Italy to become the teachers of little schools in Sicily. The Waldensian Valleys at that time had unusually high levels of literacy, thanks to the many small‘ Beckwith’ schools scattered around the villages where the children were taught to read and write so that they could read the Bible for themselves. After 1848 when Waldensians were given civil and political rights, they were no longer persecuted for their faith and could leave the ghetto of their valleys where they had been forced to remain for centuries. In 1860 the Evangelisation committee was founded in order to coordinate the opening of new churches throughout the Italian peninsula( unified as Italy in 1861) and to send pastors, evangelists, followed by teachers for the schools.
The Coretto’ s production followed one such teacher from Angrogna,‘ Jeanne Bonnet’, who never actually existed but whose life and experiences were taken from the many letters, reports and photos in the Waldensian Archives in Torre Pellice. With grants from foreign committees such as Waldensian Church Missions, these young ladies, often from farming families with not much money, were able to continue to study and then to follow their vocation to serve their church as teachers.
By using silent sepia video clips and a narrator, the story of‘ Jeanne’ s’ decision to serve as a teacher and her experiences were interspersed by songs – a mixture of traditional songs from the valleys, a Waldensian Hymn, an Irish blessing, a Negro Spritual and an Exiles song from Chile,‘ Todo Cambia’. Thanks to the two sold-out performances during Synod in August, locals and family could enjoy this spectacular achievement – made particularly significant because one of the Coretto singers from Torre Pellice now works in the Waldensian Nursery School in Riesi – so following in the footsteps of‘ Jeanne’. Following much public demand, there have now been other performances of this show, which in my experience is one of their best – and the bar was very high.
Nicky Raddon
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