The Baptists of Sant'Angelo

In the early hours one January morning, the clang of church bells broke the stillness over the vineyards and olive groves of Sant'Angelo in Villa, about 50 miles southeast of Rome. At the sound of the tocsin, villagers tumbled out of bed and, dressing as they ran, swarmed to the church, shouting threats. The alarm had been sounded by two early risers who had spotted the enemy on their way to work. The enemy: Parish Priest Andrea Tarquini, who, flanked by three carabinieri, had tried to slip secretly into the church to sign a document that the whole village considered an outrage.

The document: a separation decree issued by the local bishop taking the nearby village of Giglio out of the Sant'Angelo parish. To the 500-odd villagers, this parish chopping seemed intolerable. Sant'Angelo parish had become too big, insisted the bishop. Retorted Emilio Cianfarano, Sant'Angelo's rebel chief: "When you split a family, the whole family suffers." And besides, grumbled the rebels, the bishop had been swayed by Giglio donations of nearly $5,000 toward a new church. Despite the heat caused by such arguments, the villagers failed in their early-morning assault. Before nightfall, 70 more cops arrived from nearby towns, nine men were hurt, 15 jailed, and the bishop's decree was duly signed.

Bible Quiz. That was two years ago. Since then, Sant'Angelo in Villa has known little peace. Three parish priests came and went, and half the villagers boycotted the church. One day a young (33), eloquent Baptist minister came to the village, was challenged by a priest (and locally famed Bible expert) to a Bible quiz in Latin and Greek. After four hours and 45 minutes, the Baptist came out the popular victor. Encouraged by his success, Pastor Graziano Cannito began to hold services in a private house, soon chalked up 70 Sant'Angelo conversions. In nearby towns, which he tirelessly covered in his little Fiat, he had made more than 300 other converts.

Last November, when Pastor Cannito applied for permission to build a new church (with donations from the U.S. Southern Baptist Convention), war broke out again in Sant'Angelo. Although Rome's Ministry of Public Works gave its approval and the Baptists started to build, the local mayor issued a firm no. Contrary to the standard plot rules of Italian church-state village dramas, Mayor Antonio Baldassarra was not a Communist, but a Christian Democrat who was outraged by the prospect of a Protestant church in Sant'Angelo in Villa.

Abusive Building. When the mayor refused a request from the builders for water, the Baptists dug their own well ("God helped us find water"). Finally the mayor leveled an ultimatum: Take the "abusive building" down or the cops will.

Two carabinieri showed up with orders to stop construction; Pastor Cannito rushed to the district judge, who promised to review the case, meantime warned Cannito that if one more stone went up, the pastor would go to jail. By last week, work had been stopped on the half-finished Baptist Church of Sant'Angelo in Villa. Said Manfredi Ronchi, president of the Baptist Union of Italy: "If dark forces prevail, we will have to suffer.''

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