ITALY AND THE BAHÁ’Í CAUSE
BY GENERAL RENATO PIOLA CASELLI
WHILE dark clouds, harbingers of storms and suffering, grow ever denser over all the civilized world, in the hearts of the sincere grow ever stronger the indestructible seeds of truth, of peace and of love. With such faith and such vision before him, a friend long interested and attracted to the Bahá’í ideals, begs to be permitted in these troublous times to express his joyous thoughts which reflect the sentiments and hopes of many Italians who fervently desire to see the brilliant light of Truth illumine our “old mother” earth and cause to appear the glorious realization of universal peace and brotherhood.
The writer begs indulgence if, when speaking of universal subjects in which no personality, nor nation, nor politics nor army should really appear, he nevertheless must make allusion to these things. Having been engaged all of his life in the training of men, he does this more as a “shepherd of a flock” might do, in hope of persuading his friends and brothers to turn spontaneously to the illumined Path of the Great Revelation wherein, without sacrificing in the least their honest sentiments, they may be quickened by the light of truth, which, with pure faith in God, they have awaited so many years.
Men of science too, will find in the Bahá’í Revelation the ideals of progress realized, for its Principles maintain and prove that there is no contradiction between religion and science: “They are two wings by which the human intellect can fly to the apex of the Spirit and the human soul is enabled to progress,” said ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
Enter today into our churches teeming with worshipers, and look around, then ask yourself how many among this mass of people who pray before the altars are truly believers, fervent ones in the pure Catholic faith. You will be bitterly disillusioned and you will frankly agree that not a half, nor even a third of them possess a true sense of religion nor know how to turn themselves to God, and then you will feel a great desire to call them to you in order that you may direct them in a prayer less encumbered with form; a simple, direct and heartfelt appeal free from all the ceremonials and superstructures which have rendered so complex the religious rites, and have diverted them from the straight path of truth, of unity, of faith proclaimed by God through the mouths of His holy Prophets. Truly in Italy the established form of religion,1 too rich in externalities, has become complicated and obscure. After the austere and magnificent simplicity of the first classic churches where but one altar existed, numerous altars and minor centers have appeared, contrasting sharply with the simplicity and oneness of the primitive faith. Such structures do not express a true evolution of the rites for they have led to prejudice and fanaticism.
That which occurs in Italy occurs in all the world. In the words of an old friend and earnest seeker after truth: “Religion throughout the world has become a mere form. The churches read the Word, but the world has lost the Spirit. How far have we departed from the simple truth of Jesus and His disciples!”
I believe that today the majority of thinking Italians aspire to truth and to unity of religious faith as they have in the past aspired to and attained political unity. They seek a light which will indicate the way, confirm them in faith, dispel all doubt and ignorance and permit the liberated soul to turn to God “in spirit and in truth.”
We friends of the Bahá’í Cause have
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1“Know that in every cycle and in every religious Dispensation all the Divine ordinances change and transform in accordance with the needs of the times excepting the law of Love which, like unto a stream, flows forever, and is never changed.”—Bahá’u’lláh.
General Renato Piola Caselli, Commanding the IX Corps of the Italian Army with Headquarters at Bari.
(Though coming from a long line of distinguished military men of noble family, General Piola Caselli is a profound sympathizer with the Bahá’í ideals and a devoted lover of the reality of religion. He received high commendation from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.)
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strongly
sensed these aspirations and through
our consciousness of this Revelation have
overcome many doubts, perceived the great
path, and gained true happiness. “Blessed is
he who penetrates the mystery and finds his
place in the world of the illumined ones.”
To this happiness we desire to bring our
brothers.
Undoubtedly Italy both by nature and history holds in itself the best elements for comprehending and penetrating the verities of the “New Era.”1 The true religion of Jesus Christ, with its essential ideals of unity was felt in Italy from the earliest Christian times, but the Catholic religion, in its successive forms and in the temporal aspirations of the Popes has divided, in the course of ages, that unity, that harmony of thought and of desire in the religious and moral field which was one of the most remarkable characteristics of the Christian Middle Ages. But the sentiment of unity inherited from Rome, together with the sense of universality, is still deeply rooted in the Italian heart, especially among the country people in whom the Latin blood remains purest. These people feel strongly the ties of family and of attachment to the soil which, unless stained with an egotism menacing to its existence, constitutes, to my mind, a basis for a step toward universal love. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has said: “In order that love may manifest its power there must be an object, an instrument, a motive. Many ways exist to express the love principles; so there is love for family—” Naturally when this love turns into egotism it ceases to be perfect. “The perfect love needs an unselfish instrument. Love must be free from boundaries.”
Centuries of foreign rule and the interference of religion with politics have caused a set-back in the religious sentiment of Italy. In those centuries of oppression education was neglected, while prejudices waxed unrestrained.2
With the political independence of Italy there commenced a period of national re-education to which the army contributed a
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1Bahá’u’lláh e La Nuova Era, Esslemont. Italian translation T.C.B. and H. E. H.
2‘Abdu’l-Bahá has said that if man lacks education he becomes bestial when allowed to live according to the laws of nature; without education, he falls into a state lower than the animals.
great share, for the army was the real military, intellectual and moral school of the nation.
Religious education languished also as a result of the differences between church and state; but today Italy, purified by the War, drawn together and governed by a strong and united power, has initiated a period of great spiritual, educational and scientific progress. The agreement between the State and the Holy See has bound together religion and the Fatherland in the bonds of faith and love. In such a situation the spiritual values of Italy begin to blossom anew, they offer a new field for hope, for such values contain, as I have mentioned before, the fundamental elements for progress toward spiritual unity, which is the leading principle of faith and universal brotherhood.
Modern education makes the Italians better able to understand the meaning of true religion, for it abolishes prejudices and stimulates aspiration towards the supreme ideals of faith. The spirit of the new age in Italy has revealed new horizons and has brought with it the consciousness that one does not live for himself alone, nor for his own work, nor his own joy or grief, but that his interests are inseparably allied to those of all his brothers. This truly Latin renaissance is being stimulated and directed by our government.
The Italian government today is united and strong, for there is no unity without strength, and with this strength Italy maintains her internal discipline and her recently regained national integrity. Educated, disciplined, sure of her independence, Italy (without the spirit of political supremacy) will soon be able to make the world feel the guiding principles which her government has deeply rooted in the hearts of her people; that is, the principles of love, of peace and of brotherhood for all nations.
I write as an Italian now in the decline of
life, who during his long years of service
has witnessed the political and spiritual
resurrection of his native land once subject to
foreign power, and I write too, as an old
soldier who has for forty years labored in
the education of the Italians in discipline
and justice and the love of the great Italian
family. I know my people. I have stood
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beside
them and suffered with them during
the fearful struggles and horrors of war;
but our efforts have won for us our
independence and with this independence has
come the resurrection of spiritual values
and the purifying effect which is begotten
by sacrifice. We are not yet Bahá’í because
so recently re-born, and surrounded as we
are by armed peoples, there must needs be
restrictions in our Faith. The desire for peace
and tranquillity for which we fought is still
iimited to the confines of our own country;
but great were our sacrifices for these ideals
and blessed are those who lay down their
lives for their country! Christ does not
condemn communities which in justice arise to
defend their human rights. However, if
death for the defense of one’s country is
glorified by men, love and sacrifice for
humanity is glorified by God and excels all
other sacrifice. The sacrifice of the soldier
is a step toward the greater sacrifice: if all
the world becomes one nation, then he who
was yesterday a sincere soldier of his
country, will be tomorrow a beloved guardian
of universal peace.
Italy is greatly blest to be under the protection of a royal dynasty1</sup which is known and loved for its profound religious and moral principles. Mussolini, who governs the affairs of State, is an outstanding figure because of his great intellectual and moral energy and his devotion to his work. He is indefatigable in his efforts for unity and discipline, and for the moral and material welfare of the Italian people, and his eye is ever fixed upon the highest ideals of humanity for unity and universal peace. Through his faith and his accomplishments the territorial unity attained by the renaissance has become the national and spiritual unity of the Italian people who are entering upon a period of a new expression of their historic mission as exponents of universal valor.
The Fascist State has given manifest proofs that Italian national unity does include
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1“Although republican form of government profit all the people of the world, yet the majesty of kingship is one of the sign of God. We do not wish that the countries of the deprived thereof. If statesmen combine the two into one form their reward will be great before God.”—Bahá’u’lláh: “Glad-Tidings.”
the universal idea; a fact which all the world is observing and studying with lively interest. Mussolini, whose honesty is beyond question, expressed the Italian spirit of peace in his message to the American people when he said:
“The modern history of humanity cannot be conceived without the aid of a great nation like the United States; without it the Great War could not have been brought to an end, without it prosperous times cannot return. Neither I nor my people want to prepare for war. Italy will never take the initiative in war. The American people must believe in our sincere desire to live in peace with all the nations of the world.”
The same spirit is expressed by his Ministers:
“The time has come for all the nations to consider themselves not as potential enemies but as united in one common purpose for peace. This is the policy which Italy is pursuing and for which all possible agreements have been started by the national government.
“The Italian nation has its independent, irrefutable and precious mission; that of equilibrium and conciliation among the nations, races and contrasting ideas appearing in the thousand years of our glorious political history, which is developing along the lines and according to the design of a vaster future outlook.
“There was a time in which Italy, her eye turned only upon herself, on the eve of her tremendous national struggle regarded her liberty and her rights as a ‘sacred egoism.’ Today this formula no longer satisfies our searching spirit. Our breathing has grown deeper, our horizons vaster. Our eyes seek to look farther ahead. The greatness of a nation is measured by the vastness of the interests to be defended, and also by the importance and the nobility of the duties involved. The consciousness of a mission to fulfill uplifts peoples and men above a grey mediocrity. This moral, ideal and therefore universal law constitutes the rule and the goal of Fascist Italy.”
The Italian of tomorrow, as Mussolini
desires him to be, is the exact antithesis of
the Italian of yesterday, sick with every
form of scepticism and weakened by
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kinds
of demagogy. With these principles
and objectives which we find expressed in the
“New Era”1 we friends of the Bahá’í Cause
have the best guide for overcoming, as Mussolini says,
“The small and sometimes ignoble everyday
vicissitudes and to advance confidently toward the future.”
The “New Era” marks the positive path of true civilization for the people, and in my opinion the Italians today are advancing toward this path as they gradually become modernized along educational, political and economic lines, in the first instance toward peace, and in the second, toward harmony and agreement between capital and labor through a cooperative state—this being wholly an Italian creation—which brings a happy solution to the economic and social problems for the present generation. Without such a solution the world will never attain to peace.”
It is my earnest desire that my sincere statements on Italy and her government, and the pure motive which impels me to utter them, be understood in their true sense. They are not meant to exalt the army, nor the government, nor the country. They are uttered with a warm, deep and sincere faith that the Italians, in the atmosphere which they are creating, and with the government which is leading them, will understand the Bahá’í Revelation and cultivate one day, with happy hearts, its fruitful principles.
A period of preparation and gradual progress such as is observed today in the Italian friends of the Bahá’í Cause will be necessary. These Italian friends are already perceiving with great joy during these troublous times, the first rays of the New Age, lights which reveal, through the semi-obscurity of the present, the path to the Great Way of Truth, Unity and Love leading to one Center.
And now, my companions and friends in Bahá, I have opened my glad and trusting heart to you, and I long to hear your joyous response, for joy is greatest when it is
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1“Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era,” J. E. Esslemont, Italian translation.
2We shall never arrive at the solution of the economic problem so long as capital is ready to fight with labor or labor to fight with capital.” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Address in America, 1912.)
shared. I have desired to convince you that our first early services to the Cause in Italy will gradually show fruitful results, for (as I have said before) rich is our soil, great is our longing for truth, and beneficial is the rain which is falling upon the tender plants. We do not wish to cultivate a new religion, but to renew the ancient one with the rich seed of the Bahá’í Revelation.
May my modest words be as an echo to the words which the Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, addressed to the Italian Bahá’ís in 1922:
“To the friends in Italy, Dear co-workers in His Holy Vineyard:
I have learned with deep gratitude and pleasure the glad-tidings of your spiritual activities in a country hitherto unknown to the Bahá’í world but rapidly awakening to the Light of the Bahá’í Revelation.
Italy, so ancient in its history, so brilliant in its religious traditions, so renowned in its past achievements, will I trust acquire in this present age, through your labors of love and service, the great gift of the knowledge of God—a gift that will crown all its glories and triumphs of the past.
In my prayers at the Holy Shrines, I shall not fail to supplicate for your rising community the grace and protection of the Lord that you may be enabled to raise the call of God in that land and infuse the glorious spirit of Bahá’u’lláh in the lives of the people.
I shall welcome with intense joy and satisfaction the full report of your activities, the account of your meetings, the story of the rise and development of various Bahá’í centers around you, and your various experiences in your work of service to His Sacred Threshold.
- Awaiting your joyful news,
- I am your brother and co-worker,
Haifa, Palestine Dec. 21st, 1922.
Ten years have passed. The tempest of the war has stimulated our faith. In these ten years the Italians have built up a strong and loyal state under the guidance of which, through education, our spiritual forces are
Baha’is of Tahiti.
Bahá’ís of Sofia, Bulgaria.
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developing.
Thus little by little the clouds
which obscure the truth are being dispelled.
The new troubles which are arising in the
world do not intimidate us, they unite us
and make us feel doubly the need of that
faith which emanates from God.
O friends in Bahá! Let us unite in thought under the great dome of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, the “Temple of Light,” symbol of unity and universal faith, the fairest oasis after our labors and our hopes and prayers. Let us unite with all the believers in the world in glorifying God Who makes us all brothers in one faith, for the good of all:
“In the Name of God the Victor of the Most Victorious proclaim: God will assist all those who arise to serve Him. No one is able to deprive Him of his Majesty, His Dominion or His Sovereignty, for in the heavens and in the earth and in all the Realms of God, He is the Victorious and the Conqueror.”
Bari, Italy. August 31st, 1931.
(Translated from the Italian by the International Bahá’í Bureau at Geneva, Switzerland, in collaboration with N. S. F.)
