now minister of the Church of Scotland in Glasgow, delivered the ‘Time for
Reflection’ speech at the opening of the Scottish Parliament on 6 September.
It can be found on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK39P_rFgYQ
The Waldensian Day at Wesley Chapel, London, on 22 October was very
well attended and most interesting. David Willey, the veteran BBC correspondent, spoke to us about all the Popes he has met and Leslie Griffiths and Tim
Macquiban discussed David’s book The Promise of Francis: The Man, the Pope
and the challenge of change.
Full reports about all these events plus obituaries in the Summer 2017 issue!
Christmas is approaching and what could be more appropriate than giving
yourselves and your friends a Waldensian calendar and even better if accompanied by a copy of the reprint of Prescot Stephens’ book The Waldensian Story?
There is now also a new book, written in Italian and English by Micael Sappé
and Giuseppe Platone who was our visiting Pastor some time ago …
It is the story of a farmhouse in the mountains, which apart from being
located in a stunning position in the Angrogna Valley, is very special. Built at the
end of the nineteenth century as the Summer retreat of a wealthy Waldensian
family on a green and sunny field at 1500 metres asl, it faces the Alps above
and the plain and Torre Pellice below. Abandoned during the war, in Autumn
1943 it became the refuge of a group of young antifascist partisans, spiritually
and morally led by their chaplain, Iacopo Lombardini, a Methodist preacher
and schoolmaster in the Collegio Valdese. The house was destroyed by German
shellfire in 1944. Later Lombardini, who never carried any weapon but in his
pocket always had a Bible, was taken prisoner and deported to Mauthausen
Concentration Camp, where, one year later, a day before the Liberation, he was
sent to the gas chamber. After the war the ruin became a symbol of the Resistance
and every year a commemorative gathering of ex-partisans and antifascists was
held there … Read the book to know how it was rebuilt as ‘a House for Peace’
and became a centre for youth camps, holidays and retreats for all. A perfect
Christmas Gift!
HAPPY CHRISTMAS! ESN, Editor
Order Think of a Farmhouse in the
Mountains (£12.50 all included) and the
other books either online or from Nicky
Raddon: 19 Sampson Avenue, Barnet,
EN5 2RN.
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