in San Remo, Oneglia and Pietrabruna. However, things at the school began
to become problematic at this stage, and this began to affect the church as
well. The problems seem to have arisen because Benemann was a foreigner,
and some people would not take communion from him because he was not
a Waldensian Minister. Pons’ ill-health forced
him to return to the valleys and a teacher named
Martin Astegiani took his place. The latter was
an ex-Waldensian and a member of the Plimuttista Movement (possibly the Plymouth Brethren) and later wanted to take over the leading
of the church as well. Mrs Boyce did not like
the idea of this at all. Not long after his arrival,
the Prefect of the area, under pressure from the
Bishop of Ventimiglia, ordered the school to
be closed because Astegiani had no teaching
qualifications and official permission to run the
school could not be given to Benemann as he
was a foreigner. While Astegiani was away in
Pinerolo taking exams, the Tavola Valdese sent
Paolo Charbonnier to keep the school going. Astegiani returned and looked
after the school while Benemann was away in Prussia. In Benemann’s absence,
Astegiani managed to turn some of the congregation against their minister,
and on his return in March 1869 Astegiani left to form a group at Borghetto
di Bordighera, taking six or seven people with him – which was a disaster for
a little congregation totalling about 20 people.
Louisa obviously suffered because of the situation in Bordighera. She
wrote to Revel of ‘a great deal of trouble and anxiety at present ... the matter
which I have so much at heart that I could not rest satisfied without myself
writing a few lines on the subject ... in confidence as to a friend ... that every
day that he remains with us is doing an injury to the school and the work in
general’. She then mentioned the ‘opposition school close by’ which had been
established by the Jesuits in 1868, hence the urgency for a good replacement
for Astegiani. In the same letter she continued: ‘The work here is still in its
infancy and requiring great care and watchfulness. These are enemies eagerly
looking out for any mistake or failure on our part’. The Jesuits had indeed
opened a school in the same area, and Benemann tells Revel that the Bishop
had started a war against them.
The hatred instilled by the Jesuits led to several attempts to intimidate those
involved in the work of the school: stones were often thrown at the window
shutters. Ironically, this situation contributed to the little school developing
into an orphanage, which helped immensely in the work of evangelization in
the area and seems to have been something Mrs Boyce had looked forward to
from the beginning. Benemann quotes Mrs Boyce in his Memoirs as having
said, ‘We need to see the closure of the school as a sign to begin something that
10