A BRIEF NARRATIVE OF THOSE HORRIBLE CRUELTIES WHICH WERE EXERCISED TOWARDS THE WALDENSES IN THE LATE MASSACRE, IN APRIL, 1655.
Jones Pgs. 256-271
BRETHREN AND FATHERS!
“Our tears are no more tears of water but of blood, which not only obscure our sight, but oppress our very hearts. Our pen is guided by a trembling hand, and our minds distracted by such unexpected alarms, that we are incapable of framing a letter which shall correspond with our wishes, or the strangeness of our desolations. In this respect, therefore, we plead your excuse, and that you would endeavor to collect our meaning from what we would impart to you.
“Whatever reports may have been circulated concerning our obstinacy in refusing to have recourse to his royal highness for a redress of our heavy grievances and molestations, you cannot but know that we have never desisted from writing supplicatory letters, or presenting our humble requests, by the hands of our deputies, and that they were sent and referred, sometimes to the council de propaganda fide, at other times to the Marquis of Pionessa, and that the three last times they were positively rejected, and refused so much as an audience, under the pretext that they had no credentials nor instructions which should authorize them to promise or accept, on the behalf of their respective churches, whatever it might please his highness to grant or bestow upon them. And by the instigation and contrivance of the Roman clergy, there was secretly placed in ambush an army of six thousand men, who, animated and encouraged thereto by the personal presence and active exertions of the Marquis of Pionessa, fell suddenly and in the most violent manner, upon the inhabitants of S. Giovanni and La Torre.
“This army having once entered and got a footing, was soon augmented by the addition of a multitude of the neighboring inhabitants throughout all Piedmont, who hearing that we were given up as a prey to the plunderers, fell upon the poor people with impetuous fury. To all those were added an incalculable number of persons that had been outlawed, prisoners, and other offenders, who expected thereby to have saved their souls and filled their purses. And the better to effect their purposes, the inhabitants were compelled to receive five or six regiments of the French army, besides some Irish, to whom, it is reported, our country was promised, with several troops of vagabond persons, under the pretext of coming into the valleys for fresh quarters.
“This great multitude, by virtue of a license from the Marquis of Pionessa, instigated by the monks, and enticed and conducted by our wicked and unnatural neighbors, attacked us with such violence on every side, especially in Angrogne, Villaro, and Bobio; and in a manner so horribly treacherous, that in an instant all was one entire scene of confusion, and the inhabitants, after a fruitless skirmish to defend themselves, were compelled to flee for their lives, with their wives and children; and that not merely the inhabitants of the plain, but those of the mountains also. Nor was all their diligence sufficient to prevent the destruction of a very considerable number of them. For, in many places, such as Villaro and Bobio, they were so hemmed in on every side, the army having seized on the fort of Mareburg, and by that means blocked up the avenue, that there remained no possibility of escape, and nothing remained for them but to be massacred and put to death. In one place they mercilessly tortured not less than an hundred and fifty women and their children, chopping off the heads of some, and dashing the brains of others against the rocks. And in regard to those whom they took prisoners, from fifteen years old and upwards, who refused to go to mass, they hanged some, and nailed others to the trees by the feet, with their heads downward. It is reported that they carried some persons of note prisoners to Turin, viz. our poor brother and pastor, Mr. Gros, with some part of his family. In short, there is neither cattle nor provisions of any kind left in the valley of Lucerne; it is but too evident that all is lost, since there are some whole districts, especially S. Giovanni and La Torre, where the business of setting fire to our houses and churches was so dexterously managed, by a Franciscan friar, and a certain priest, that they left not so much as one of either unburnt. In these desolations, the mother has been bereft of her dear child — the husband of his affectionate wife! Those who were once the richest amongst us are reduced to the necessity of begging their bread, while others still remain weltering in their own blood, and deprived of all the comforts of life. And as to the churches in S. Martino and other places, who, on all former occasions, have been a sanctuary to the persecuted, they have themselves now been summoned to quit their dwellings, and every soul of them to depart, and that instantaneously and without respite, under pain of being put to death. Nor is there any mercy to be expected by any of them who are found within the dominions of his royal highness.
“The pretext which is alleged for justifying these horrid proceedings is, that we are rebels against the orders of his highness, for not having brought the whole city of Geneva within the walls of Mary Magdalene church; or, in plainer terms, for not having performed an utter impossibility in departing, in a moment, from our houses and homes in Bubbiana, Lucerne, Fenile, Bricheras, La Torre, S. Giovanni, and S. Secondo; and also, for having renewed our repeated supplications to his royal highness, to commiserate our situation, who, while on the one hand he promised us to make no innovations in our lot, on the other refused us permission to depart peaceably out of his dominions, for which we have often entreated him, in case he would not allow us to continue and enjoy the liberty of our consciences, as his predecessors had always done. True it is, that the Marquis of Pionessa adduced another reason, and we have the original copy of his writing in our possession, which is, that it was his royal highness’s pleasure to abase us and humble our pride, for endeavoring to shroud ourselves, and take sanctuary, under the protection of foreign princes and states.
“To conclude, our beautiful and flourishing churches are utterly lost, and that without remedy, unless our God work miracles for us. Their time is come, and our measure is full! O have pity upon the desolations of Jerusalem, and be grieved for the afflictions of Joseph. Show forth your compassions, and let your bowels yearn in behalf of so many thousands of poor souls, who are reduced to a morsel of bread, for following the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. We recommend our pastors, with their scattered and dispersed flocks, to your fervent christian prayers, and rest in haste,
- Your brethren in the Lord.
- April 27th 1655
The reader may collect from this letter some general notion of the tenor of the proceedings that were at this time carried on against the Waldenses in Piedmont; and they appear to have been extended progressively throughout almost the whole country. But if credit is to be given to the statements of our countryman, Sir Samuel Morland, who in the very same year was sent by the English government to administer pecuniary assistance to these afflicted people, — if any regard is due to the attestations which he has produced from persons who were spectators of the dreadful work of carnage; it is but a faint impression of the scene which can be derived from that letter. The representation given us by Sir Samuel, and further corroborated by Leger, in his General History of the Churches of Piedmont, beggars all description for atrocity. Nor, if the infernal regions had been disemboweled of their inhabitants, and the whole let loose among the valleys of Piedmont, could we have expected the perpetration of greater enormities. The bare report of them spread amazement throughout all the protestant states of Europe, as we shall presently see; and the principal actors in this deep tragedy found it necessary to aim at extricating their characters from the odium which attached to it. In particular, the Marquis of Pionessa labored to cast the blame upon certain officers of his army, which induced one of them, not only to give up the command of the regiment, but actually to draw up an affidavit, which he attested with his own hand, and got it further corroborated by the testimony of two of his brother officers, in vindication of his conduct in that affair. Sir Samuel Morland obtained possession of the original document, which he deposited in the University of Cambridge, along with an infinite number of other interesting manuscripts relating to this subject, and it appears of sufficient importance to be submitted to the reader’s consideration.
“I, SIEUR DU PETIT BOURG, first captain of the regiment of Groncy, who also commanded the same, having received direction from prince Thomas to join the Marquis of Pionessa, who was then at La Torre, and to receive his orders — when I was upon the eve of departure, the ambassador sent for me, and desired me to speak to M. de Pionessa, and to use my endeavors to accommodate the troubles which had happened among those of the religion [of the Waldenses] in the valleys of Piedmont. In order to which I addressed myself to the marquis, earnestly entreating him that he would give way, and allow me to undertake an accommodation, which I supposed I might have been able to effect. But he repeatedly refused my request, in defiance of all the endeavors I could possibly use to persuade him. And instead of the least mitigation of matters, which could be produced by any consideration that I could lay before him, I was witness to many acts of violence and extreme cruelties exercised by the banditti and soldiers of Piedmont, upon all sorts of persons, of every age, sex, and condition, whom I myself saw massacred, dismembered, hung up; females violated, and numerous other horrid atrocities committed. And so far is it from being true that the whole was done by virtue of the orders that were issued by me, as falsely stated in a certain Narrative, printed in French and Italian, that I beheld the same with horror and regret. And whereas it is said in the same Narrative, that the Marquis of Pionessa commanded me to treat them peaceably without hostility, and in the best manner I possibly could, the event clearly demonstrated that the orders he gave were altogether of a contrary tendency, since it is most certain that without distinction of those who resisted, from those who made no resistance, they were used with all sorts of inhumanity — their houses burnt, their goods plundered, and when prisoners were brought before the Marquis of Pionessa, I was a witness to his issuing orders to give them no quarter at all, assigning as a reason, that his highness was resolved to have none of that religion in any of his dominions.
“And as to what he protests in the same declaration, namely, that no hurt was done to any, except during the fight, nor the least outrage committed upon any unoffending and helpless persons, I do assert; and will maintain that such is not the truth, having seen with my own eyes several men killed in cold blood, and also women, aged persons, and children, miserably murdered.
“And with regard to the manner in which they put themselves in possession of the valley of Angrogne, to pillage and entirely burn the same, it was done with great ease. For, excepting six or seven persons, who, seeing there would be no mercy shown them, made some show of resistance, the rest were dispersed without difficulty, the peasants consulting how to flee, rather than how to fight the enemy. In short, I absolutely deny and protest, as in the presence of God, that none of those cruelties were executed by my order; but, on the contrary, seeing that I could not procure a remedy, I was constrained to retire and quit the command of the regiment, not liking to be present at such wicked transactions.
- Done at Pignerol, November 27th, 1655.
- DU PETIT BOURG.
Now, whatever may be thought of this defense, or upon whomsoever the onus of guilt may devolve, it seems a fair inference from these documents, that cruelties of the most enormous kind were at this time inflicted by the catholic party upon the Waldenses throughout the whole country of Piedmont, — upon a class of men whose sole crime was, that they dissented from the communion of the church of Rome, and refused to countenance her idolatry and superstition. And that their sufferings were of no ordinary cast, may be inferred from the single consideration, that they excited the commiseration of, and at the same time extorted remonstrances from, almost every protestant court in Europe, who raised large contributions to relieve their poverty, and sent their ministers to the court of Savoy, to intercede with the Duke for the amelioration of the condition of his subjects. In this benevolent work, it is a gratifying reflection, that our own country took the lead, as will more particularly be shown in the next section: I shall close the present with an article of no inconsiderable interest in the history of the churches of Piedmont.
While the fire of persecution was, as we have seen, so fiercely raging against the Waldenses, in the early part of the year 1655, two persons who sustained the pastoral office, in the valley of Lucerne, were seized and sent as prisoners to the city of Turin, probably with a multitude of others who escaped the edge of the enemy’s sword. It is but doing justice to the catholic party to say of them, that they seldom evinced their delight in human blood to such an excess as to prefer it to that of converting a heretic to their faith. In general, they only gave it the preference to the alternative of allowing persons to think differently from themselves. Nor would it be fair to accuse them of remissness in their expedients and exertions to recover back again to the true church such as they supposed were gone astray. In that respect they could always display the wisdom of the serpent, though seldom, alas! the harmlessness of the dove. On the present occasion, the two pastors above referred to, whose names were PETER GROS and FRANCIS AGUIT, were unhappily entrapped by the monks of the inquisition, and they fell from their profession. The renunciation of their principles would ensure their liberation from prison. The chains were taken from their bodies, and they recovered their liberty — but in a short time the burden was transferred from the body to the mind, and their own consciences rendered them miserable. In this state of things, they applied for re-admission into the churches, and the following declaration of the state of their minds was publicly made by them, before a full assembly of their brethren, convened at Pinache, in the valley of Perouse, on the 28th and 29th August, 1655, for the purpose of taking their case into consideration.
Most honored Fathers and Brethren in the Lord.
We could have wished that a less mournful occasion had caused our present appearance in public, and that a more favorable opportunity had made us known to the world, by some notable action, the remembrance of which might have been as a blessing in the churches; but as our names can only be famous by the horrible scandal which we have brought upon the church of God, we now come forth out of the dark dungeons of our own shame and confusion, and present ourselves before men, to testify to all the world our conversion and repentance, and to give indubitable proofs of our grief, for that we have been so base as to forsake our former profession.
When we reflect upon those advantages with which, above others, the Lord was pleased to bless us, in granting us a religious education and the knowledge of his saving grace, thus teaching us where true happiness is to be found; and finally to have been called to the highest employment that men can have in this world, viz. to be the heralds of God’s justice, and the preachers of his truth, we cannot without horror speak of our offense, and are constrained to confess that our sin is rendered much more odious in that, having known our Master’s will, we nevertheless withdrew our shoulders from his service, and have acted in opposition to his command. It was in these last calamities which have overrun our country, that we thus made shipwreck — after having lost: our liberty and our goods — when the enemies of the truth, having resolved upon extirpating our religion in the valleys of Piedmont, exercised the most barbarous cruelties upon our countrymen. And we, having fallen into their hands after they had showed us how far their inhumanity could reach; to give us a proof of the utmost degree of it, they caused us to be thrown into prison, when they proceeded against us, and sentenced us to death as guilty of high treason, and the ringleaders of rebellion, incessantly setting before our eyes the torments and punishments to which we were condemned; and, to render us more flexible to the enticements of the Jesuits, who, without ceasing, solicited us to accept of a pardon which they would obtain for us on our embracing Popery, and abjuring our religion.
At their first onsets, we were confident that, so far from yielding to them, we had strength and fortitude enough to despise whatever superstition could present before our eyes as terrible or dreadful — and that the dark and dismal shades of death itself, with which they threatened as, were insufficient to extinguish that heavenly light which then shined in our souls. But to our extreme grief, we have learned how frail our nature is, and how deceitful the wisdom of the flesh, which, for the enjoyment of a frail and transitory life, prevailed upon us to forego those unspeakably good things which God hath prepared for his children and that everlasting joy of which those are made partakers who endure to the end. It was this fleshly wisdom, which, from a desire to preserve this house of clay, this earthly tabernacle, and to avoid a shameful death, and a punishment ignominious in the eyes of the world, that induced us to a shameful falling away, turning our backs upon him who is the fountain of life. We have lent our ears to this deceitful Delilah, and although there were not offered to us any reasons so strong as in the least degree, to obscure the truth that we did profess, yet we freely acknowledge that the fear of death and the horror of torments, shook our courage, and beat down our strength; and we have decayed and dried up like water, not resisting to blood, as the profession, not only of Christians, but more especially of Christian ministers, obliged us to do.
Having been persuaded by deceitful reasoning, that life is preferable to death — that we might be further profitable to the church, to our country, and to our families — that there was no glory in dying as rebels, and that one day we might get out of captivity, and manifest to the world, that if the confession had been wanting in our mouths, yet the faith had not been wanting in our hearts. Thus we accepted of pardon on these miserable conditions, and have not hesitated to enter into the temple of idols, and employ our mouths and tongues in uttering blasphemies against the truth of heaven, in denying and abjuring the same; and our sacrilegious hands also in subscribing the act and events of this infamous apostasy, which has drawn many others into the same perdition. Our light has become darkness, and our salt has lost its savor — we have fallen from heaven to the earth — from the spirit to the flesh — and from life to death. We have made ourselves obnoxious to the curse which the Lord hath pronounced on those; by whom offenses come. And having made light of the threatenings of the Son of God against those who shall deny him before men, we have deserved to be denied by him before his heavenly Father. Finally, we have rendered ourselves unworthy of divine favors and mercy, and have drawn upon our guilty heads whatever is most dreadful in the wrath of God and his indignations — and have deserved to be rejected of the church as stumbling-blocks or rocks of offense, and that the faithful should even abhor our company.
But as we have learned in the school of the prophets, that the mercies of God are infinite, and that the Lord hath no pleasure in the destruction of his poor creatures, but calleth the sinner to repentance, that he may give him life, we presume to appear before his face, to humble ourselves in his holy presence, to bewail the greatness of our sin, and to make before him a free confession of our iniquity. O that our heads might melt into waters of bitterness, and our eyes were turned into fountains of tears, to express the grief wherewith our souls are pressed down. As our sin is of no ordinary measure, so it calls for extraordinary repentance: and as we acknowledge it to be one of the greatest that can be committed, so do we wish that our repentance should reach the lowest degree of humiliation, and that the acts of our contrition may be known to the world. If David, for lighter faults, was willing that his complaints and his deep sorrow and repentance should be left, as it were for a memorial in the church, well may we not be ashamed to publish among men the inconsolable regret which we feel for having offended God, and giving an occasion of scandal to the assemblies of the saints; and we deserve to have imprinted upon our foreheads a mark of perpetual infamy for our miserable fall, to make the memory thereof continue for ever. And if we can make it apparent that the sorrow it hath begotten in us is extreme, and that we now disclaim whatever fear formerly forced us to do contrary to the dictates of our consciences; we trust that he who forgave Peter when he denied Christ in the court of Caiaphas, will grant us the same grace, since we are come to ask forgiveness in all humility, with tears in our eyes, confession in our mouths, and contrition in our hearts; and that, as there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, so there may be joy in the congregation of the faithful when they shall behold our conversion to the Lord.
GREAT GOD! ALMIGHTY FATHER! dreadful in thine anger; in whose presence no sinner can subsist a moment; we prostrate ourselves at the feet of thy Majesty as poor miserable offenders, confessing that we have justly provoked thee to anger by our transgressions and iniquities, and drawn upon ourselves thy righteous judgments, in that we have forsaken thy heavenly truth, and bowed the knee before the idol! But how shall we now appear before thee, O thou Judge of the quick and dead, since by so doing, we have deserved to feel, not only in this life thy most severe rod and punishment, but that thou shouldest also cut us off from the number of the living, and cast us headlong into the lake of fire and brimstone, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. O God! rich in compassions and infinite in mercies! which thou multipliest even in judgment; turn us and we shall be turned! be merciful to us, forgive us our offense! blot out our iniquity! and impute not our sin unto us! Open unto us the door of thy grace, that we may be partakers of this thy salvation. O Lord Jesus, Redeemer of souls, who camest into this world for the sake of poor sinners; look upon our affliction! Receive us to mercy! and grant that, our sins being washed away in thy most precious blood, we may draw near to the throne of thy grace with confidence to obtain mercy. Raise us up from our fall! strengthen us in our weakness! and although Satan hath sought to sift us, suffer not our faith [utterly] to fail! Work in us effectually both to will and to do according to thy good pleasure. It is thou who hast stretched out thine hand around us! It is thy strong hand which hath helped us! Thou hast taken us out of captivity both of body and soul, in which we lay languishing, and hast afforded us the liberty to call upon thy name! Thou hast heard our cries out of the deep, and hast given us fresh cause to rejoice in thy goodness, and to bless thy holy name; to whom be everlasting glory ascribed, at all times, and in all ages! AMEN.
And you faithful souls, who witness our contrite heart and broken spirit before the Lord; O commiserate our lamentable state! Learn by our example, how great is human frailty, and what a precipice we fall into whenever God withdraws his supporting hand from us! Consider, that as it hath been to us an extreme infelicity to have fallen into so great a sin, so have you an argument to rejoice in God, through whose grace you have been given to stand! Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation! Hold fast that which you have, that no man take your crown! Be faithful to the Lord Jesus even unto death, that so ye may obtain the crown of life! And, be assured that, aside from the profession of his truth, which you make to the exclusion of all other sorts of religion whatsoever, there is nothing but death, horror, and astonishment. This is a thing which we are enabled to assure you of from our own experience, because from the very first moment that we gave our consent to this unhappy apostasy, our consciences have given us no rest at all; and through their continual harassings and agitations, they have not suffered us to enjoy any of that comfort which a Christian soul experiences in tribulation, until it pleased God to draw us out of the filthy quagmire of Babylon, and caused us to return to his ways. And do you, Christians, lend your helping hand; let your arms be opened to embrace us; do not count us unworthy of your holy communion, although we have been all occasion of offense. Suffer us to pour into your bosom a torrent of tears, to deplore our condition, and to assure you, in the anguish of our souls, that our grief is greater than we can express. Help us by your holy prayers to the Lord, and publish our repentance in all places, where you conceive our sin has been or shall be known, that so it may be evident to all the world that, from the very bottom of our souls, we grieve and are full of sorrow for it; and that in the presence of God and of his holy angels, as well as of those who now witness our contrition, we do abjure and detest the pretended sacrifice of the mass, the authority of the pope, and, in general, all the worship that is dependent on them. We recant whatsoever we have pronounced to the prejudice of evangelical truth, and promise, for the future, through divine assistance, to persevere in the profession of the reformed religion to the last moment of our lives, and rather to suffer death and torments, than to renounce that holy doctrine which is taught in our churches, and which we believe to be agreeable to the word of God; all which we protest and promise with our bended knees upon the earth, and our hands lifted up to the Eternal, our Almighty God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and as we desire his aid, to enable us to do this, even so may he help us, even our God. AMEN.”
Next: Waldensian Persecutions Part IV
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