BRIGHAM YOUNG (1801-77) dispatched missionaries to Italy in 1849 because he was convinced that, after two years of revolutionary activity, the European continent had introduced political reforms which would be conducive for the introduction of the gospel. On February 8, 1848, King Carlo Alberto (1798-1849), of the Kingdom of Sardinia, granted a constitution after liberal noblemen presented him a petition requesting that they share more power with the monarchy. The "Statuto," patterned after the French Constitution of 1830, guaranteed individual liberty (articles 24, 26), freedom of the press (art. 28), and the right to congregate without arms (art. 32). It also extended certain civil and political privileges to non-Catholic minorities (Jews and Waldensians) but it did not guarantee religious liberty to non-Catholics, or the same degree of press freedom that was assured in England and the United States. Despite these changes the Statuto recognized the Roman Catholic Apostolical Church as "the only religion of the State; other forms of worship, now extant, are tolerated in conformity with the laws" and that Bibles, catechisms, and liturgical prayer books could not be published without permission of a Catholic bishop. Liberals and conservatives in the kingdom continued to debate the prerogatives of the Church and the separation of church throughout the nineteenth century.

     When the new Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia convened in Torino in 1848 it began the long process reducing the temporal power of the Catholic Church, and to separate the church from the state. In 1850 the Parliament enacted the Siccardi laws, and other measures, under which the ecclesiastical courts were abolished, the legal immunity of the clergy was abrogated, and the church was prohibited from purchasing land or accepting donations without the authorization of the state. Thereafter the government continued to propose measures to establish a civil state under which citizens would not be subject to ecclesiastical interference. One of these measures, to allow civil marriages, was rejected in 1852 by the Senate after the King withdrew his support. Nevertheless, Parliament enacted measures thereafter which regulated theological instruction without the concurrence of the church; abolished all religious orders except those which preached, nursed or taught; and reduced the salaries of archbishops, bishops, abbots, canons, and the highest compensated parish-priests.

     While the Siccardi laws were being debated in Torino Lorenzo Snow (1814-1901) organized the Italian Mission in the Waldensian valleys. It is unlikely that the Waldensians initially understood that Mormons were not Protestants. They were not familiar with Mormon truth claims and the small band of missionaries was initially welcome to preach before Waldensian congregations. This changed when Snow published two pamphlets in French: Exposition des premiers principes de la doctrine de l'Eglise de JÈsus-Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours and La voix de Joseph. Exposition des premiers principes described the first principles of the gospel without mentioning either Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon. La voix de Joseph described Joseph Smith's revelations, explained the Mormon doctrine of gathering converts to America in anticipation of the millennium, presented the Perpetual Emigrating Fund which assisted those who could not afford to emigrate on their own, and depicted the beautiful natural conditions in the Salt Lake Valley.

     Waldensian pastors cooled toward Snow and his missionaries when La voix de Joseph made them aware of Mormonism's finer points and established clearly that it was not part of mainstream Protestantism. Pastors of the Reformed Church wrote most of the negative information concerning Mormonism which circulated in the valleys, including attacks on Snow's pamphlets. Waldensian pastors also became hostile after Mormon missionaries baptized a few of their members. Since Snow recognized that the Waldensians comprised less than 1 percent of the total population of the Italian peninsula he decided to send missionaries to the Italian-speaking Catholics. In January 1851, when he returned to England he retained a scholar to translate the Book of Mormon into Italian, and the following year he published both Il Libro di Mormon and Restaurazione dell'antico Evangelio (an Italian edition of The Only Way to Be Saved). Snow thereafter encouraged his missionaries to use these publications to proselytize in the largest Italian-speaking cities in the Kingdom of Sardinia: Turin, Nice, and Genoa.

     When Mormon missionaries began proselytizing in Torino they stepped into a large arena that brought Mormonism more publicity than if they had remained in the relative isolation of the Waldensian valleys. The government became aware of the Mormons proselytizing activities-- some missionaries were later expelled from the countryóand Catholics began to comment on their presence. After King Carlo Alberto granted a constitution in 1848 dozens of newspapers began publication in Torino. Religious freedom was one of the subjects frequently debated in these papers. A political newspaper, Il Risorgimento, was founded in December 1847 by two future Prime Ministers, Cesare Balbo (1789-1853) and Camillo Benso di Cavour (1810-1861). As a secular organ Il Risorgimento was a proponent of the unification of Italy and a reduction of the prerogatives of the Catholic Church in Italy. L'Armonia della religione colla civiltý was established in July, 1848 by Giacomo Margotti, a Catholic Priest, and other conservative Catholics. L'Armonia was opposed to the Risorgimento, including the separation of church and state, and it was alarmed by the government's willingness to permit the Waldensian Church to form congregations outside their traditional valleys. La Buona Novella, a Waldensian newspaper began publication in October 1851. It replaced the French language weekly L'Echo delle VallÈes Vaudoises which was published from 1848-1850 in the Waldensian valleys. La Buona Novella was a tool in the arsenal of the Waldensian Church to spread the Reformation in Italy and to oppose other movements, like Mormonism, that were outside the mainstream of Protestantism. These newspapers targeted Mormonism in their battles to gain advantage over their real political and religious opponents.

     In 1852 both L'Armonia and La Buona Novella published articles in which they suggested parallels between Mormonism and Protestantism (in the case of L'Armonia) and Catholics (in the case of La Buona Novella). On January 29, 1852 L'Armonia published an article about Mormonism, with references to runaway judges and polygamy, and suggested that this "new church [like the Protestants] also has the Bible as its foundation, which is the only foundation in the heap of all these sects that swarm from Luther up until our day over a thousand. Truly when Luther took a seduced nun as a wife, when John Leyden proclaimed himself as king of Jerusalem and took fourteen wives, and other similar products of Protestantism they were all born in the Bible, interpreted by their own caprice." La Buona Novella responded on February 20 that if Mormonism is comparable "to any known religious system, it would never be to an evangelical church founded on a completely different basis, but instead to the papal system, in which everything converges (with the exception of polygamy) and which has singular similarity [to Mormonism]." La Buona Novella also compared the "strangeness and immorality" of Mormonism with the Catholic Church's prohibition against reading the Bible.

     When Mormon missionaries arrived in Torino in July 1852 the newspapers continued to use Mormonism to focus their arguments concerning religion and politics in Piedmont. During that month Jabez Woodard and Francis Combe, took lodgings in Torino. The avoided street proselytizingówhich was illegalóbut they did print announcements, which they placed in cafes and on the streets, to publicize that they were "authorized to give all necessary information" concerning their church. The announcement also stated that they would be present "everyday from 7 to 9 in the evening, in via della Chiesa, n. 9 bis, left staircase, at the end of the courtyard, first floor" to explain to the public "information concerning their doctrines and emigration program which they have established to the United States." Although it is unclear whether these missionaries had copies of Il Libro di Mormon, they did distribute copies of Restaurazione dell'antico Evangelio.

     On August 1, 1852, L'Armonia published a supplement with a headline for its lead story that announced "Mormons in Turin." The article discussed, for the first time in an Italian newspaper, the history and contents of the Book of Mormon. It also provided information on Church history and doctrines. It labeled Joseph Smith as "a new Muhammad." This was a common tactic employed during the nineteenth century to malign opponents by comparing them with the vilified prophet of Islam. Since Mormons practiced polygamy this comparison seemed particularly appropriate. L'Armonia also argued that both Mormons and Waldensians were conducting missionary work and publishing religious pamphlets, contrary to the constitution and other laws in Piedmont, and that the government was complacent in allowing the Catholic Church to be undermined. Specifically, the article noted that Carlo Boncompagni (1804-1880), the Minister of Justice, had proposed a bill to legalize civil marriages, which made it attractive for Mormons to come to Piedmont: "For what reason did the Mormons come to Turin? They got word of the Boncompagni lawÖand since it does not prohibit plurality of wives, they believe that our Minister of Justice is a good Mormon. They saw that the wind among us was favorable to their doctrine, and that we would embrace their brethren with open arms, so they sent two of them [to Torino]."

     A week later, L'Armonia's lead article was headlined: "Who is better off in Piedmont? The Catholics or the Mormons?"  The newspaper complained that "unfortunately the Mormons, about whom we wrote last Sunday, are in Turin beginning their mission in the shadow of liberty, under the beneficial influence of the three-colored flag, protected by those great and spastic Catholics who are our state ministers." The article discussed Snow's Restaurazione dell'antico Evangelio and warned readers not to be surprised if the missionaries began publishing a newspaper in Turin or even built a temple, because the government's ministers would allow such activities with a "nod of the head" because of their "agreed upon love of liberty." These Catholic writers were wary because the Waldensians were not only publishing a paper but also building a temple in Torino.

     In the same article L'Armonia also complained about what it characterized as the government's shabby treatment of the Catholic Church while Mormon missionaries were permitted to conduct their activities without fear of legal action. For example it noted that: "The Mormons introduce in Piedmont thousands of copies of a pamphlet by their elder Lorenzo Snow, full of heresies against the Catholic Church. Although the Statuto prohibits the introduction of such materials, the ministry still permits the pamphlets to be distributed. The Catholics wait for La Civiltý Cattolica, a newspaper printed in Rome under the eyes of the Pope, and the ministers stop it at the borders." The article also compared Mormon prerogatives with limitations placed on the Catholics: "Mormons can teach, combat the state religion, and promote apostasies. The Catholics cannot Öfreely profess their faith in public; they cannot even (who would have believed it!) pray to the Virgin Mary. The Mormons come to Torino and are accepted in a brotherly way. [But] various Catholic priests, including the Archbishop of Torino and the Archbishop of Cagliari, have been denied the right to return to their headquarters, to their homeland. The Mormons are in Piedmont, and no one insults them. The Catholic priests are derided in print, insulted, and persecuted on the public streetsÖThus does one live in Piedmont! Thus a liberal ministry treats the Catholic religion that, according to the first article of the Statuto, is the only religion of the state."

     L'Armonia's lobbying against civil marriage bore fruit shortly after the appearance of these articles. Prime Minister Massimo d'Azeglio resigned his office because the King refused to support Boncompagni's civil marriage bill, after Pope Pius IX expressed opposition to it. On November 4 Count Cavour became the Prime Minister, after agreeing not to press the matter, and the bill was defeated in the Senate. On the other hand subsequent proposals to legalize civil marriages continued to upset Catholics in Piedmont. In the ongoing debates Mormonism, and its doctrine of plurality of wives, was mentioned as a reason civil marriages should not be allowed in Piedmont. But L'Armonia's assertion that Mormons were treated better than Catholics in Piedmont was complete hyperbole. Jabez Woodard, one of the two missionaries in Torino, wrote that they were not allowed to preach in public, that he was twice summoned before magistrates, and he was sent to France to renew his passport.

     In 1853 L'Armonia continued to report on Mormonism, including political events in Utah, and suggested that there were parallels between Mormonism and Protestantism. For example, on March 5, 1853 L'Armonia published an article which questioned whether "the Apostle Lorenzo Snow, who works very zealously in the capital, could administer enlightenment to others." Specifically it wanted to know if "the Christians of La Buona Novella, who like the Mormons want nothing but the Bible, feel like them concerning polygamy. The Saints of Utah do not find anything contrary in the Bible and in the revelationsÖIt is natural that since they all have the same rules of faith, that is the Bible, and being all inspired by heaven, the Christians of La Buona Novella, of Utah Lake, and of the Lutheran congress, must have the same feelings. We hope therefore that La Buona Novella will not wait to bring this issue to parliament and the ministers, which is now considering another law concerning matrimonyÖ.Polygamy and divorces are acknowledged by Lutherans as by MormonsÖ" The Catholic newspaper then set forth a challenge: "So tell us if the La Buona Novella is right to give us only one rule of faith, the Bible."

     During the summer of 1853 the Mormon's continued to struggle in their mission to find converts in Torino. In July Thomas Margetts reported: "On my arrival in Turin I found that I was well known. . . . Finding I could not remain there more than a few days, I was compelled to return to the vallies [sic] of the Waldenses." Knowing that Mormons were still finding converts in the Waldensian valleys and making occasional forays into Torino, L'Armonia published an article on September 7, from the New York Journal, which argued that Mormon practices were contrary to the laws of the United States. L'Armonia gleefully concluded: "What? The Mormons incompatible with the principles and essence of the United States?...And they are so compatible with the principles and essence of Piedmont!! And how can they not be compatible with their heresies and schisms with Piedmont, since they are compatible with their sacred Bible, which is the only rule of their faith? What does La Buona Novella say?"

     This time the Waldensian newspaper took the bait. The Waldensians were completing a temple in Torino, which was dedicated in December, and they did not want there to be any ambiguity concerning the differences between their church and Mormonism. On October 28, 1853 La Buona Novella republished an article which first appeared in a Paris newspaper concerning Mormon missionaries. It noted that: "This account does not speak of Mormon missionaries that are in Italy: and we know that there are some in Piedmont, and that they recruit persons in order to take them to America. We love religious liberty for all; but if it is true that the Mormons teach immorality and polygamy, we do not believe that they have a right to be tolerated."

     In 1854 Mormon missionaries, supplied with copies of Il Libro di Mormon and Restaurazione dell'antico Evangelio, continued their efforts to find converts in Torino and other cities in the Kingdom of Sardinia. In March Stenhouse reported that because of "the many difficulties and much suffering attending open circulation of our publications in Italy, I have been led to change tactics, and have sent two young Geneva Elders to Turin and Nice, to labor at their occupations, and to seek out opportunities of distributing the printed word, and of doing as much more as circumstances and the Spirit of the Lord may direct." The missionary's activities again attracted the attention of L'Armonia which reported on August 16 that "We have on other occasions spoken about the sect, which calls itself Mormons, when a certain Lorenzo Snow, a self styled minister of the gospel, came from the United States of America, and attempted to transplant that sect in our country. For some time they have swarmed in Piedmont and there are so many diverse sects and heretics that each one makes us forget about the other. We must recognize that the liberal exchange inaugurated by our ministers, which also favors the exotic goods of Protestantism, has acquired new momentum. It is impossible to hold back all of the progress that this new commerce is achieving."

     Mormon activity also attracted the attention of Joseph Malan, a Waldensian who resided in Torino and was a Member of Parliament (House of Deputies). While Malan was aware that Mormon missionaries were occasionally in Torino he was probably more concerned about their successes in the Waldensian valleys. On August 29 he wrote a letter to the Waldensian Moderator, Jean Pierre Revel, in which he inquired whether Mormon missionaries were attempting to "seduce the people" and whether "it should not be difficult Öto drive them out immediately." On September 18 he was still anxious about the activities of Mormon missionaries and wondered whether he should "apply the principle of freedom of conscience" or take a position that does not "completely approve the decision to expel them [from the valleys], a role that I would personally prefer, rather thanÖadopt coercive measures." Malan was conflicted because even the Waldensians were technically prohibited from proselytizing, although this prohibition was balanced against Cavour's notion of "public order." The Prime Minister had proclaimed that there would be "a free church in a free state," and that the state had the right to dismantle many of the prerogatives of the Catholic Church, but he also believed that "the King's government cannot tolerate proselytism or public acts in locations where they could produce popular tumult and disorder." Malan was also anxious because the Mormon's Perpetual Emigrating Fund provided incentives for the converts to emigrate from Italy. From January 1854 through November 1855 three groups of Mormon converts, consisting of approximately seventy persons, left the Waldensian valleys bound for Utah. And the Mormons were anxious to find additional candidates for emigration. In December 1855 Mayor Antoine Blanc, of Torre Pellice, (the town where Malan had relatives) noted that Samuel Francis (1834-1906) of the "sect of Mormons" was present in the community to encourage individuals and families to go with him to Malta Island where they would unite with others to emigrate to America.

     Meanwhile Mormon missionaries were still attempting to compete with Waldensians and other Protestants in Torino. While they concentrated their activities throughout 1855 in the Waldensian valleys they planned to try again in 1856 to expand their mission to Torino. In June 1856 Samuel Francis reported that he was determined to establish "a Turin Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, before the close of 1856." In order to prepare for this expansion Samuel Francis and his colleague Jean Jacques Ruban, exchanged language lessons with Esther Weisbrodt "mixed with a little Mormonism." Weisbrodt, had been a teacher in the Waldensian school in Torino until September 1854 when she was terminated from her position. While she was in Torino she became acquainted with a Waldensian pastor named Luigi Desanctis (1808-1869) who left the Waldensian ministry, the same month as her termination, because of a disagreement with church leadership. After her termination Weisbrodt moved to the Waldensian valleys where she lived for a time with Antoine Blanc, the mayor of Torre Pellice, who had previously complained about the activities of Samuel Francis. She eventually obtained a new teaching position in Prarostino where she met Francis in 1856.

     When Francis arrived in Torino in July he attended Protestant services and distributed tracts (Restaurazione dell'antico Evangelio) to people as they emerge from the chapel. During the same month, Weisbrodt was terminated from her teaching position in Prarostino (because of her association with the Mormon missionaries) and she came to Torino, with Ruban, to be interviewed and baptized. After her baptism she encouraged Francis to contact Luigi Desanctis, the former Waldensian pastor she had known in Torino almost two years earlier. Desanctis had become a pastor in the Societý Evangelica (Italian Free Church) which he helped organize after seceding from the Waldensian Church. Francis attended two sermons given by Desanctis on the subject of Mormonism at the Italian Free Church. Desanctis warned his congregation that "this sect [of Mormonism], an embarrassment to the society that supports it," had begun to spread even in Italy. "For around six years a few Mormon missionaries have spread their poison in a few towns in PiedmontÖBut not being content to seduce simple mountain people, they have dared to come down to the plain [of Torino] to spread their impiety under the veil of religion." Like L'Armonia he compared Mormonism to Islam and attacked the practice of plural marriage, noting that it "is not just tolerated, not just permitted, it is not a privilege that may or may not be exercised, it is a requirement." He then asked: "Why have these menÖbeen able to find converts in Italy, and pull families to their land in Salt Lake? The response is not easy. They are not from a church that teaches, in fact they have avoided all discussion, they are directed to poor farmers, lovers of the miraculous, who are easily led to believe in their miraculous pretenses that support the prophecies that exist in their sect, they describe their land as a terrestrial paradise, they have promised these poor farm families, that suffer in misery, to take them to their colony, where in a short time they will become rich landowners ÖIn Italy about a hundred of these poor people, seduced by the promise of rapidly obtaining a fortune, have left for Salt Lake." He predicted, however, that "God will always liberate us even as he has from the cholera and the potato rot."

     After the sermon Francis distributed Mormon pamphlets to the congregation as they left the church. Desanctis went to Francis' room and confronted him. He challenged him to a debate in Italian. Francis refused the challenge but he did agree to debate Desanctis in French on any subject except polygamy. Although there was apparently no debate the discussion between Francis and Desanctis caught the attention of Torino's newspapers. Il Risorgimento reported that Mormons and Protestants held a conference in Torino to attempt to reconcile the laws of Piedmont with Mormon polygamy. La Buona Novella quickly denied that any such conference had taken place, warned against "false Mormon doctrines," and characterized polygamy as "anti Christian" and inconsistent with the laws of Piedmont. L'Armonia also joined the fray. It criticized Protestants for supporting civil marriage and asserted that La Buona Novella was active in spreading not only Protestant propaganda but also Mormon propaganda." It wrote that: "Those who propose civil marriage in Piedmont cannot shut the door on Mormonism."

     Shortly after his confrontation with Desanctis, Samuel Francis was summoned to appear before a Torino magistrate. Apparently both Francis and Ruban had been competing for the attention of Weisbrodt and had even complained about each other to the mission office. Ruban left for Switzerland the same day Francis received his summons. Weisbrodt's father, who was a resident of Torino, had sworn out a complaint against Francis because he was concerned that the Mormon missionary would take his daughter out of the country. Francis was acquitted and in December he retreated to the Waldensian valleys. Although he briefly returned to Torino (in company with Weisbrodt) he left for Geneva in February 1857. In May he invited Weisbrodt to join him in Geneva and in July they were married by the English consul Armed Pictet. Francis and his new wife remained in Geneva--they returned to Torino and the valleys in Decemberóbefore Francis took his new wife, and their newborn son, to England, where they resided in Birmingham, before immigrating to Utah in 1861. Francis and Weisbrodt eventually settled in Morgan, Utah.

     The Utah War reignited bad publicity for the Mormons in the Torino press. During 1857-8 L'Armonia published a series of articles about the conflict and Mormon polygamy; and warned that such calamities were the consequences of religious liberty. It initially used Mormonism to criticize the opponents of Catholicism. One article noted that the Utah War was a "war of religion" just as the Catholics waged religious wars against the Albigenses, Huguenots, and other heretics, but that the sects who have marched against the Mormons castigated the Catholics for similar acts. But, most of the articles were adapted from British and American press accounts of the conflict and did not draw parallels to political developments in Piedmont. During this same period Margotti, the general editor of L'Armonia, published a book entitled Roma e Londra in which he criticized the Mormons. He noted that the London Times had opined that "the Mormons gather more women in England than in America." He also compared the Mormons with other Protestants as an example of what happens to religions outside of Catholicism.

     The newspaper wars in Torino brought the Mormons to the attention of the Vatican by the end of the decade. La Civiltý Cattolica, a journal published by the Society of Jesus, which supported Pope Pius IX and opposed the Risorgimento, commenced publication in 1850. In 1859 the Catholic newspaper published an article, based on information supplied by L'Armonia, which criticized Mormon polygamy, and noted that both divorce and polygamy were the natural consequences of domestic liberty. The next year, Cardinal Carl Von Reisach, a German prelate who had a close relationship with Pope Pius IX, delivered a speech before the Accademia di Religione Cattolica, entitled "Mormonism and its relationship with modern Protestantism." Like L'Armonia he compared the Mormons to Protestants but, like La Buona Novella, he also compared them to the Catholic Church. For example, Cardinal Reisach noted that Mormonism "mixes and unifies the church with the stateÖand [in] this horrifying and iniquitous, religious, social, and political system, I ask myself, can one find a confirmation of Catholic truth. Without doubtÖisn't it a Catholic principle that the church must not be separated from the state;Öthese principles are recognized in substance by the Mormons." Similarly the Cardinal wrote that Mormons "resort to primitive revelation, through their inspired, infallible prophetÖ[N]o one can deny, that in thisÖthere comes a testimony concerning the truth of Catholic principlesÖMormonism recognizesÖit must teach with infallibility."

     The newspaper wars in Torino occurred during the most critical period of the Risorgimento. The government was intent on reducing the temporal power of the church and separating church and state. But in addition to reducing the prerogatives of the Catholic Church it allowed the Waldensians to build schools and temples outside their valleys which some Catholics believed was in conflict with the Statuto's designation of the Catholic Church as the only state church and with legal prohibitions against proselytizing by non Catholics. The Mormons were perfect foils for the Catholic press as examples of what religious groups would emerge if church and state were separated and religious liberty, including the right to proselytize, was granted. To the Catholic writers all non Catholics were the same and the Mormons, polygamy and all, were like the Waldensians, nothing more than Protestants. L'Armonia therefore argued that if civil marriage was recognized that polygamy would eventually appear as it had in the United States; that if the sects were allowed to proselytize in Torino that Mormons would soon follow with newspapers and temples; and that any religion that believed only in the Bible would adopt bizarre doctrines like the Mormons. Cardinal Reisach went one step farther when he concluded that Mormonism was a counterfeit form of the Catholic Church.

     While the Protestants agreed with Cardinal Reisach that Mormonism believed many of the same things as Catholics, including a hierarchical structure, an infallible leader, and a belief that church and state should not be separated, they aggressively rejected the Catholic claim that the Mormon practice of plural marriage was consistent with the teachings of Luther and other Protestants, and they scrambled to distance themselves from the Mormons because of it. The Mormons were not welcome into the Protestant family because of their unorthodox doctrines, including their practice of polygamy, their belief in continuing revelation, and their teachings of an imminent millennium. They also resented the Mormons attempts to pick out converts from their already small congregations, which they encouraged to leave Italy for Utah USA. They felt particularly victimized after more than seventy converts left Piedmont for Utah.