In Catholic Europe

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 26, 1908

In Catholic Europe

HUNDREDS of Catholics in Europe are every year obeying the call of this message to forsake papal tradition, and keep “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” While naturally our work has spread more rapidly in Protestant Europe (as in Great Britain, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries), the Lord is blessing our missionaries in the darkest Catholic regions. Here is a brief survey of Catholic Europe:—

In Portugal, where it seemed most difficult to get a foothold, are now two mission stations,—at Lisbon and Oporto,—and baptisms of believers are reported even amid the political upheavals.

In Spain, baptisms are reported in the cities of Barcelona and Valencia, where public services are well attended in spite of priestly opposition. “Do you preach Jesus in this house?” earnestly inquired one Catholic lady, seeking for light. A colporteur, arrested while distributing tracts, gave one to the chief of police. After reading it, the chief said: “For my part, I am ready to give this man his liberty, and let him go on selling these tracts.” Our workers, who have entered but four or five of the forty-nine provinces, call earnestly for more preachers, teachers, and colporteurs,

In Italy this clear-cut Protestant message is being preached in Rome itself, almost within the shadow of the Vatican; also in Naples and the south, and in Turin, Genoa, and the Waldensian valleys of the north. In one village, near Turin, where our workers opened meetings, the priest had the alarm bell rung to warn all the people against the Adventist preachers. Believers have been baptized in that village since then.

A COMPANY OF CHRISTIAN BELIEVERS IN ASIA MINOR

Until little more than a year ago, religious liberty was denied in Bavaria, South Germany, and our people had sometimes to meet in secret, and were often arrested and fined for attending religious gatherings. Still they persevered, and the work grew. Then, on April 19, 1907, the hearts of our brethren were made glad by the publication of the following decree:—

“His Royal Highness, Prince Luitpold, regent of the kingdom of Bavaria, has graciously granted that the Seventh-day Adventists be permitted to freely perform their religious services in Bavaria.”

Recently the annual meeting of the South German Conference was held in the ancient city of Nürnberg, in Bavaria, with delegates from thirty-three companies of believers. The president of the conference wrote: “As the persecution of the early Christians could not hinder the spread of Christianity through the Roman empire, so in our experience in Nürnberg and the churches of Bavaria, persecution was not able to stay the progress of truth. Last year we had two hundred seventy additions in the conference.”

In little Switzerland nearly a thousand believers are living and preaching the message; and we have churches in Brussels, Antwerp, Paris, Nîmes, and other centers of the French and Flemish Catholic countries.

Amid police restriction and ecclesiastical censorship our workers are finding ways of carrying the blazing light of truth into Austria. The latest move in that country is to send a missionary into the province of Croatia, where millions have never heard the pure gospel.

The Lord is visiting the Catholics with the gospel message of his soon coming.