Avenge, O Lord

Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold,
Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones;
Forget not: in thy book record their groans
Who were thy sheep and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese that rolled
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they
To Heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow
O'er all th' Italian fields where still doth sway
The triple tyrant; that from these may grow
                                          A hundredfold, who having learnt thy way
                                         Early may fly the Babylonian woe.

                             John Milton - On the Late Massacre in Piedmont 1655

Chiesa Evangelica Valdese di Abbazia in Croazia (Evangelical Waldensian Church of Opatija in Croatia) Interesting name.  In Croatia today Evangelical would seem to indicate a Lutheran Church.  In former times in Teksas and in the United States it would have also indicated that which is today called "Lutheran."   The Valdensians however are not exactly Lutheran. 

The foundation stone of the Church of Christ was made in 1903 in the presence of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, the architect Karl Seidl. Financed by important personalities including the Kaiser Franz Josef I who gave 5000 crowns at the time.  On April 23, 1904 in the presence of various noble  - King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway and his wife Sophia of  Nassau - the Kaiser, and other important church figures of the period took part the inauguration.

According to Davor Zic 1 September 2011, this old historic building may be sold.  On the 9th  of June  this year the Konzervatorski odjel u Rijeci apparently siezed the property because the care giver had made unauthorized  repairs to the property.  We have such laws in Brownsville  as well - historic buildings must be maintained according to the standards of a "commission," or not maintained at all.

"Ostali smo bez riječi i ne možemo vjerovati što se događa," We were speechless and can not believe what was happening, Zic quotes Giovanni Genere, the Valdensian pastor from Torino. Croatian law requires that Chruch property be managed by Croatians so the Valdensians created the Evangelička crkva Valdese Opatija which sounds Lutheran to a Croatian ear, but isn't.


So, as it stands, through someone's mismanagement, an old  Lutheran Church building may pass into the hands of some Russians who want to turn the property into a residential area.   I don't know what to think about this.  Neither the Russians nor the Valdensians are Croatian or Lutheran.  It is too bad there are not some Croatian Evangelicals who could treasure and use the facilities.   It would break Elizabeth of Rumania's heart to see this happening.  It breaks mine. 

do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,

Canovals a.k.a. Slavonac