Lighthouse Trails Research Journal
Eugenio—
the Christian
Italian Student
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following story is from
John Shaw Anderson’s book, Heroes of the
Faith in Modern Italy (first published in 1914).
He merited not to be born who
thinks he was born for self.—
Metsatasio
T
he hilly region of Piedmont presents
some of the most picturesque scenery
in Italy, and the subject of our present
sketch passed his eventful life in the midst
of it. His native village stands on a hill com-
manding an enchanting view of two fertile
valleys clothed with richly cultivated vine-
yards. He belonged to the leading family of
the neighborhood and could boast of having
had a near ancestor in the local bishopric.
His parents and relatives were devoutly
attached to the Church of Rome in which
he was baptized and confirmed. Having fin-
ished his preparatory studies at the grammar
school, he proceeded to Turin to study law,
following the profession of his father, who
was a well-known solicitor. Italy seems to
be a land indigenous to Universities, from
which have gone forth many of her bright-
est sons to enrich the fields of the world’s
learning. Turin University was founded in
1404 and numbers 2500 students.
Eugenio was a passionate lover of music,
and in after years used to recount how in his
youth he often listened with breathless emo-
tion to the sacred music of the great Italian
masters, “which, however, when ended left
my heart empty.” One evening he went to
hear the famous musical production, “The
Massacre of the Huguenots.” The melodi-
ous notes which reproduced the patient suf-
ferings of those pious martyrs made a deep
impression upon Eugenio’s mind, and he
began to think of those faithful protestants,
not as the vile heretics depicted by Rome,
VOLUME 8—NO. 1
23
but as persecuted followers of Christ. He
knew that they had received their faith and
fortitude from the Holy Scriptures, and
now his uppermost desire was to procure a
copy of the Bible and read its Holy pages.
But in 1847, it was difficult in Italy to find
a copy of God’s Word in Italian, so great
was the opposition of the priests against its
entrance which “gives light.”
Eugenio’s character was free and open,
and he did not conceal his sympathy with
the cause for which the Huguenots had
been so mercilessly massacred, and in his
written exercises he occasionally illustrated
his subject by referring to those cruel deeds
committed in the name of religion whereby
one hundred thousand innocent protestants
suffered death. A latent suspicion existed in
the minds of some of his clerical professors
as to the orthodoxy of his religious views
and reached its climax through one of his
literary efforts. In a Latin examination
he was asked to choose and translate any
piece of Latin into Italian verse. He asked
for a copy of the Vulgate Bible and put the
19th Psalm into beautiful Italian poetry.
His suspicious teachers thought they had
discovered in Eugenio’s rendering a decided
tendency to the evangelical faith, and espe-
cially in the closing verse where the Psalmist
sings: “The words which from my mouth
proceed / The thoughts raised from my
heart / Accept, 0 Lord, for Thou my Rock
/ And my Redeemer art.”
Many years after, speaking of that event,
Eugenio one day weeping said: “I did not
know Him then as my Rock and my Re-
deemer; and yet my enemies discovered
my longing after Him, and persecuted me
all they could. Some of my professors were
kind and impartial, and one of them told
me privately that my work was excellent,
but he counseled me not to present any-
thing of that kind again. Another professor
showed me much sympathy and endeav-
ored to comfort me with the vain assurance
that if I only knew how to dissimulate as
others do, all would be well with me.”
In similar moral experiences of disap-
pointment and resentment, many of our
most promising young men give way to
indifference and skepticism. They fancy
that such a sphere may afford them more
freedom from the responsibility and care
of any definite religious course. But before
they have traveled far on the broad road,
they discover that it is a downward grade.
Such was the experience of Eugenio, hap-
pily a very brief one.
Late one afternoon, he was returning
from the University to his lodging. It was
raining, and the young student was walking
pensively under one of the porticos when
a humbly attired colporteur offered him a
Bible.
“Sir, purchase God’s Word. You will
not regret having done so.” This was the
very Book he had been seeking, and the
very Word he was in need of that very mo-
ment! He bought the Bible in his own soft
mother tongue. The faithful colporteur had
quickly to make off, for he was spied by the
enemy of the Bible, and Eugenio never met
him again! When he arrived at his room, he
was so enraptured with his sacred volume
that he did not observe that the table was
spread for his meal, and he began to turn
over its pages without any definite order or
object in view. He then remembered that
he had not dined, and he hid the Bible in
his room till he felt free again to read some
of its Divine teaching. That very evening
he brought it from its secret corner, and
till early in the morning he poured over its
Holy pages. Speaking of that memorable
event in his life, he says: “I felt as if I could
read it all that night. I cannot express the
impression it produced upon me: the joy,
and then the confusion of face as I thought
of my spiritual condition.” He knew and
felt that he was one of “the sick” who need
the Physician (Matthews 9:12).
Eugenio found peace in believing “the
record that God gave of His Son.” The
great and glorious end of the Holy Scriptures
Continues on next page
SPRING 2020