Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 November 1879 — A Waldensian Pastor. [ARTICLE]

A Waldensian Pastor.

Desiring to visit the Valley of Angrogna, the great retreat during the invasion of the land, and the scene of the most terrible battles, I was commended to the pastor of the village, who has the care of the scattered population of the large parish. Itwas a long, hard walk up the valley, and a hot one. A very plain little Protestant “temple” and a few poor houses constitute* the village. A child directed me to the pastor’s door—a great solid wooden door in a fortress-like stone wall. Entering, I was pleasantly greeted by the cheerful mother of the house, who ushered me into a scantily-furnished parlor, clean and sunny. Presently the pastor appeared, who ~ received me with the greatest cordiality, and lent himself at once to my desire for guidance and information. I have rarely been more impressed in any interview. He told me with the greatest frankness of the difficulties with which he has to contend in eking out a support for his large family in a parish where all are poor, and where many can give nothing to the support of the church beyond cordial good wishes and the scantiest contributions of food. A little money is given him by the General Synod, but it is very little, and this man’s incessant pastoral duties make it impossible for him to ameliorate his condition by any form of profitable work. It is to gratify no curiosity that I repeat what he told me of his circumstances, but rather to illustrate by a striking and extreme example the life in these valleys generally. I was regaled in the most hospitable manner with the best the house afforded—a thin, simple wine, bread, a hard sort of cheese and boiled chestnuts, of which I was urged to take my fill, as I would fina no other opportunity to eat during the day’s journey. What was given me is the best of their diet, and, except for potatoes and salad, it covers the limit of its variety for all the secular days of the week. On Sundays they usually but not always have meat/ There was no suggestion that the diet was not sufficient and satisfactory, and the family seemed to be in robust’and hearty health. The physical labor of the pastor himself must be very severe. His parish reaches for miles back on the mountains and far up into steep and rugged valleys. He has three separate churches and schools under bis charge, and his sick and poor are scattered far and wide on every hand. Foot-paths and bridlepaths offer the only means of communication anti he is liable, day and night, winter and summer, in good weather and in bad, to be summoned forth for a long, hard tramp to the house of a sick

or dying parishioner. All this he described as merely incidental to a life of necessary and useful service in which he is content and happy. A friend had recently presented him with a young donkey, which is already able to give nim a short lift on his journeys, and which, as it matures, and as he grows old, will carry him to Pra del Tor and back. He was happy over this acquisition, but anxious as to his ability to nourish the beast. Regarded in a certain light there is nothing remarkable about this tale of a robust man’s life and circumstances,but viewed with reference to the stock to which he belongs and to the history of the wonderful struggle of his race it seems to me not far removed from heroism. The world is full of well-paid positions, seeking for the education, intelligence, executive ability and fortitude which mark the character of this cheerful and zealous pastor of Angrogna; but the old call of the Spirit rings in his ears and stirs his blood as it stirred that of the martyrs of old, and he stays and finds his happiness and his delight in answering its behests.— George E. Waring, in Atlantic Monthly.