By Marc Smith
Romans 8:35, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (Romans 8:35, NKJV)
One of the worst, nearly total annihilations of Protestants in European history happened in France, August 24, 1572 on the Catholic holiday of St. Bartholomews Day. The Catholics of France at that time strongly opposed co-existence with Protestants. The Protestants had resisted in several great battles and had been mostly victorious over Catholic armies. The group that was the largest of this movement were followers of Jean Cauvin (himself a Frenchman; he became known as John Calvin in England) who boasted 300,000 followers in France alone.
The reason this is important to members of the Church of Christ is that in the 16th Century, more than four hundred years ago, anyone not professing to be a Catholic, was considered a heretic by the Catholic Church. There has been for many centuries a ruling that was certainly in force at the time of the St. Bartholomews Day massacre. In Latin this is expressed as, nulla salus extra ecclesium. This is translated as, outside the Church there is no salvation.
Today, when Christians are often accused of thinking you are the only ones going to heaven, it would be good to remind the accusers that such a belief is common among denominational followers, particularly the Catholic Church. These may not want to admit or realize this essential point, but all they really have to do is become aware of the multitude of wars caused by the Catholic Church in European history particularly but all around the world as well, with the intent to destroy physically, any opposition to the one true church, the Catholic Church. It is no secret that many millions have died or suffered extreme persecution for opposing Catholicism.
In 16th Century Europe, all religious people not desiring to be Roman Catholics were not only considered as spiritually lost but also were essentially already condemned to death. However, there were actually a number of separate religious groups who claimed no connection whatsoever with the Catholic Church. It is highly likely that members of the Church of Christ, following the New Testament pattern, made up one of these groups. The very name Huguenot is sort of an umbrella term. The French Calvinists proudly referred to themselves by this name. Unfortunately all the other disparate religious groups of the day were stereotypically lumped together with these Protestants. Huguenot simply means heretic. To the Catholic Church, if one was a heretic, he was a foe of the church. If one was a foe of the church he was an enemy deserving death.
My purpose in looking into this historic event from so long ago is that there may well have been Christians, those who were members of the church of Christ, among the heretics and if so, they would have been indistinguishable to Catholic authorities and just as equally condemned.
Back at the beginning of our nations history we should realize that similarly, when the Puritans and those generally called Pilgrims, first came to these shores there were almost certainly those who were members of the New Testament church of Jesus Christ among them. All of these people dressed very much alike and lived alike as well. It is interesting to note that thousands of French Huguenots came to America for the purpose of religious freedom in the same era as those from Britain and Holland. In this first flood of European immigrants seeking religious freedom were several different sects of Calvinists; the majority of them were the English Puritans, the French Calvinist groups, Presbyterians, the Dutch Reformed (all Puritans), Quakers and the early Baptist groups. All wore dark clothes and hats. They lived modestly and austerely. All of these were strict morally and required others around them to behave similarly.
When reading about this period, though there is precious little to go on with regard to Christians at this time, it is tantalizing to read of the small religious groups that were not mainstream with the Calvinists or Quakers and easy to draw the conclusion that some of these could well have been Christians. Christians living among these different denominational groups would have had the same type experiences and reasons for leaving their home countries, whether Britain or continental Europe.
To understand the scope of the terrible bloodshed and what this meant to future generations it is helpful to look at what historians say about this one major event in France. Even though denied by the Catholic Encyclopedia claiming only 2,000 were murdered, other historians like Ranke, who says this figure is for just one day (The Popes of Rome, 1866, II, 47) and Martin (Histoire de France, 1878, IX, 270-350) assert that many more than that were killed. In fact, Martin is certain that at least 50,000 were killed in Paris alone. Catholic revisionist historians also claim that this was a spontaneous attack and not an organized massacre. The vast majority of historians assert that it was indeed, an organized massacre by the Catholics to once and for all rid France of Protestants.
It is ironic that in the days of the French Revolution over two hundred years later, historians universally agree that the bloody reign of terror during which everyone from King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to eventually even the prime instigator of the revolution, Robspierre, went to the guillotine. This produced a total of only about 30,000 dead as opposed to the earlier murders of the Protestants. The fact that the many massacres of Protestants in France have been nearly forgotten in our day shows that for the most part history is primarily written by the victors whether they are good or evil. The actual total number of Protestant dead may have been higher than 200,000 through out France. We will simply never know. Were there Christians among the dead and not just Huguenots? It is quite probable that some were also murdered simply for being non-Catholic.
To place ourselves in that time we must remember that reformation of the Catholic Church as a plan had failed and that the Protestant Movement had been in earnest by this time for several years. England, Scotland, Northern Germany (in its many principalities), Holland, and virtually all of Scandinavia were already essentially in Protestant hands. The Popes in Rome had decided to fight rather than switch and had vigorously opposed reformation of corruption within their church (though some changes did happen that are still essentially in place till this very day). Threatened as these popes felt, there were no lows to which they would not stoop in their desire to destroy as viciously as possible the Huguenots.
Martin tells of brutal murders in the royal palace under the eyes of the King and Queen, and describes Queen Catharine and her maids callously making obscene jokes over the dead bodies of Huguenots they had known, and Catholic boys killing babies in the cradle. Pope Gregory had the painter Vasari painting pictures of the glorious triumph over a perfidious race. He also had created a gold medal with the inscription Slaughter of the Huguenots. The French Court was finally sobered by the disgust of the rest of Europe and at this point invented the lie that has been persistent ever since that time that they acted as they did because they had uncovered evidence of a plot by the Huguenots to overthrow them and Catholicism altogether. Ranke quotes the Cardinal Santorio referring long afterwards to the famous St. Bartholomews Day which was most joyful to Catholics.
The tragic stories of the Christians of that age are lost to us but the haunting awareness of their suffering, sacrifice and faith hang in our memories like an early morning vapor. Hebrews 11:1, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
It is my hope that after others read this reminder of what has gone before they will think about the debt we owe those who have made our marvelous religious freedom possible. Let this come to mind particularly when we sing the old song, Faith of Our Fathers. Though originally the words of this hymn were written by a Catholic priest, they were later changed to remove the Catholic doctrinal references and rewritten to meet the experience of how Protestants suffered at the hands of Catholics. It is especially poignant because of this.
Faith of our fathers, living still, In spite of dungeon, fire and sword; O how our hearts beat high with joy Whenever we hear that glorious Word!