What is it ?
Beginning on August 24, 1572 (the Catholic Feast of St. Bartholomew) over 100,000 unarmed French Protestants (Huguenots) were slaughtered in a period of about three weeks. Two years earlier, the Edict of Saint-Germaine had granted the Huguenots freedom of worship in certain refuges and localities. The slaughter began in Paris, where leaders of the Protestant "heresy" were meeting to support the king in a likely war against Spain. The king's mother, Catherine de' Medici, persuaded the king to vanquish the Protestants in France by killing its leaders. After midnight, the king's guards killed all the assembled leaders in Paris. Then, together with the royal troops, the Catholic citizens of Paris started a killing spree which spread to the outlying towns of France. The Catholic Encyclopedia reports that in Lyons so many corpses filled the Rhone that for three months the citizens downstream could not drink the water.
The pope's NUNCIO in Paris, Salviati, a relative of Catherine, had been given his office by Pope Pius V in December, 1571. Catherine confided to him that he should tell the Pope that "he would soon see the vengeance that she and the king would visit" on the Huguenots. Upon hearing of the massacre, the new pope, Gregory XIII ordered a special JUBILEE in celebration. He commissioned an Italian artist to commemorate the slaughter of the Huguenots. Finally, the pope ordered that a medal be struck showing an exterminating angel smiting the Huguenots with his sword.
How did it come about ?
For centuries, Christians who would not submit to the doctrines of Rome were persecuted by the authority of the Popes. In 1207, Pope Innocent III proclaimed a CRUSADE to exterminate the Albigenses of Southern France, who for centuries had peacefully lived under the authority of Jesus Christ. Over 60,000 ALBIGENSES were slain in the town of Beziers. The persecution continued under the INQUISITION. Many Huguenots, including John Calvin, were forced to flee France. King Frances I, having entered into a treaty with the Pope, took action to stem the tide of Protestantism. In 1539 and 1540 he revoked the edicts of toleration, replacing them with orders granting the magistrates power to hunt down the Protestants and all those who offered them shelter.
But the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Despite many being burned at the stake, the Protestant Reformation spread in France to the point where nearly a third of the population in 1559 was Protestant. The Huguenots planted churches and formed associations. The Catholic Encyclopedia lists some of the articles of the Huguenot creed: the true Church is the society of the faithful who agree to follow the word of God; all pastors have the same authority and equal power; the first duty of the pastor is to preach the word of God; the people should have access to Bibles written in their own language; the established governments are ordained by God, and should be obeyed.
After the holocaust, the leaderless Huguenots took to arms. They eventually were granted amnesty, and were given liberty to worship in three towns. The waves of persecution continued, but the Edict of Nantes in 1598 offered a period of respite. But in 1660, under the reign of King Louis XIV, all Protestants were excluded from public office. Preaching was strictly forbidden. The Protestants were not allowed to leave France. If they did, they would forfeit their property. In 1685, the Edict of Nantes was formally revoked. Public worship was forbidden. The Protestant churches were torn down. Protestant ministers were given fifteen days to convert to Catholicism or leave France. Parents were required to have their children baptized by priests, and sent to Catholic schools. Given these restrictions, there ensued a mass exodus of Huguenots to England, Germany, Switzerland, and America. Catholic theologian Vauban wrote at this time that the revocation of the Edict of Nantes "led to the desertion of 100,000 Frenchmen" causing the "ruin of commerce." Those that remained continued to meet secretly. Ministers who were caught were hanged.
Why it is wrong:
1) ...because of the use of force to suppress peaceful gatherings of true Christians by the State;
2) ...because of the killing of martyrs for their biblical beliefs;
3) ...because of the celebration of the papacy commemorating the holocaust;
4) ...because of the impact that the persecution has had on the country of France.
Warnings from Scripture:
Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying "Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!" He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoff at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger, and terrify them in His anger..." Ps. 2:1-1-5
But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison. As he [Saul] was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus [to persecute the church], and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting."
Acts 8:3; Acts 9:3-5
"Ho, Zion! Escape you who are living with the daughter of Babylon." For thus says the Lord of hosts, "After glory He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye." Zech. 2:7-8
"[F]or her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong." Rev. 18:5,8
? Point to Ponder
France's loss was America's gain. Three members of the Continental Congress were Huguenots. And a Huguenot refugee, Apollos de Revoire, had a son named Paul. One if by land, two if by sea!
