| taken from the website: www.chiesavaldese.org |
edited by Giorgio Tourn
Susanna Peyronel Rambaldi, Marco Frattini,
1561 The Waldensians between resistance and extermination in Piedmont and Calabria,
Waldensian Studies Society, 2011
1561 The Waldensians between resistance and extermination in Piedmont and Calabria,
Waldensian Studies Society, 2011
The reaction Catholic to the Protestant movements in Italy. Armed resistance in the Waldensian Valleys of Piedmont and the Agreement of Cavour. The massacre of the Waldensian colonies in Calabria
The publication suggest that the attention this month is a brochure about sixty pages, published by Studies Society at the Waldensian February 17, the date of particular significance because it reminds Waldensian community empowerment granted by Charles Albert in 1848. The file in question is the result of an initiative to disclose significant historical began in 1922, continued to date, which shall propose a theme for reflection, a character, a story, the story of a village. Very often the argument is connected with a very important date in history. It 's the case this year which marks the 450th anniversary of two tragic events of Waldensian history: the war in Piedmont and the massacre in Calabria.
The story takes place at a particular moment in the history of Europe following the Peace of Cateau Cambrésis which was restored in 1559 with a balance between Henry II of France and Spain of Philip II united by the need to resolve in their respective states, the growing problem of religious dissent and the growing presence of evangelical now entered under the influence of Calvinist Geneva.
In both regions, Piedmont and Calabria, but with considerable diversity of geographical and political situation are very different, the nuclei Waldensians settled for centuries are maturing at that time the awareness ecclesiale, passare da movimento di dissidenza medioevale a comunità organizzate secondo lo schema della nuova ecclesiologia proposta dai Riformatori. Al ministerio clandestino dei loro barba, vanno sostituendo una predicazione pubblica dell’Evangelo affidata a predicatori qualificati, formati a Ginevra; per la chiesa cattolica, il cui dominio è incontrastato in quei territori, si tratta, è evidente, di una sfida intollerabile, ma non meno preoccupante è per i sovrani questa presenza "eretica" che lascia intravvedere prospettive culturali di tipo "repubblicano", sul tipo svizzero, poco conformi al tipo di potere assoluto che essi rivendicano.
La repressione è dunque inevitabile, iscritta in fact. The troops of Emanuele Filiberto, who returned recently in his State and those of the viceroy of Naples will move to these villages dissidents in the same manner and the same techniques: looting, violence, destruction, surgical amputation of the tumor of freedom.
The events follow opposite paths, however, and the fate of the two areas will be different. Police in Calabria, San Sisto and neighboring villages know the extermination of which will be a symbol that the Executioner Fuscaldo slaughters 88 victims on the steps of the church in Piedmont, the armed resistance to end in June of 1561 with the capitulation of Cavour, where the Waldensian obtain the right to practice in a defined area of their valleys the reformed worship.
The two authors of this essay very briefly recall the events, documented in numerous contemporary publications, and re-enacted in many subsequent volumes, and stressing instead, use short quotations from sources, the problems that underlie the story. The theological and cultural climate (are approaching the Counter), the position of the Catholic hierarchy, the development of Protestant theology in the research stage. So far on the principle of strict subordination to the political authority, is now having to answer to the question of religious freedom, the choice between martyrdom and vindication of the truth of the Gospel, del carattere contingente del potere civile.
Vicende esemplari entrambe che, pur nelle dimensioni ridotte all’ambito di una minoranza, ci portano sul piano dei grandi interrogativi del mondo moderno.
9 febbraio 2011
0 comments:
Post a Comment