(A.D. 1602 TO A.D. 1616.)
The number of Protestants in the province of Saluces was not confined to the members of the churches which we have named, but in the valley of the Stura, in the valley of the Vrayta, and in Valgrane, there were fugitives from the great towns, who had retired to the most secluded villages. Thither each of them brought with him a portion of the evangelical light of their dispersed church, a spark of the common faith, which was thus extended in their exile.
Light has the property of communication without diminution; it enlarges its sphere by multiplying the centres from which it shines. Accordingly, the number of enlightened souls increased around the proscribed refugees, and these forgotten villages gradually became new churches. Moreover, many of the families which bad embraced the external forms of Catholicism when it was imposed upon them by violence, hastened to return to the natural expression of their faith when the oppression had ceased.
Then, also, the persecuting attention of Popery was again drawn to them. The edict of the 25th of February, 1602, which interdicted Protestant worship without the limits of the Vaudois valleys, had no other object than to put an end to it in the towns of the province of Pignerol, situated on the outskirts of these valleys; but it was made a terrible weapon in the province of Saluces.
In the first place, missionaries were sent thither under the direction of Father Ribotti, in order that those who did not yield to their arguments might be treated as hardened and obstinate rebels. The governor of Dronéro and the vice-seneschal of Saluces were invited to assist in this enterprise.
The reformed then addressed a petition to Charles Emmanuel,[2] in the hope of obtaining some mitigation of the provisions of that edict, the force of which they felt, without being named in it. They entreated, amongst other favours, that they might not be subjected to any ecclesiastical jurisdiction, but only to the civil magistrates; and nothing could be more just, because the ecclesiastical tribunals belonged to the Church of Rome, and could not be expected to judge, but only to condemn the adherents of another communion. They asked, also, that those of their religious persuasion who had been for more than seven years settled in that part of the country, should not be driven into exile; and, finally, that mixed marriages, solemnized by Protestant ministers whilst the province belonged to France, should not be annulled. This was, however, the thing which the Catholic clergy demanded most of all, without any regard to the confusion of every kind which this measure could not fail to produce in families.
These three points were conceded to the Vaudois of Saluces. But before this was done, a priest of the neighbourhood had taken upon him to issue, upon his own private authority, an order of expulsion against all the reformed of his parish. This abuse of power was complained of to the Duke of Savoy, who replied that he would write upon the subject to the governor.
The reformed and the Vaudois originally belonging to this province, had therefore reason to hope that for them days of tranquillity were at last come; but through the solicitations of the Capuchins and Jesuits, the justice promised and the concessions obtained, very soon gave place to new severities. On the 12th of June, 1602, appeared the following edict:--
"Having laboured, by all means possible, for the extirpation of heresy, in order to the glory of God and the salvation of souls, we are grieved to learn that in the marquisate of Saluces, the people whom we have prohibited from the exercise of their worship live without ostensible religion, and thereby run the risk of falling into atheism. To prevent this horrible evil, we ordain all the adherents of the pretended reformed religion, whether born in the country or only settled in it, to embrace the Catholic faith within fifteen days, or to leave our dominions and to sell their properties within the space of six months, under pain of confiscation and death."
The Protestants of these regions, preferring the pains of exile to a base desertion of the faith of their fathers, left the province of Saluces in a body, and retired once more to that Ephraim of the Vaudois valleys, where the exiled always found a refuge, where Christians always found brethren, and where sacred consolations were always ministered to the afflicted.
But many of them settled upon the left bank of the Cluson, in the valley of Perouse, at Les Fortes, Pinache, Doublon, and Perouse itself, where, according to an edict recently promulgated,[3] the reformed worship was equally to be abolished; and the Capuchin Ribotti, always breathing out fury against the Vaudois, pursued thither also these unfortunate and fugitive victims.
Aided by the urgency of the nuncio, and solicitations directly addressed by Paul V himself to the Duke of Savoy, Ribotti obtained an edict,[4] by which that prince renewed in a more general manner the prohibition to celebrate Protestant worship in his dominions, without the arbitrary limits to which the territory of the Vaudois valleys had been restricted. The Protestants did not make any haste to abjure, and the duke did not make any haste to punish; but by multiplying his prohibitions, he multiplied the claims which Popery could urge for the employment of measures so severe as to be effective. The prince, notwithstanding his natural mildness, could not refuse to cause the orders which he had already issued to be put in execution; but it may be easily enough seen, from the instructions which he addressed in these circumstances to the governors of provinces, that the real author of these cruelties was the pope, and not himself "Desiring," said he, "that the holy enterprise of the extirpation of heresy should be accomplished in our dominions, and his Holiness having for this purpose sent missionaries, at the head of whom is Father Ribotti, we enjoin all our officers to render him all assistance."[5] Then, denying himself the credit of his own clemency, he recommended them to treat the Vaudois with some tenderness, and to make them suppose that they owed it to the personal kindness of Father Ribotti; for assuming, with good enough reason, that that monk would be pitiless, the duke wrote a private letter to the governor of Saluces, in which he said, "In order that his severities may not make him too odious to these poor people, you will take care to show them indulgence in some things, and to grant them some mitigations, as if they were owing to his intercession."[6] But the missionaries understood nothing of the employment of any such means; and at this juncture the above circular was issued, which was by no means calculated to calm men's tempers. The unhappy peasants, so often annoyed, proscribed, dispossessed, and now again chased from their abodes, already also exasperated and excited by a troop of discontented and banished men like themselves, but who certainly had not the same Christianity, assembled in an armed band among the mountains. They proclaimed themselves the defenders of the oppressed, not concealing their intention of resisting the troops of the sovereign himself if he should employ his troops against them or their adherents.
But there were no stores of provisions in the mountains; and for subsistence this body made frequent forays into the plain, supplying themselves with victuals by pillage, in which the Catholics, and those who had recently become Catholics, were the principal sufferers. Hence arose many reprehensible disorders.
This famished band received the name of the band of the Digiunati and by the intimidation which they exercised, they compelled a number of Protestants who had recently become Catholics, to return to the Reformed Church, which violence had driven them to leave. Wretched and deplorable conversions on both sides! But what was only an exception with Protestantism, was habitual with the Church of Rome.
The Duke of Savoy, having been informed of these troubles, commanded the magistrates to cause the syndics of the communes which were frequented by the Digiunati to be summoned before them, and to make each of these syndics responsible for the disorders committed in his commune. At the same time, he enjoined the Protestants of the towns situated in the plain of Piedmont, on the border of the Vaudois valleys, to quit their abodes, or else to become Catholics within the space of fifteen days.[7]
The irritation of the parties had reached its height, when, in addition of all other calamities, a general famine aggravated the distress of the numerous families of Protestants, who, without having left the territories of Savoy, lived in wandering and banishment. The Digiunati became the agents of depredation and vengeance; and in spite of the severe but ineffective proceedings adopted against them--in spite of the express prohibition to give them any harbour, assistance, or supply of food--their number continued to increase. All the fugitive victims of persecution or of famine joined them. Exerting themselves in this vagabond and savage life to do as much injury as possible to their enemies, they became every day more dreaded. Their presence in the mountains afforded a kind of refuge for all who were persecuted, and the exasperation continually increased, from the combination of so many miseries and animosities.
Four young men of Bubiano having met with one of the agents of the Inquisition, killed him as they would a mischievous beast, and went to join the Digiunati. Another assassination was committed upon the person of a Catholic of Bagnols, who had come and joined himself to the refugees in order to betray them; "and besides these," says Gilles, "they performed many other acts of vengeance, which displeased well-disposed people, notwithstanding all the pretexts and all the reasons which they brought forward in opposition to their censures."
But disorder is like a conflagration; it increases by its own violence. And ought we to be astonished that these unfortunate people, with a price set upon their heads, should have endeavoured both to defend and to avenge themselves? In times of war the nations eagerly rush to that systematized murder, which decimates them without dishonour; and in times of persecution, is it not conceivable that proscribed persons, whose lives are more cruelly threatened than in a battle, may have been drawn into crimes of which, in other circumstances, they would have been incapable? What is said of offences may be applied also to these excesses--woe be to those by whom they come!
The inhabitants of the surrounding districts, moreover, including the Catholics themselves, although suffering from this state of things, regarded the resistance made by these unfortunate people, driven as they were to despair, as most natural; and all their wishes were, not for their death, but for an arrangement which would permit the proscribed to return to their ordinary life. "Scarcely were we arrived at Lucerna," says a traveller of that period, "when we were surrounded by men and women, entreating us with clasped hands that an accommodation might be come to. In this we remarked the judgment of God; for the banished people had been driven from Lucerna upon account of their religion, and now these were the Papists, who could not venture out of the town because of the banished." This traveller was the Count of Lucerna, who interposed on their behalf and particularly on behalf of those of Saluces, who had been so long time dispersed. He demanded that a petition should be intrusted to him. All the Vaudois and Reformed churches, from Suza to Coni, constituting, as they said, one body in Christ, made haste to sign it.[8]
Meanwhile, the Digiunati continued their raids. Six of them having come down to Lucerna to buy victuals,[9] the Chevalier of Lucerna[10] and Captain Crespin of Bubiano, aided by 100 armed men, resolved to apprehend them. They out of their passage at both ends of a narrow street, in which they were transacting business; and they, finding themselves hunted like deer, knowing that a price was set upon their heads, perceiving that they were surrounded, yet with no safety but in flight, rushed upon their enemies with the courage of despair, drove back the soldiers, killed the captain, and passed through the midst of the fifty men whom he commanded, without leaving a single prisoner in their hands. The soldiers pursued them, and the Digiunati took different routes, and all escaped, with the exception of one, who, having leaped from the top of a wall, broke his thigh in falling, and could not save himself. He was taken, fastened to four horses, and torn in pieces alive. This was not the way to calm men's minds.
At length the petition of the Vaudois was presented to Charles Emmanuel. The duke perceived how dangerous it was for the Catholics, as well as for the Protestants, that the causes of these fatal divisions should be perpetuated, and he decided[11] that all the banished should be permitted to return to their habitations, that the confiscations which had taken place of their goods should be annulled, and even that Protestants who had become Catholics should have the right to return to the church which they had left, if their consciences demanded it.
However, a certain number of the Digiunati were excepted from these provisions, and orders were renewed to deliver them up dead or alive. But this was only a desperate fraction of that numerous people who everywhere arose to hail with delight the restored religion of their fathers, insomuch that in that region, where, on the day before, all was Catholic, at least in appearance, a multitude of Protestant families suddenly flung off the veil of the established superstitions, and openly proclaimed their respect for the Bible. Thus the churches of Saviglano, Levadiggi, Demont, Dronéro, and St. Michael speedily re-appeared. Their elements were not to be formed, they were only to be united together again. Some of them were found to be stronger after this revival than they had been previously; as, for example, those of St. Damian, Verzol, and Aceil. But like those swarms of devouring locusts which return to a plain that sprouts again and becomes green, the Jesuits and Capuchins re-appeared in these countries when they began once more to flourish. This would have been of little consequence if they had kept themselves to preaching and discussions. The doctrines of the Bible would only have gained thereby; it is by conflicts that they are confirmed. Yes! by conflicts, but not by bloodshed.
These new missionaries[12] had, in the first place, frequent conferences with the pastors. The governor of the province took a fancy to bring them together at dinner, in order to be present at their discussions. A number of monks and Catholic priests were led, by these discussions with the Protestants, to embrace the gospel, which strengthened the Protestant cause. Thus the Reformed Church recruited itself, and added to its forces from the very ranks of those who came to combat against it. It was in the valley of the Vrayta, which at that time belonged to France, that that church most rapidly extended itself. "The Protestants," says Rorengo, "held their meetings there both by day and by night; their worship was public, and the poor Catholics themselves durst not set out their faces to go to mass, for fear of hearing the cry of idolaters raised against them!"
One of the ministers of this valley was a converted priest, and his example had been followed by numbers of his parishioners.[13] Short as the time had been during which the field had been left open to the Reformation, it had established itself everywhere, solely by the influence of the Bible, mightier than the secular arm.
It was in 1603 that the Capuchin missionaries came to the valley of the Vrayta, in order to prepare the way for the employment of new measures of severity. They first made their appearance at Château Dauphin, a place surrounded by wild and rugged mountains of vast height. Particular mention is made of their superior, Joseph de Tenda, and of Brother Zachary, author of four polemical volumes against the Reformation. From Château Dauphin they proceeded to the Val de Grano, and established missions at Carail, Aceil, and Verzol, at the entry to Saluces. They re-opened the deserted churches, restored the pageants of the Catholic worship, and renewed the annoyances against the Protestants. As for the Jesuits, they had one residence at Aceil, another at Dronier, another at St. Damian, and a fourth in the manor-house of Château Dauphin. What must have been the activity in mischief of all these men planted in different localities, and associated for the same cause, emulating each other in their exertions in their common work, stimulating each other to the destruction of heresy, convinced, perhaps, that theirs was the true religion, but animated with a bitter zeal, very remote from the spirit of the gospel! Was there not in this a real league to the Protestants, analogous to that of the swarm of insects which brought upon Egypt desolation and death?
"It is impossible to relate all the efforts which these missionaries at that time made."[14] These words of Rorengo suggest much. We know not what the efforts were of which he speaks; but we may judge of a tree by its fruits; and at this time, says Perrin,[15] "not only was the free exercise of religion interdicted at Saluces, in the valley of the Mayra, which contained Verzol, 8t. Damian, Aceil, and Dronéro, but also, by a new edict, all the Protestants were required to become Catholics. Inquisitors were sent from house to house, and more than 500 families were compelled to go into exile. They retired into the dominions of France, part of them to Provence, where they aided in restoring the ancient Vaudois churches of the Leberon, part of them to Dauphiny, where they added to the churches of Pragela which was then included in that province."
Thus, like the waters, which always follow a natural inclination in flowing towards the central basins among the hills, these people, truly attached to the gospel, kept by their spiritual native land wheal they removed beyond the horizon of the districts in which they were born.
But before thus dispersing and separating from one another--before thus going into exile--they drew up a declaration, which all the other churches of the Vaudois valleys subscribed along with them, in order to make known the causes of this proscription.
"Let all men know," say they, "that it is not for any crime or rebellion that we are this day deprived of our properties and our abodes. This happens by reason of an edict of abjuration or exile, which his royal highness, deceived, no doubt, by false reports, has issued against us. But our forefathers and our families having been brought up in the doctrine professed at this day by the Reformed Church, we are resolved to live and die in it. And, therefore, we declare and affirm, that this doctrine which they would prohibit to us, is held by us to be the only true doctrine--the only doctrine approved of God, and the only doctrine able to conduct us in the way of salvation. And if any one pretend that we are in error, far from being obstinate in defending it, we profess ourselves ready immediately to abjure it, upon our being convinced by the word of God. But if it is attempted, by mere force and constraint, to make us change our beliefs, we prefer rather to renounce all that we have, yes, even our lives, rather than the salvation of our souls."[16] These noble and courageous words ought to have gained for the proscribed all the sympathy of generous minds. But they exasperated still more the Catholic clergy, and led them to adopt violent measures, by revealing to them their utter inability to convince. When, therefore, a number of these expatriated families showed an inclination to return to Piedmont, entering it again by the Vaudois valleys, an edict was obtained from Charles Emmanuel, by which all strangers were prohibited from settling in the valleys, and all Vaudois were prohibited from going beyond their limits.[17] But it would seem that these enactments, over the execution of which it was so difficult to watch, did not arrest the movement against which they were directed; for a little while after, new orders--obtained as before, by the solicitation of the Capuchins, the Jesuits, and the nuncio--recalled the attention of the governors of the province, not only to this particular edict, but to all the previous regulations adopted in a spirit of hostility to Protestantism.[18]
The year following (in 1610) the Duke of Savoy entered into an alliance with Henry IV against the Spaniards, and in 1612 the wars of Montferrat began, which endured for four years; so that the attention of the monarch, and the influences which impelled him to action, were for a brief period abstracted from religious questions. This time of general agitation was therefore a season of tranquillity for the churches of Saluces. No doubt it was tranquillity only in a relative sense--not peace, but respite; not a regular and enduring state of rest, but temporary exemption from persecution. Yet, as in a stormy day, if the clouds but clear up a little, the darkest sky will immediately re-assume the colours of life, so an aspect of sudden prosperity, like a precarious sunbeam, re-appeared for a few years in these tormented churches.
Among the Papers connected with the country of Provence, under date 17th April, 1612, occurs a petition to the king, in the following terms:--"May it please your majesty to provide that persons belonging to the marquisate of Saluces, refugees in this country, may have power freely to pass and traffic in the territories of the Duke of Savoy, without being pursued after upon account of religion;"[19] and among the papers of Dauphiny of the same period is a similar request, that "his majesty (the King of France) would exert his influence with the Duke of Savoy to obtain liberty of trading in his dominions in favour of the refugees of Saluces."[20] Both these points were conceded.
At the same time, the still existing churches of Saluces caused earnest solicitations to be addressed to the duke, through the mediation of Switzerland, that liberty of conscience might be granted to them. And in 1613, the Vaudois valleys having been required to furnish a contingent of troops for the war of Montferrat, it so happened that these troops were sent as a garrison into the province of Saluces. They had the privilege of meeting for the exercise of their worship, and their brethren in religion sometimes joined them in these little meetings, so as to increase their number, thus taking steps, as it were, to reclaim for themselves the enjoyment of religious liberty.
But meanwhile the Jesuits and the Capuchins, on the other hand, only became more active in watching and in prosecutions. To give some satisfaction to these worthy coadjutors, who found so little in the results of their preaching, the magistrates from time to time made new prisoners.
Those against whom the clergy were most active in directing severe proceedings were the relapsed, or those who had become Catholics invitâ conscientiâ, to whom the superstitions of the Catholic paganism rendered dearer still the simplicity of evangelical Christianity, and who made haste to return to it upon the first favourable opportunity, with firmer attachment than ever. But when they were discovered, they were denounced to the Holy Office, and often disappeared, noiselessly, in the mysterious chambers of the Inquisition.[21] However, the war continued, and the Vaudois came to be more and more needed; the secular power, less cruel than the church, gradually relaxed its severity; the Protestants of Saluces began to look around them and breathe freely. But for them to breathe at all was to worship God and serve him according to the gospel. "Those of Dronier," says a work of that period,[22] were the first to set the good example, and from the year 1616, they began to hold their meetings." These meetings were held in secret; but every day the number of faithful attendants was increased by new admissions. "The news soon travelled to Rome, the pope was very angry about it; his highness was apprised of it, and the clergy omitted no means of opposition."[23]
The Protestants would not have been able to have avoided some new catastrophe, but for a providential circumstance, which, on the contrary, gave them unexpected support. The events which led to it, and those which followed from it, will form the subject of next chapter.
Notes: