The Waldenses: Massacre at Castelluzzo

The Waldensian stand as one of the most faithful groups of people to throughout history in Europe, faithful to the word of God and faithful amidst much trial. Despite suffering repeated persecution over the course of almost a millennia, in the 17th century, they would go through one of the worst episodes of their history.

In January of 1655, the Duke of Savoy gave the Waldensians in the lower valleys a choice of either attend mass or leave the valleys. Rather than compromise, some 2,000 believers journeyed across snowy rivers and hills in the dead of winter to be welcomed by their fellow believers in the upper valleys. But this was merely the calm before the storm. In April of that year, the Duke sent an army into the valleys, and on April 24, at 4am a Saturday, the massacre started.

Not content with simply killing them, the soldiers and monks who accompanied them invented barbaric tortures. Babies and children had their limbs torn from their bodies by sheer strength. Parents were forced to watch their children tortured and killed before they themselves were tortured and killed. Fathers were made to wear the decapitated heads of their children as they were marched to their death. Some Christians were literally ploughed into their own field. Some were flayed or burned alive, and many endured much worse. Unburied bodies, dead and alive, covered the ground. In order to escape this terrible massacre, hundreds of Waldensians fled to a large cave in the towering Mount Castelluzzo. The murderous soldiers, however, found them and marched them to the top.

They came to this spot right here and were hurled over the edge to their death on the rocks below. I believe that on the resurrection morning, many faithful believers will rise to glory from the bottom of this mountain and in this valley. This is the reference in Milton's famous sonnet to the bloody Piedmontese that hurled mother and infant down the rocks. Survivors of the massacre were few, but they rallied together and wrote to Christians throughout Europe for help. Their letters included the heart rending words. Our tears are no longer of water, they are of blood. They do not merely obscure our sight, but choke our very heart. When Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, heard of the massacre, and he called for a national day of fasting and collected money to send to meet the physical needs of the Waldensians.

This was not the only instance of persecution. And it continued over three and a half decades, from 1655 to 1689. During that time, more than half were driven from the valley. Yet in 1689, Henry Arnaud from Noyon, Switzerland, led a force of 800 warriors back to the border. In the winter, they resisted four separate attacks from a much larger army. In spring, the papal armies returned with 22,000 soldiers, this time to fight a much smaller Wadensian force of just 400 men. Yet they were once again defeated. And not only that, not One of the 400 men was lost in this battle. They returned to the valleys in what was called the Glorious Return, reclaiming them once again as a place where they could live and worship.

The Waldensians had a faith that reminds me of Job. They were a people who suffered attacks and persecutions from for several centuries, close to a thousand years, suffering immeasurably. For many, it did not weaken their faith, but rather strengthen it. Sometimes in life we may be serving God, dedicating our lives to him, and we still go through hard times, trials and suffering that many say we do not deserve. May we have a faith like Job, who said, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Whatever we go through in life, may we stay hold of God, trusting that he has our best interests at heart.