by Gale Sears
Madeleine squeezed Albertina’s arm. “See, I told you the Church would not leave us stranded. How marvelous to see them all again.”
Several others of the company were talking and President Malan waited for quiet. “When you get to America, Elder Woodard will see you safely secured on one of the Church’s wagon trains moving west, and when you reach the valley of the Saints, Elder Toronto and perhaps Elder Snow will be there to give you welcome.”
A cheer went up from the normally restrained Waldensian members, and Madeleine and Albertina joined the commotion. Albertina worried that she was caught up in the excitement and the adventure. Had she thought enough about the unforeseen consequences of her decision? She watched as President Malan furtively wiped tears away with a large pocket handkerchief. She could tell they were tears of joy, not sadness. The man was confident in the choices he had made, and Albertina vowed to imitate his emotions. He raised his hand for quiet.
“Hopefully in less than a year another group will leave from here to join you in Zion. My family and I hope to be in that company.” Another cheer rent the cold winter air and President Malan wiped away more tears. “Now, we will have the Pons and Bertoch families in one sleigh and the Cardon family with Mademoiselle Guy in the other. The third, of course, is for your trunks and parcels. As soon as I have finished saying the prayer you will have only a few minutes for good-byes before the sleighs depart. Our prayers and our love go with you.”
Albertina’s courage was crumbling. Her stomach hurt and she couldn’t stop shivering. This decision was foolish. Perhaps she would never see her family again. Perhaps she would die on the crossing and they would mourn her all their lives. And what about the old bear? Tears that Albertina had pushed away for weeks coursed down her cheeks. She could not concentrate on the prayer or the solace and protection it was meant to give. All she knew was that she was not going to get into the sleigh. She was not going to cross an ocean and thousands of miles of wilderness. She was not going to leave the safety of her mountain home. Suddenly she heard a chorus of muffled amens and knew the prayer had ended. She opened her eyes and turned quickly so Madeleine would not be able to read the decision on her face. She looked up and encountered black cassocks.
“Father Nathanael! Uncle!” The tears started again and she went to take her great-uncle in her arms. He was so frail that she hugged him with little pressure. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you off.”
She turned on Father Nathanael. “But he is not well enough.”
“He threatened to come by himself.”
“Uncle—”
“Hush now. I do not think you have time to scold me.”
“I do . . . because I’m not going.”
“What do you mean, not going?”
“I have changed my mind.”
“Albertina Marianella Guy,” he said tenderly. “I have come out into the cold to say good-bye.”
“No, Uncle. No good-byes. I need more time. I have not thought this through.”
“My dear one, you have been thinking this through for years. What is it? Are you not brave enough?”
“I . . . I am brave, but . . .”
Andrew shuffled forward and took her hands. “When you go to America, my Albertina, I know that I will not see you again in this life.”
“Uncle, please don’t.”
“I am nearly eighty-seven. I will not see you again. But I am brave—I am brave enough to let you go. I know you must go. You must. We believe in the Lord and we believe in heaven, isn’t that right?” She nodded. He reached out trembling fingers and brushed away a tear. “And we know that your heart and my heart are connected.” She gave him a miserable look and he smiled at her. “Yes?”
“Yes.”
“Then all is well. And now I believe you must go and do what you promised the Lord.”
“But I am afraid, old bear. I am.”
“Of course. You are wise to be afraid. Do you not think I was afraid the first time I crossed the mighty Alps to find my new life in these valleys? Of course I was. But I’d set my sights and I just kept walking. You will do the same, because you are brave and faithful.”
“Not as brave as you.”
“Braver.” Albertina began weeping. “‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.’”
Rene and Francesca came to stand beside Andrew, and Albertina attempted to dry her tears on her mittens.
“What?” Andrew scolded. “Did you forget to bring your hankie?” He turned to his niece. “Francesca?”
Francesca brought a hankie from her pocket and handed it to Albertina. “It has embroidery of the mountain flowers.”
Albertina rushed into her mother’s arms, and Rene and Joseph joined in the embrace.
“I promise that I will see you again,” Albertina vowed. “I promise.”
“We will hold you to that,” Rene answered, his voice rough with emotion.
“It is time to depart!” President Malan called out.
Albertina stepped back. “I have to go. I love you.” Her words were clipped to keep away from sentiment. “You have always been a good boy, Joseph. Continue on.”
“I will, Albi.”
As the Waldensian Saints moved to the carriages they sang their hymn of the mountain. “For the strength of the hills we bless thee, our God, our fathers’ God . . .”
Albertina went to her uncle. “I love you, old bear.”
He nodded. “One favor?” She waited. “Sing to us as you go.”
“I . . . I’ll try.” Tentatively she began singing as she backed away, joining her voice to that of her traveling companions. “We are watchers of a beacon whose light must never die; we are guardians of an altar ’midst the silence of the sky.” She was to the sleigh and about to step in when she heard her uncle’s feeble voice call out to her. She turned and saw him shuffling forward, Father Nathanael doing his best to keep him from slipping on the snowy ground. Albertina rushed back to him. “Uncle, what are you doing?”
There was a look of urgency on his face. “Leave me for a moment,” he instructed Father Nathanael. “I will be fine.” He held onto Albertina’s arms for stability.
“Uncle, I have to go.”
“I know. I know, dear one. But there is one more thing. One more very important thing. Come here. Come here.” She moved close and he put his forehead onto hers. “When you arrive in Salt Lake City and are taught the lesson of temple sealing . . .” His voice broke and he began weeping.
“Yes, old bear. What is it?”
With a quavering voice full of longing he said, “Remember me.”
“Remember you?” She kissed his forehead. “I will always remember you. Always.”
“Albertina, hurry!” Madeleine called.
Father Nathanael stepped forward and took Father Andrew by the arm. “The Lord bless you,” Albertina said. She turned and ran for the sleigh. She climbed into the back seat. She and Madeleine knelt facing backward so they could wave good-bye to their friends and family.
As the sleigh pulled away, Andrew kept moving after it until it pulled around a bend and disappeared from sight. He stood staring at its last visible spot until his two friends came up beside him.
“The Lord keep them,” Jean Cardon said in a hushed voice.
“The Lord keep them,” Andrew repeated.
The three stood in silence for a long while staring down the deserted, snow-covered road. Finally, John Malan spoke.
“Will you be with me next year when my family departs?”
“If we are alive,” Father Andrew said.
“Yes, perhaps we should see if we make it to spring,” Jean Cardon added with a chuckle.
“I cannot wait for the warmth of spring,” John
Malan said, missing the joking undertone of his friend’s words. He went on wistfully with his own thoughts. “It will be good to sit in the garden by our favorite wall.”
“And share stories,” Jean Cardon added.
“But for now,” Andrew said, “it is home and a cozy fire. My old bones are cracking.”
“Yes, we must be off for home too.” John Malan said, looking around for his family. “Ah, come on, old friend. I see them over talking to Colonel Beckwith.” The two companions started on their way.
“Would you like assistance?” Father Nathanael asked.
“The Lord bless you, Father Nathanael, but here come some of our young, strong nephews to help us.”
Father Andrew watched as his friends were escorted into the safety of their families. He knew it was senseless to look for Rene and Francesca, because he had seen them take Joseph’s hands and leave the square as soon as the sleighs had started. He would talk to them later; now he knew their hearts could bear no word of comfort or reassurance. He felt the same. Lord, grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change.
“Let’s get you to the warmth of the library, shall we?”
“Yes. Yes,” Andrew heartily agreed. “And then prayer, and then food.”
“I think the kitchen has made apple cake,” Father Nathanael informed him.
“Apple cake? I like apple cake,” Andrew said, shuffling forward. He thought back to his birthday when he had been given the white quill from his father and the ink from his uncle Jacques. On that day his mother had baked apple cake. His foot slipped and he held tightly to Father Nathanael’s arm. “Tell me a truth,” he said when they were safely on their way.
“A truth?” Father Nathanael asked, looking sideways at his charge. Andrew nodded. Father Nathanael took his time answering. “I will tell you two truths.”
Andrew smiled. “Good. One cannot have enough truth.”
Father Nathanael patted his hand. “Your Albertina will do well in her new life, and . . . your heart will mend.”
After a long pause, Andrew nodded his acceptance. “Thank you.”
The priests reached the cobbled road to the monastery. “Stumble stone,” Father Nathanael warned.
“Tchet! I have been over this road a thousand times. I have climbed mountains, you know.”
“Yes, I know, honored one. You have climbed many mountains. That is why I am so fond of you. So very fond.”
Author’s Endnote
Lorenzo Snow was called back to Salt Lake City in the spring of 1852. He left Malta, never to complete his travels to India and the other mission areas eastward. He arrived home July 30, 1852. Lorenzo Snow would go on to settle Brigham City, complete another mission in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), serve in the state legislature, and become the fifth prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1898 when he was eighty-four years old. President Snow passed away October 10, 1901.
The first group of Waldensian Saints left Torre Pellice on February 19, 1854. They sailed from Liverpool, England, with some four hundred other European converts on the ship John M. Wood. The company arrived in New Orleans on May 2, 1854. The group then traveled by steamboat to Saint Louis, where they were placed in quarantine because of an outbreak of cholera in that city. Many of the company fell ill and many died. Eventually the sickness abated and the quarantine was lifted. The Cardon family, along with the Pons and Bertoch families, reached the Salt Lake Valley on October 29, 1854, and were greeted by Joseph Toronto.
Madeleine Marie Cardon was twenty-one years old when she traveled with her family to America, reaching the Salt Lake Valley in October of 1854. She married Charles Guild on February 19, 1855, and they settled at Marriott’s Landing in Ogden. She and Charles had eleven children. Eventually the family moved to Piedmont, Wyoming, where Madeleine lived out the rest of her life. She died July 21, 1914, and is buried in Piedmont.
Following is a list of surnames of the Waldensian families who immigrated to Zion between 1854 and 1860: Bertoch, Beus, Bonnet, Bosois, Brodero, Cardon, Chatelain, Gardiol, Gaydou, Gaudin, Jouve, Justet, Lazald, Malan, Pons, Rivoire, Rochon, Roman, Rostan, and Stalle. Emigrating in the 1890s were the Avondet, Combe, and Long families. The majority of the Piedmont Saints settled in Utah in and around Ogden, Logan, and Lehi. They also settled in parts of Wyoming, establishing the town of Piedmont. Of the seventy-two Waldenese who immigrated (mostly from twelve original families), their descendants now number in the tens of thousands. A large number are faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They honor the rich heritage left them by their faithful Waldensian ancestors.
Some original Waldensian converts returned to the Piedmont to encourage family members and former neighbors to immigrate to Utah. Many of those who came did not convert to Mormonism but associated with Protestant congregations in the valley. This second wave of immigration continued for about three decades, from 1879–1910, bringing an additional eighty-eight emigrants.
In the late 1850s, the proselyting efforts in Italy began to decline, and the mission became part of the Swiss Mission. In 1862, proselyting work in Italy ended completely. Unification of Italy occurred in 1861, which caused political, cultural, and economic instability. This, along with opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, prevented LDS missionaries from returning. Then came two World Wars and the Great Depression between them. Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy in 1922, setting himself up as a fascist dictator. He established the Lateran Accords of 1939. One of the edicts contained therein reconfirmed Roman Catholicism as the official religion of the State. This edict curtailed non-Catholic religions. After World War II, restrictions began to loosen, and in the mid-1960s, sporadic missionary work in Italy became more structured as the Italian Mission was made a zone of the Swiss Mission with more than forty elders and two sister missionaries working in twenty Italian cities. Their success prompted a reopening of the Italian Mission on August 2, 1966. On November 10, 1966, Elder Ezra Taft Benson held a dedicatory prayer service in Torre Pellice and rededicated the land of Italy for the preaching of the gospel. The small gathering of Church officials and missionaries stood on Mount Brigham near the spot where Lorenzo Snow had stood 116 years earlier. By December of 1966, there were 116 missionaries working in thirty-five cities. Over the years, many of the descendants of the original Waldensian Saints (often unaware of their Waldensian ancestry) have been called to serve missions to Italy.
In 1967, there were sixty-six members of the Church in Italy. At the end of 2016, the Church’s official records showed Church membership at 26,550, with two missions, ten stakes, and 101 congregations.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was officially recognized as a religion by the Italian government July 30, 2012.
During the October 2008 general conference, President Thomas S. Monson announced that a temple would be built in Rome, Italy. Ground was broken October 23, 2010.
Bibliography
Articles and Websites
Burrup, Jay G., comp. “First Missionaries to Italy. Excerpts from Letters written by Elders Lorenzo Snow & Jabez Woodard.” Italy Milan Mission Online; available at www.mission.net.
Christianson, James R. “Early Missionary Work in Italy and Switzerland.” Ensign, August 1982, 35–46.
Crockett, David R. “History of the Church in Italy.” Bella Sion > General History; available at www.bellasion.org.
“History of Italy.” Available at www.historyworld.net.
“History of Torre Pellice.” Available at www.torrepellice.com.
“John Charles Beckwith.” Available at www.whoislog.info and www.find-a-book.com.
“Pope Francis asks Waldensian Christians to forgive the Church,” Catholic Herald, 22 June 2015; available at http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/06/22/pope-francis-asks-waldensian-christians-to-forgive-the-church/; accessed 21 August 2017.
; “Waldensian History.” Available at www.chiesavaldese.org.
“Waldenses Way of Life.” Available at www.wayoflife.org.database/waldenses.htm.
Books
Anderson, Vicki Jo. The Other Eminent Men of Wilford Woodruff. Malta, ID: Nelson Book, 2000.
Beus, H. Lynn, with Charlotte Gunnell. Whence & Whither: Origins and Descendants of Michael and Marianne Beus. N.p., 1984.
Derr, Jill Mulvay, and Karen Lynn Davidson, compilers and editors. Eliza R. Snow: The Complete Poetry. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press and Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2015.
Gibbons, Francis M. Lorenzo Snow: Spiritual Giant, Prophet of God. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1982.
Museum of Waldensian Women Guide. Torre Pellice, Italy: Centro Culturale Valdese, 2002.
Museums and Sites of Memory of the Waldensian Valleys. Torre Pellice, Italy: Centro Culturale Valdese, 2002.
Nibley, Preston. The Presidents of the Church. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1941.
Smith, Eliza R. Snow. Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow. Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1884.