Evangelistic Work in Italy by Horace Giraldi

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 3, 1908

Evangelistic Work in Italy

By Horace Giraldi

HORACE GIRALDI

SEVERAL weeks ago I was invited to go to Gravina, a town of twenty thousand inhabitants, situated south of Naples, and on the eastern side of the Apennine Mountains. Here Brother Creanza lives, with his family. They were converted in New York, at our Italian mission at One Hundred and Eleventh Street, and now they are back in their home country.

I was very glad to receive this invitation; for it afforded me an opportunity to preach the message in a new field, and to see our brother, whom I had known in New York. So, as soon as possible, I started for Gravina.

The trip, although rather a long one, is delightful, because the train winds through a beautiful country, gradually ascending from the sea-level up to the Apennines, to descend again to the sea-level at Bari, on the other side of Italy. Several hours before reaching Gravina, the train passes through a magnificent plain, bounded on each side, in the far distance by a range of blue mountains. It looks like the immense plains of the West, in the United States, only here one can not find an acre of deserted land; all is cultivated.

At 7 P. M., after a fourteen-hours’ journey, I arrived at my destination, and had the pleasure of meeting Brother Creanza. We went to his house, and were greeted by his wife and children.

As soon as the children saw me, they recognized their old Sabbath-school teacher; they have not forgotten their lessons, nor the hymns that they used to sing so nicely.

That evening we went to visit some families. We did the same next day, speaking to them about the message, and extending an invitation to a meeting to be held in the evening. At the appointed hour, about fifteen persons gathered at the home of Brother Creanza, where we preached to them the third angel’s message. At the close we announced another meeting the following Monday night.

In this town the only Protestant church is the Baptist. We called on the minister, and had a long talk with him. At the end of it he asked us to go away from Gravina, and not to trouble the peace of his people. Of course we could not grant such a request as this.

As soon as we began our work, the power of Satan was aroused against us. The Second meeting was not nearly so well attended as the first. When I again visited the families I had visited before, they began to talk about charity as the most necessary virtue of Christians, especially to Italian Protestants. A little incident was typical. In one family I asked several questions about the Sabbath and the third angel’s message, but could not get a word from them; they would not talk on these subjects, but presently began to talk about charity. We could easily recognize that they were repeating a lesson learned from some one.

Nevertheless one family accepted the truth, and began to keep the Lord’s Sabbath. Another has promised to join at least the Sabbath prayer-meeting that Brother Creanza will hold in his home, and two other families are disposed to study the message.

In order to hold public meetings in Gravina a hall would be necessary.

Naples.