An Account Of The Persecutions Of Calabria
In the 14th century, many of the Waldenses of Pragela and Dauphiny,
emigrated to Calabria, and settling some waste lands, by the permission
of the nobles of that country, they soon, by the most industrious
cultivation, made several wild and barren spots appear with all the
beauties of verdure and fertility.
The Calabrian lords were highly pleased with their new subjects and
tenants, as they were honest, quiet, and industrious; but the priests of
the country exhibited several negative complaints against them; for not
being able to accuse them of anything bad which they did do, they
founded accusations on what they did not do, and charged them,
With not being Roman catholics.
With not making any of their boys priests.
With not making any of their girls nuns.
With not going to mass.
With not giving wax tapers to their priests as offerings.
With not going on pilgrimages.
With not bowing to images.
The Calabrian lords, however, quieted the priests, by telling them that
these people were extremely harmless; that they gave no offence to the
Roman catholics, and cheerfully paid the tithes to the priests, whose
revenues were considerably increased by their coming into the country,
and who, of consequence, ought to be the last persons to complain of
Things went on tolerably well after this for a few years, during which
the Waldenses formed themselves into two corporate towns, annexing
several villages to the jurisdiction of them. At length, they sent to
Geneva for two clergymen; one to preach in each town, as they determined
to make a public profession of their faith. Intelligence of this affair
being carried to the pope, Pius the Fourth, he determined to exterminate
them from Calabria.
To this end he sent cardinal Alexandrino, a man of very violent temper
and a furious bigot, together with two monks, to Calabria, where they
were to act as inquisitors. These authorized persons came to St. Xist,
one of the towns built by the Waldenses, and having assembled the people
told them, that they should receive no injury or violence, if they would
accept of preachers appointed by the pope; but if they would not, they
should be deprived both of their properties and lives; and that their
intentions might be known, mass should be publicly said that afternoon,
at which they were ordered to attend.
The people of St. Xist, instead of attending mass, fled into the woods,
with their families, and thus disappointed the cardinal and his
coadjutors. The cardinal then proceeded to La Garde, the other town
belonging to the Waldenses, where, not to be served as he had been at
St. Xist, he ordered the gates to be locked, and all avenues guarded.
The same proposals were then made to the inhabitants of La Garde, as had
previously been offered to those of St. Xist, but with this additional
piece of artifice: the cardinal assured them that the inhabitants of St.
Xist had immediately come into his proposals, and agreed that the pope
should appoint them preachers. This falsehood succeeded; for the people
of La Garde, thinking what the cardinal had told them to be the truth,
said they would exactly follow the example of their brethren at St.
The cardinal having gained his point by deluding the people of one town,
sent for troops of soldiers, with a view to murder those of the other.
He, accordingly, despatched the soldiers into the woods, to hunt down
the inhabitants of St. Xist like wild beasts, and gave them strict
orders to spare neither age nor sex, but to kill all they came near. The
troops entered the woods, and many fell a prey to their ferocity, before
the Waldenses were properly apprised of their design. At length,
however, they determined to sell their lives as dear as possible, when
several conflicts happened, in which the half-armed Waldenses performed
prodigies of valour, and many were slain on both sides. The greatest
part of the troops being killed in the different rencontres, the rest
were compelled to retreat, which so enraged the cardinal, that he wrote
to the viceroy of Naples for reinforcements.
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