The Dickinson press., 1891-02-14
STORY OF THE wALDeNsEs.
The Descendants of People Who We
paraecuteJ for n%c1irion.

STORY OF THE wALDENsEs.
Tho Descendants of People Who wcre
Prosecuted for Religion.
Tho Rev. DR.. Tcofilo Gay, minister of
the Waldensian church, in Rome, is q
small, black bearded man, who in ap-
pearance and speech might be mistaken
for a German rather than an italian.
His English, spoken in full, round voice,
is fluent and clear. An idea of his work,
as given by himself, is us follows:
You havs, all read of the unhappy Wal
denses. Long ago they fled from their
homes in Switzerland across the lofty
Alps and down into our Italian valleys,
there to find a refuge from persecution
aud u cluster of their own brethren.
For, years previously, u branch of the
Waldensian church had been established
on the Italian side of the mountains.
In the dark centuries of the Middle
Ages our forefathers would accept moth
ing but the Bible, which was their
strength and joy, and at the same time
the IL to them of SORE trials and trib-
ulations. Tho Waldcnses have always
believed and felt that the Bible was
worth far more than anything else, and
in that belief they have never faltcred.
Even i'll the earliest times they had a
theological school, in which the students
learned by heart whole books of the
Bible. Then, leaving their native val
legs, they %journeyed over the mountains
to their colony in Calabria, acting as
colporteurs on theroad. You know how
they entered the castles as merchants of
gems and precious stones, and how, OK
tolling the Word of God as the most
precious gem Of all, they left the good
book with many a great lord and lady
who had hardly heard of it before.
The Calabrian colony was destroyed
by the Inquisition, but the Piedmontese
valleys survived tho persecutions-the
thirty-thrce terrible prosecutions to
which they were subjected-until they
we're finally liberated less than half a
century ago.
You have heard, too, of the fearful
Waldensian massacre, after which only
1000 out of 1000 prisoners escaped to
the mountains, and of the GLORIOUS re-
turn of our fathers" to their valleys in
1859. That event, the most celebrated
in our history, was commemorated by
our people on the occasion of the ':90th
anniversary.
Today, OH three valleys nesting to-
gether on the Italian side of tho Alps
very near to Turin, the capital of the old
Piedmont. there are 10000 Waldenscs,
descendants of the early champions of
the faith.
Napoleon the Great, when he was
crowned king of Italy, earned IL last
ing gratitude by granting us land and
privileges beyond any we had before en-
joyed. He then declared that the return
of our fathers was the most wonderful
feat in military history, and Napoleon.
with all his faults, was an expert in mil
itary affairs.
Charles Albert, king Of Savoy, when
he gave his people a new constitution
now the constitution of Italy-in 1913
vas obliged to grant civil and religious
emancipation to the Waldenses, and it
was only at that date that our struggles
ended and our new era Of happiness and
prosperity began.
We have now, in our chief settlement,
a theological school and u high school
for young ladies, and Waldensian schools
we have everywhere. Travelling through
our valleys you will at once guess yo1
are in a Christian country. You will see
children going to Sunday school with
their New Tcstaments under their arms.
You will see men and women, dressed
in holiday costume, coming down from
the mountains to go to church. You
will find the valleys dotted with the edi-
fees devoted to our pure and Simple
worship.
We don't leave our valleys. When
1000 Or 5000 Waldenses went away
across the seas to found a colony in Uru-
quay people predicted the depopulation
of our native land; but there is no dan
ger of that. Our mountains are not
elastic. They will not hold more than
10000 people within their high and ever
lasting walls. Some of the Waldenses.
therefore, are compelled from time to
time to emigrate.
But, though separated from us by
thousands of miles of earth and ocean,
the ~colonists in Uruguay form IL Of
the seventeen parishes of the church of
the valleys, and send a deputy every
September to our synod.
Outside of our own territory we have
planted the seed Of our faith, and reapcd
abundant fruit in ~ninety-seven different
places throughout Italy, including all
the large cities and many less important
towns.-Boston Herald.