Life Sketches of Ellen G. White

Visits to Italy

Nov. 26, 1885, Mrs. White left Basel for Torre Pellice, Italy. She was accompanied by her daughter-in-law, Mary K. White, and Elder B. L. Whitney. Regarding this trip she wrote: LS 289.2

“It was my fifty-eighth birthday, and surely it was to be celebrated in a way and place that I had little dreamed of. It seemed hard for me to realize that I was in Europe; that I had borne my testimony in England, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and was on my way to labor in Italy. LS 289.3

“Our course over the Alps lay through the great St. Gothard pass. We reached Torre Pellice Friday, about 9 A.M., and were welcomed to the hospitable home of Elder A. C. Bourdeau. The next day, Sabbath, I spoke to the brethren and sisters in the hired hall in which they held their regular Sabbath meetings.” LS 289.4

Mrs. White remained in Torre Pellice three weeks. She spoke to the people ten times, and visited some of the noted places where the Waldenses, fleeing from their persecutors, had been followed and captured, tortured, and slain. Referring to these experiences, she wrote: LS 290.1

“If their voices could be heard, what a history the everlasting mountains surrounding these valleys could give of the sufferings of God's people because of their faith! What a history of the visits of angels unrecognized by these Christian fugitives! Again and again have angels talked with men, as man speaketh with a friend, and led them to places of security. Again and again have the encouraging words of angels renewed the drooping spirits of the faithful, and, carrying their minds above the tops of the highest mountains, caused them to behold by faith the white robes, the crowns, the palm branches of victory, which the overcomers will receive when they surround the great white throne.” LS 290.2

Twice after this, Mrs. White visited the Waldensian valleys,—once in April, 1886, when, in company with her son and his wife, she devoted two weeks to speaking to little congregations in many places; and again, in company with Elder and Mrs. Wm. Ings, in November, as they were returning to Basel after laboring two weeks at Nimes, France. LS 290.3