When Christ was bearing away the sins of His church in His body on the tree, Matthew tells us that ‘many women were there’ (Matt. 27:55). They were there, though others were marked by their absence. The cause of Christ was at its lowest point, yet ‘many women were there’.
In the Philippian church as well, women were there who showed their devotion to Christ. Paul noted it, and recorded his indebtedness to them when he wrote: “Help those women who laboured with me in the gospel” (Phil. 4:3).
The case of the Philippian church is perhaps of particular interest as that church was in a missionary situation. The church in Italy too is a mission church, and in the last article I spoke of some of the men involved in the church’s work. As in Philippi, there are women there, and here I would like to introduce some of the women of the Italian church.
Erna
Erna is actually Dutch, though she is one of the group at Spotorno, on the Italian Riviera. She came to Italy about three years ago, and worked for a time in the South in a Home for children. The Home was run by Pentecostals, and difficulties arose because she could not agree with their views. She left that Home, and, not finding other work, she returned to Holland after an absence of a year and a half. Erna said that it was during this time at home that she was converted. She was then praying about where God would have her go, and after a little time it transpired that the Rev. Hegger, who runs a Home for ex-priests in Holland, wanted to employ a secretary to help Franco Maggiotto in his growing missionary work. Erna felt that this must be God’s will for her, and so she took on the work. As one who speaks Dutch and Italian fluently, she is a link between the work in Italy and those who support it in Holland.
Ida
Ida is the wife of Mario. It is with them that I stayed while attending the committee meetings at Spotorno in March. She was with another group of Protestants before she met Franco, and she said that at this time she felt unsure of her salvation. The teaching was that man believed in his own strength, but the effect this had on her was that she said, “If it is up to me, how can I be sure that I am really saved? Others have said they were saved, and now they have gone back.” She went on, “It was a bondage, but when the sovereignty of grace was explained it was a deliverance from bondage.” Ida said that when she and her husband had been with the first group they joined after leaving the R.C. Church, there had been the strictest rules of do’s and don’t’s. Their son became disgusted with this religion because, for all the rigorous rules about what to do, the lives of many did not really commend their professed Lord. The result was that he is not now interested in religion of any kind. Ida concluded: “We used to try to force him before, when we were with the others, but now we do not do that. We only pray to God.” There are other incidents which could be recounted, giving the picture of a spiritually-minded woman and a practical Christian. Commenting, for example, on an incident in which one man became upset at what another had done, she said, “Achille got angry for nothing. He was looking to man, and men make mistakes always. He should look instead to God. When he looks only to God he will not worry any more.”
Aurora
Aurora is Franco’s wife. When I saw her again in March she did not look so well as she had done the previous September. There was an explanation. Apparently she became very ill at the end of last year. In the opinion of the doctors her condition was very serious and Franco was told to tell the other relatives about it. All the members of the little church were praying. Even the children in the Sabbath School remembered Aurora in their prayers when they went to bed. One day the sadness of what seemed to lie ahead came over Franco, and then his little daughter Tabitha tried to comfort him, saying that Jesus would look after him. Aurora went into hospital, but immediately it seemed as if her condition began to improve. The doctors were surprised, and postponed the operation. In the end she came out of hospital without undergoing surgery, the medical men mystified as to how she had improved.
Speaking of her illness, Aurora said, “When we are well, we do not think of it, but when we are in such a situation we realise that our health as well as everything else is in the hands of God. We realise that we are nothing, that we are like the flower that fades in a moment. I do not know why I had that illness, but God knows why.”
While we talked about more general things Aurora said, “Nothing will do for Italy but the gospel and to preach anything but the pure gospel is to waste time. Many are wasting time, burying themselves in social concerns, but what is the use of that without preaching God? There is not much time; our society is on the way to ruin.”
“Of course, Franco is encouraged by meeting others, by the setting up of this Committee now. It is wonderful because when we came here a few years ago there was nobody. Now there is at least a small group.”
About a fortnight before I was out in March, Alberto Dressino had gone with Franco to visit those with whom we have had a longer association in Fornaci di Barga. What were his impressions? Speaking of Emilia, Alberto said,
“I was moved to tears. It made me wonder what we were doing, who hear the word of God explained so often. It was a pure marvel, seeing how she had learned better than I, without having meetings and the preaching of the Word. It was a work of God.”
Having heard such a report from the Spotorno side, I was looking forward to hearing Emelia’s account of the visit. And here it is:
“I was not very well at the time, and was off my sleep. But I was able to bear it well, for the joy that I had at the time. Not that the joy was limited to the time Franco was here; I had had experiences before that too. Of course we do not always feel the same: there are times of going down and times of rising again, are there not?”
Then Emelia told me about one day in February in which she had received great encouragement.
She went down to Lucca to have a little change, and to get a little peace. There was a carnival on, with a street procession, and she thought that she might get an opportunity to speak to someone. She was sitting on a park bench in a quiet spot when two women passed and a conversation began which turned quite easily to spiritual things. She gave them some leaflets written by Franco and told them a little about his work. The older lady was not very interested, but the younger one was more attentive and accepted the leaflets willingly. When she left she asked Emelia to pray for her.
Then, as Emelia was travelling home in the evening, another similar opportunity presented itself. There was a crowd of people in the train, so that there was standing room only. She was afraid of moving further up the corridor but the lady standing at her back was pushing forward and so she went. Minutes later she turned to see a young man standing near her with a book open in his hand. It was a book of Psalms. Emelia said to him that she was not an R.C. but that she was glad to see someone in that crowd reading the Psalms. It turned out that he was in his first year of training as a priest, and that he was reading the Psalms because, as a matter of duty, he had to read three a day.
Emelia began to speak about the gospel, and thought it quite wonderful how she was able to remember parts of Scripture to support what she was saying. She felt sure that she was not alone in it: that the Lord was helping her in what she said.
The trainee priest asked her about her own situation, and how she had come to entertain these views. Emelia told him how some people had come from abroad to explain the Scriptures, and also spoke about Franco.
Since that time, when Emelia felt the joy of the Lord to be her strength, she has written to tell of difficulties she has passed through. It is not easy for her in her home when her husband has no real interest.
Help those women. Pray that the Lord will strengthen them, that He will fulfil towards them the promise regarding His vineyard: “I the Lord do keep it; I will water every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.”
J.T.