IV. Persecution Follows Control of Secular Powers

When Rome was climbing, first to legally recognized headship of all the churches, and later to mastery of the nations, her hands were full. But time cared for that. As Rome’s power grew dissent increased, and consequently the Inquisition was established early in the thirteenth century. Then as the Scriptures in the vernacular came to be made available to the people; by the Waldenses, and as the developed and revealed character of the Papacy was openly exposed as the fulfillment of inspired prediction, Rome was stirred to her very depths against these thorns in her side. Having at last achieved power over the nations as well as the churches, together with the instruments of coercion, she turned the full force of the secular arm upon` the Waldensian and other “heretics” in a relentless attempt to subdue or to annihilate them. Thus Rome, unwilling[to, tolerate these burning and shining lights, loosed her fury upon them and sought to put out the torches that flamed amid the papal, darkness of apostasy. It was relentless warfare.PFF1 845.3

“Unfortunately, the Inquisition also was spreading everywhere on their track, putting out, one by one, the torches that were gleaming in the darkness .... With all that a light does still hold on to burn upon yonder ‘Alpine-altar.”’ ^{62Comba, op. cit., p. 80.}PFF1 846.1

As the Waldensian expansion was checked by persecution in various parts of Europe, some gave up, some betrayed their brethren, some died for their faith, and some were driven underground, to a measure of outward conformity cloaking their secret faith. Many attended church occasionally to avert suspicion—perhaps muttering imprecations instead of prayers—went to the priest for marriages and baptisms, but met secretly with their brethren and received the ministrations of the traveling Waldensian missionaries. ^{63Ibid., p. 158.}PFF1 846.2

As persecution increased, many evangelical witnesses retired from the plains of Lombardy to the wilderness of inaccessible seclusion in the Piedmontese Alps and the near-by mountainous parts of France. There they remained hidden, though active in the more populous sections. Nowhere was there more steady, long-continued, and successful opposition to Rome than there, where evangelical truth had had a succession of witnesses, dating back before the great apostasy. It was there that the true “church in the wilderness” found one of her retreats, while most of Christendom was bound under the dominion of the papal church.PFF1 846.3

1. INDEPENDENCE OF ROME MAINTAINED IN ALPINE FASTNESSES

The province of Piedmont is so named because it is situated ad pedes montium, or “pie d’mont,” at the foot of the mountains—the Alps which separate Italy from France. The plains of Piedmont are studded with towns and villages. And behind them rises this mountain range in sublime grandeur, with glacier summits, and masses of granite sometimes rent in two, creating vast chasms through which racing cataracts pour. Here, within this rampart of mountains, amid the wildest and most secluded Alpine fastnesses—which God had prepared in advance and over which He had watched—the remnant of the evangelical church of Italy maintained its independence of the spreading Roman apostasy, and held aloft that lamp which continued to burn through the long night that descended upon Christendom. And as a lamp gathers brightness in proportion to the deepening darkness, so the uplifted torch of the mountain dwellers became increasingly conspicuous as the night of papal darkness deepened.PFF1 846.4

When God has a special work for a people to do He often makes their outward environment favorable to its performance. So it was with the Jews in Palestine, at the crossroads of the nations. And thus it was also with the Waldenses in their mountain fastnesses between Italy and France. In mountainous districts men cling longest to old customs and faiths, and are least affected by the changing world about; so these Alpine fastnesses formed a retreat in which the faith could be preserved. At the same time their central location afforded access both north and south, and east and west.PFF1 847.1

2. WALDENSIAN VALLEYS NEAR OLD ROMAN ROAD

The valleys occupied by the Waldenses lay not far from the old Roman road leading over the passes of the Cottian Alps, the principal ancient line of communication between the primitive churches of northern Italy and southern France. It would have been the route followed by Paul if he journeyed overland from Rome to Spain. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, who was sent to Rome to report the state of the Gallic church, perhaps trod this mountain path. Ambrose, who made repeated journeys from Italy to Gaul, must have passed near here. ^{64Gilly Waldensian Researches, pp. 49-56.} Its location was strategic.PFF1 847.2

The Councils of Arles (314), Milan (346-354), Aquileia (381), and Turin (397) all called for the use of this celebrated mountain pass. Bergier’s outline of the route ^{65Nicolas Bergier, Histoire des Brands chemins de l’empire romain, book 3, pp. 452-455, 467-471.} makes it clear that it would have been possible for messengers and pilgrims journeying between Italy and France, Spain, and Britain to be brought into near contact with the inhabitants of these valleys by means of the road, which was from early timed the principal and central pass into Gaul. ^{66Ammianus Marcellinus, op. cit., book 15, chap. 10, secs. 3-8, in Loeb Classical Library, Ammianus Marcellinus, vol. 1, pp. 183, 185.} Thus the country of the Waldenses lay near a historic path of vital European travel.PFF1 847.3

A well-nigh impregnable fortress had thus been provided, in the purpose and providence of God, in the very center of Roman Christendom. This made both for protection and for persecution. Even from the top of the famous cathedral of Milan a magnificent view may be had, on a clear day, of the Alps of Piedmont, among the highest in Europe, stretching east and west as far as the eye can see. Approached from the south, across the plains, the Alps rise like a barrier chain in the background, stretching like a great wall of towering magnificence along the horizon. Some summits shoot up like spires; others resemble massive castles. Forests nestle at their base arid mantle their slopes, while eternal snows and glaciers crown their summits. And the setting sun touches with gold their crowded peaks, until they glow like torches and burn like a wall of fire along the sky line.PFF1 848.1

Here, among these mountains, life the Waldensian valleys that run up into narrow, elevated gorges, winding among the steeps and piercing the clouds that hover around the Alpine peaks—the mountain temple of the Vaudois, often crimsoned in those memorable days of old with the blood of martyrs. These were the long-time refuge and the home of the Israel of the Alps ^{67Many impressive descriptions of the valleys have been penned-such as in Morland, Gilly, Muston, Wylie, and Beattie-and they are here epitomized, augmented by the writer’s personal observations in the valleys.}PFF1 848.2

3. INTERRELATED VALLEYS FORM FORTRESS OF AMAZING DESIGN

These Piedmontese valleys where the Waldenses long flourished, and still live, are seven in number, separated by high mountain ridges. The first three run out like the spokes of a wheel, from the hub. These are the Luserna, or Valley of Light, enclosed by a wall of mountains; the Rora, or Valley of Dews, like a vast cup, fifty miles in circumference, with the aim formed of craggy peaks; and the Angrogna, or Valley of Groans, the innermost sanctuary of all, which will be especially noted. Beyond that lie four others forming the rim of the half wheel and enclosed by a line of lofty mountains that constitute a common wall of defense around the entire territory. Each valley is a fortress with its own entry and exit, its caves and mighty rocks. But these valleys are so related that one opens into the other, forming a network of fortresses. They constitute a rough triangle—a fan-shaped group of valleys resting against the giant Alps. Experts declare that the highest engineering skill could scarcely have better adapted the several valleys so as to form a fortress of amazing strength. It is impossible to survey the scene and not perceive the trace of providential design plainly stamped upon it.PFF1 848.3

No other spot in Europe was so adapted to protection as this mountain home of the Waldenses. Strongholds and inaccessible glens, through which no stranger could find his way, formed an asylum fortified by the God of nature. The entrance to each is guarded by mountain ranges, perpendicular rocks, mountain peaks, and frightful precipices, and escape is provided through a labyrinth of paths, forests, rocky beds of torrents, and caverns. Impenetrable mists frequently settle down over all like an obscuring blanket. Thus were the Waldensians preserved from destruction in the times of persecution. The Waldensian writer Leger states:PFF1 849.1

“The Eternal, our God, having destined this land to be in a special way the theatre of His marvels, and the haven of His ark, has by natural means most marvelously fortified it.” ^{68Translated from Leger, op. cit., book 1, p. 3.}PFF1 849.2

Picture 2: MILAN CATHEDRAL AND PANORAMA OF WALDENSIAN VALLEYS
Topographical sketch of Geographical layout of Waldensian valleyes, with traditional portrait of Peter Waldo, as inset (upper), multi-spired gothic cathedral of Milan, from the high tower of which the snow capped Piedmontese Alps can be seen in the distance on a clear day (lower).
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4. WALDENSIAN AND CATHOLIC CHURCHES SYMBOLIZE CONTRASTING DIFFERENCES

To the traveler approaching from Turin toward the town of Torre Pellice, there opens an impressive mountain portal—the entry to the Waldensian territory. A low hill in front serves as a defense, while behind it rises the great, Moat Vandelin, upon whose slopes, shooting up like a stupendous monolith, is Castelluzzo, like a sentinel standing guard at the gate of this renowned region. It irresistibly fills the eye, and is hallowed by the memory of, its countless martyrs, for from its top Waldenses were hurled to their death. On a hill to the right are the ivy-clad ruins of the old Catholic fort, built to overawe the inhabitants. Here, in the Middle Ages, stood a high tower from which the town derives its name Torre meaning “tower.”PFF1 849.3

Torre Pellice is the present headquarters of the Waldensian valleys, and the present Catholic and Waldensian churches of the town symbolize the contrasting differences. The Roman church exhibits a large picture of the Virgin Mary pointing to a very material-looking heart, with the words below, “Refugium peccatorum” (Refuge of sinners); whereas the text over the door of the Waldensian church reads, “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3. And the basic difference in outlook is likewise illustrated by the texts outside the respective cemeteries. The Waldensian has, “The dead in Christ shall rise” (1 Thessalonians 4:16); the Catholic has, “The small and the great are there, and the servant free from his master” (Job 3:19, from the Vulgate).PFF1 851.1

5. MISSIONARY TRAINING COLLEGE AT PRA DEL TOR

Far up in the heart of these mountains was situated the Angrogna Valley retreat, called Pra del Tor, walled in by virtually impenetrable peaks. Here their barbs, or pastors, met in annual synod, as we have seen. And here was the site of their ancient college, where their missionaries were trained, and after ordination were sent forth to other lands to sow the gospel seed. Its secluded position, and the ease with which it could be defended, made it a mighty fortress in times of persecution, and the scene of many a fierce combat at its entrance. A bleak, unscalable mountain runs directly across the entrance to the valley, through which some great convulsion of nature has rent a fissure from top to bottom—a deep, dark, narrow chasm through which the Angrogna torrent pours.PFF1 851.2

Entering this dark chasm, one must proceed along a narrow ledge on the mountain’s side, hung halfway between the torrent thundering in the abyss below and the summits that tower above. Journeying thus for two miles, till the passage widens, one arrives at the gates of the Pra. There, opening into a circular valley, is this inner sanctuary of the Waldenses, reserved for the true worship of God, while most of Italy was venerating images. Thus it was that Rome had before its very eyes a perpetual witness of the early faith from which it had departed. Here the Waldensian church—hidden in the “wilderness” of her mountain fortresses in the “place” prepared for her, where “the earth” helped the symbolic “woman”—entered her “chambers” and, shutting the “doors” of the everlasting hills about her, kept her lamp alight amid the bulwarks of impregnable rocks and eternal snows. It has been aptly said of this Alpine refuge:PFF1 851.3

“The Supreme Architect formed it, sinking its foundations deep in the earth and rearing high its bulwark. He stored it with food, placed His witnesses in it, and bade them keep their mountain citadel inviolate and their lamp of truth unquenched.”PFF1 852.1