Protestant Persecution
From Victims to RescuersLe Chambon-sur-Lignon is a village on the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon, nestled in the western foothills of the French Alps. Its environs had been a place of refuge for French Protestants escaping Catholic persecution since before the Edict of Nantes was signed in 1598. This decree granted the Calvinist Protestants of France (also known as Huguenots) significant rights for the first time.
In the mid-17th century their lives became tenuous once more when King Louis XIV embarked on a plan to kill or convert all French Protestants to Catholicism. This period of intolerance culminated in the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, again stripping Protestants of their rights.
The geographic isolation and inaccessibility of the Plateau made it an ideal refuge for Huguenots to hide and congregate. The mountains around Le Chambon became one of the places in le Désert (the Desert), the term used for the period and places of worship when Protestantism was forbidden from 1685 to 1787.
Following their own long history of persecution, the faithful Protestants of this mountainous region chose to protect the Jews, their fellow “people of God,” with inspiration and leadership from Pastors André Trocmé and Édouard Theis.
Protestant Persecution
The destruction of the Protestant church of Charenton in Paris.
Protestant Worship Assembly
A Protestant worship assembly during le Desert that was taken by surprise by the dragoons, the officers of King Louis XIV.
The Edict of Nantes
Signed in 1598 by King Henry IV, the Edict of Nantes granted French Huguenots a large measure of religious liberty.