Lighthouse Trails Research Journal
24
Eugenio—continued from previous page
is mentioned by the Apostle John: “These
things have I written unto you that believe
on the name of the Son of God; that ye may
know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).
Eugenio had become heir to a consider-
able quantity of land near his native village,
and he now decided to study agricul-
tural science with a view to developing his
ground. He was led to this decision, how-
ever, from a growing desire to be free from
his dependence upon those who had shown
their hatred against his faith. He thought
that as a landowner and by cultivating his
vineyards according to the most scientific
methods, he would be in a position which
his enemies could not easily assail. So, with
all the courage and tenacity of his nature,
he gave himself to the study of agriculture,
and to him it became a science which he
cultivated to its highest degree. He entered
the National College and studied under
the most famous professors of his day.
Having successfully finished his course, he
began to put into practice the knowledge
he had acquired and soon made very radi-
cal alterations in the land of which he was
now the owner.
The news of Eugenio’s evangelical
faith had spread all over the district, and
the people were wondering whether they
should believe the priest’s version of it
when some of the oldest peasants began to
rebel against the new scientific methods of
cultivation. “Our forefathers,” they argued,
“never studied botany nor chemistry, and
yet they lived and died without these mod-
ern ideas. They worked their little plots and
did not trouble about studying the nature
of the soil. They left it as they found it, and
so shall we. Don Merlo says that Signor
Eugenio is a religious revolutionist, and
it would seem that he is not content with
changing our religion: he actually wishes to
change our ideas of the land!”
But before many seasons had passed,
the most antiquated and bitter enemies
of progress were glad to learn and adopt
VOLUME 8—NO. 1
the agricultural methods introduced by
Eugenio, and in consequence the whole dis-
trict became prosperous. Many landowners
sent their peasants to his fields to study the
new means of receiving richer returns from
the soil. While Eugenio freely and gladly
offered to all the benefits of his agricultural
studies, he quite as freely and still more
gladly made known to them the good news
of salvation. This, however, increased the
opposition of the priests, and the young
heretical landowner was now engaged in a
daily battle with papal Rome. There was no
doctrine of the Romish Church he had not
fully considered, and he fearlessly faced the
priests and friars sent by the bishop to op-
pose him. But this controversy only resulted
in greater publicity for the Gospel, and the
Bishop changed his modus operandi. Noth-
ing was left unsaid or undone to discredit
the Gospel testimony of Eugenio and his
few brethren, and among the weapons used
by the enemy, none proved more likely
to succeed than that of fear which always
thrives upon superstition. So, the priests
spread the report that the Protestants did
not bury their dead properly, and the more
ignorant among the people actually believed
the suggestion that the devil came and car-
ried off the bodies of the heretics!
One day the dear little child of a Chris-
tian in the village died, and for the first time
the people were to see what a Protestant
funeral was like! The fond mother kept
a careful watch over the little corpse, but
the dreaded fiend did not appear. Was the
priest’s sure and sacred report to end in a
fiasco? No! What then? A funeral boycott!
So, the gravedigger refused to do his work,
and the news soon spread that the little
protestant body would not, could not be
buried!
But Eugenio was not so easily defeated,
and going to his poor sorrowing Christian
brother, he said “Come with me, all is well.”
They went together to the civil authori-
ties, and in the name of the law asked for a
piece of ground in the cemetery. This was
granted. They then went to the priest and
demanded the keys of the burying ground.
They were handed to Eugenio, who then
called one of his own peasants and ordered
him to bring two spades, and a large crowd
gathered to witness Signor Eugenio with
his farm servant digging a grave! Having
finished his noble work, he addressed the
people, many of whom wept as he preached
by the newly made little grave, and all had a
manifest object lesson on the works as well
as the faith of protestants in weeping with
those who weep.
Eugenio was now married to a Christian
lady who fully and faithfully shared with
him the joys and sorrows of life. Their home
became the center of the gospel testimony
in that district, and from it, through the
labors of several earnest Italian evangelists,
spread far and wide. The village priest was
becoming old, and the bishop thought that
a younger padre might more effectually
stem the advance of the protestant plague.
So he chose a young priest, tall, strong and
arrogant: more aggressive than progressive.
He vowed to his bishop that he would soon
rid that fertile valley of the evangelical pes-
tilence. As he rode on horseback to his new
parish, he stopped at the house of an aged
villager who most reverently saluted him.
“I see you are a loyal son of the Church.”
“Yes, I am, your Reverence.”
“Well, you are the very man I want.
Your long experience is valuable to me in
my new official and difficult duties here.
You may know that the bishop has chosen
me for this parish as he believes I am the
priest befit fitted to free the whole district
of the protestant heresy. Now, as you know
these protestants well, I want you to counsel
me as to the best way to act.”
“Well, your Reverence, I have long
known Signor Eugenio and those who meet
with him, and I can assure you that if you
want to get rid of them, the best way is to
leave them alone, for these evangelici always
increase through persecution.”
Concludes on next page
SPRING 2020