The Baptist Movement in the Continent of Europe

Chapter XX

Italy:

The True Successors of Peter

There were Christians in Italy before the Apostle Paul was brought a prisoner to Rome, and Baptists claim kinship with the believers of those far-off days.  They point, too, with quit assurance to the dark pools in the catacombs and to the beautiful baptistries which adorn the country from the Alps to Etna-"sermons in stones," that tell of primitive belief and practice.

The modern Baptist movement is steadily winning respect throughout the country.  The small groups of converts have patiently borne persecution in various forms-social slights and ostracism, loss of work, and so forth.  Their numbers have enlarged with the passing of the years, but the story of their influence would be far from complete if measured only by the growth of church membership.  Their presence tells in countless ways.  During the war, comparatively few as they were, their qualities won recognition in the army.  Roman Catholics are found imitating their methods of preaching-an acknowledgment of its effectiveness.  A Papal ban upon Baptist periodicals bears witness to a dread of them.  An extensive and continuous Baptist literary output is accomplishing a work of permeation and preparation, of the utmost significance for the days to come; in due course denominational statistics will register some of its effects.

British Mission Work

The source of the modern Baptist movement in Italy is found in the year 1863, when the Rev. James Wall, of Calne, Wiltshire, having been deeply moved by the stirring events which had recently taken place in Italy, and by the appeal of Italian patriots, felt the Divine call to carry the light of the Gospel to that country, which was still lying in the darkness of Papal tyranny.

About the same time the thoughts of another Baptist minister-the Rev. Edward Clark-were turned towards Italy; and these two men determined that, relying on God for the necessary means, they would begin a mission in the country.  Through the generosity of a friend, they were enabled to visit a number of Italian cities, and eventually Mr. Wall decided to settle in Bologna, while Mr. Clark chose Spezia.  Mr. Wall returned to England, and sold his furniture in order to meet the cost of the journey with his family to their new scene of labour.  From that time he and his wife led a self-sacrificing life, the means at their disposal being very limited.  Looking back after many years, Mrs. Wall wrote: "As to our daily wants, we found the Master faithful to His Promise: 'No good thing will I withhold.'  Several times we were brought very low, but were never without anything.  We never owed for anything, neither did we borrow from anyone."

At the session of the Baptist Union in Bristol in 1868, a number of brethren formed a committee to help the two missionaries.

In 1870, when Rome became the capital of United Italy, Mr. Wall removed to the "Eternal City," and there continued to labour until he died in 1901.  His wife carried on a remarkable work among the Roman poor, and her daughter has continued this since Mrs. Wall's death in 1909.

In 1875 Mr. W. Kemme Landels, a Scotch business man, who had visited Sicily, resolved to devote his life to Baptist work.  He joined Mr. Wall in Rome, and afterwards worked in Naples and Turin; in 1912 he removed to Rome, to succeed the Rev. N. H. Shaw in the administration of the English Baptist Mission.  His brother, the Rev. John Landels, of Kirkcaldy, after a brief period of service in Genoa, died of typhoid fever in 1899.

In 1878 the Rev. N. H. Shaw, of Dewsbury, was sent to Rome in connection with the General Baptist Missionary Society to take charge of the church in Via Urbana, erected through the generosity of Thomas Cook.  When in 1891 the Baptist Missionary Society took over the whole of the British work in Italy except that in Spezia, Mr. Shaw removed to Florence.  After the death of James Wall, he returned to Rome to take the general oversight of the work.  In 1912 he retired, having rendered effective service in the country for about thirty-four years.

The Rev. Edward Clark, already mentioned, founded a work in Spezia, with which he remained in connection until his death in 1912.  It has given special attention to educational work.  In its schools there are between 500 and 600 children, and an orphanage, founded in 1884, gives shelter to fifty children.  In the Sunday schools connected with the work there are 400 scholars.  The supreme work of the mission is, however, the preaching of the Gospel, which is carried on in Spezia, Arcola, Aulla, Pistoia, Robocco, Treviso, and a large number of sub-stations.  Mission agents also work among the soldiers and sailors of the Italian army and navy, and among the men of the British mercantile service visiting the port of Spezia.  This work is under the direction of the Rev. H. H. Pullen, and is controlled by a Council in England.

American Mission Work

Later in its commencement, but more rapid in its development, was the missionary enterprise undertaken by the Southern Baptists of the United States of America.  Their Foreign Mission Board began work in Rome in 1872, and in 1873 sent out the distinguished and effective leader, Dr. George Boardman Taylor, who, until his death, thirty-four years afterwards, directed and inspired the work.  He was indefatigable as preacher, administrator, professor of systematic theology and author, and his name stands high among Baptist pioneers.  For some years the Rev. John Howard Eager acted as his assistant.

In 1901 the Rev. D. G. Whittinghill, Th.D., of Kentucky, was sent to assist Dr. Taylor and to take charge of the theological school.  This institution for fourteen years trained not only Baptist preachers, but men of other denominations.  Though its continuity has been broken by the Great War, it is to be reopened in the near future, and meanwhile a few Baptist students are supported at the Waldensian College.  Dr. Whittinghill became the successor of Dr. Taylor in the general administration of the American mission work in Italy, and was later joined by Drs. Everett Gill and J. P. Stuart.  The latter died while on furlough in 1916, and the former afterwards returned to America.  He has since been appointed to represent the Foreign Board of the Southern Convention in all its European mission enterprises outside Italy.

In 1918 the mission became more largely self-governing through the appointment of an Executive Committee composed of elected Italian delegates, with Dr. Wittinghill as chairman.  In 1920 premises on Monte Mario were secured as an orphanage for boys; the institution perpetuates the memory of Dr. Taylor, after whom it is named.  In the same year a fine property was secured on the Piazza Barberini, which will in due time house a central church, the theological school, and the publication headquarters.

No service in connection with the Baptist mission work in Italy has been more important than the issue of literature.  Publication on a comparatively small scale had, in earlier years, been undertaken both by Mr. Landels and by Dr. Taylor, but some ten years ago Dr. Whittinghill and Signor Lodovico Paschetto started the Bilychnis Press, which now ensures for the Baptists an output superior to that of any other Protestant body in Italy.  The periodicals include 'Il Testimonio' ('The Witness'), a monthly church and home magazine; 'Il Seminatore' ('The Sower'), a popular propagandist sheet; 'Conscientia', a weekly paper aiming to reach the middle classes outside the church; and 'Bilychnes' ('The Two Flames,' i.e. knowledge and faith), which has become the most widely read and quoted religious review in Italy.  Bilychnis and Il Testimonio have been placed under the Papal ban.  In addition, the output of books is also remarkable, including Signor Chiminelli's "Jesus of Nazareth" and his "Bibliography of the Reformation in Italy," a valuable book for students.  The success of the "Bilychnis Press" is largely due to the erudition and untiring labour of Signor Lodovico Paschetto, a conspicuous figure among Italian Baptists.

From the out set the members of the British and American missions preserved excellent relations; and with the opening of 1923 they were amalgamated by the final withdrawal of the Baptist Missionary Society and the transfer of its property and personnel.  This withdrawal had been preceded by a two years' experiment in unified working, and this had proved an unqualified success.  The responsibility for the leadership of the Baptist mission in Italy now rests with the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Convention, which works through the Executive Committee already described.  At the time of the unification the churches of the British mission numbered 17, with 24 out-stations and 614 members; those of the American, 35, with 39 out-stations and 1607 members.  With the inclusion of the independent Spezia group the Italian totals become: Churches, 57; members, 2,376; Sunday scholars, 2,360.