christians to the stake seemed to
give strange satisfaction to their modern
, prosecutors. In September, 1860, Pope
Plus ". and his holy college gathered at
Rome to witness one Of their favoritc
: spectacls. A pile had been raised in the
square of St. Angelo, near the bridge
, over the Tiber. The people assembled
t in great throng. The condemned,a "a pale
and feeble young man, was led forth
when suddenly he began to speak with
c such rare eloquencc and force that tn,
e people listened; the pope grew angry
and troubled; and the inquisitors ordered
the Vaudois to be strangled lest hi
voice might be heard above the flames
Plus ". then saw the martydom in peace
and directed the ashes of his foe to be
[ thrown into the Tiber.
e The martyr was John Louis Pascha
young pastor of great eloquence wh'
a had been called from Geneva to a congre
o CATION of Vaudois in Calabria. The pos
+. Of danger had singular charm for tn,
). brilliant preacher. He was betrothed t.
d young girl of Geneva When he tol'
@ her of his call to Calabra, ALAS sh
e cried, with tears. $50 near to Rome, anC
e so far from me !" Yet she did not op
c pose his generous resolve, and he went t,
!. his dangerous station Here his eloquenc
d soon drew a wide attention. He courte,
by his boldness the crown of martyrdonl
He was shut up in deep dungeon, wa
It chained with a gang of galley-slaves, wa
imprisoned in a long confinement. Hi
prosecutors stroye to induce him to recant
but no bribes nor terrors could move him
He wrote last fond exhortation to Cam
p lila Guarina, his betrothed; his elo
quence was heard for the last time as h
was strangled before the stake.
The battle of the Pra del Tor is tn,
Marathon Of Italian Christianity 1t wa
invested with all the romantic traits o.
patriotic warfare. The army of thu
Connt of Trinity, clad in rich armor ant
glittering with military pomp, marched il
well-trained squadrons up the beautiful
valley the clamor of the trumpets startl
ed the chamois on his crags, and drov,
the eagle from her nest the waving
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