Lighthouse Trails Research Journal VOL 8 | NO. 1 | Page 24

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