Heritage Column for June 16, 2005
By Fred Anderson
FLORENCE, Italy – Last week this column told about Jeremiah Bell Jeter's work in behalf of the Baptist cause in Italy. In 1872 the Virginia Baptist leader had been appointed by the Southern Baptist Convention's Foreign Mission Board to oversee the struggling Italian mission. When he returned home, he rejoiced that yet another Virginia Baptist was going to serve in Italy.
In 1873 the Foreign Mission Board appointed George Boardman Taylor, pastor of First Baptist Church of Staunton, as missionary to Italy. His father, James B. Taylor, was the guiding force behind the FMB, serving until his death in 1871 as the chief executive officer of the missionary-sending agency.
J.C. Long, president of the FMB in 1873, realized the magnitude of the appointment and the loss to Virginia Baptists.
“It is with feelings of mingled regret and pleasure that your Board thinks of his transfer to the foreign field,” he said. “The eyes of Virginia Baptists were more and more turned to him as one of our wisest counsellors and most prudent leaders. [The General Association] will miss his presence. On the other hand, it is a great work to which he is called in Rome-a work worthy of the care and labor of an apostle.
“And if he shall be permitted to lay the foundation of a pure, New Testament Christianity for Italy, he may regard himself as greatly honored of his Master, as he will be of his brethren, and all true friends of Christ in the coming ages.”
George Boardman Taylor did lay the foundation and today he is still revered by Italian Baptists. In November 2003 when a delegation of Italian Baptists visited the General Association to launch the current missions partnership, the Italians visited the Virginia Baptist Historical Society's headquarters. The first portrait which they saw upon entering the building was that of Taylor, which was painted long ago in Italy. The visitors wanted their photographs taken with the portrait of this Baptist apostle.
In the summer of 1870 Taylor first saw Italy as a tourist. He later reflected that he “had no more idea of spending a quarter of a century in Italy than of a flight to the moon.” (A century later such an outlandish thing as “a flight to the moon” did happen!) Another twist of fate occurred in 1872 when Taylor helped raise the $5,000 which Virginia Baptists were giving to build a chapel in Rome, unsuspecting that he would go and build that chapel.
Susan Braxton Taylor at first objected to her husband uprooting their family of four children whose ages ranged from 6 to 16 for missions work in faraway Italy, but she soon shared in her husband's calling. The long sea journey made all the Taylors deathly ill. They spent months in London where they learned Italian.
Upon entering Italy for the first time, George Boardman Taylor spoke aloud the 100th Psalm with its acknowledgement that God's love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations. Taylor found property expensive in Rome, but he finally found a suitable house which could be purchased for $25,000 and renovated into a Baptist meeting house. He met opposition from Catholics, and when the Baptist chapel opened, the Vatican newspaper referred to it as “an infernal hall.”
About 11 years into the work, Susan Taylor suddenly died. She was hailed as “a martyr for Italy” and was buried in the cemetery for Protestants. George Boardman Taylor continued the missions work; and by 1900 he reported 24 churches and 624 baptized believers. He commented: “My own relationship to [the Italian mission] must soon-very soon-come to a close but despite personal infirmities and conscious shortcomings, when I look upon the past and forward into the future, I thank God and take courage.” He died in 1907 and was buried beside his wife near the ancient city walls.
Today the Italian Baptist Union faithfully maintains the gravesite of the Taylors. On my visit to Rome, I had a choice to make. I had time either to visit the graves of the dead missionaries and pay my respects to their memory or to go to a place where surely their spirit yet lives and find some inspiration. I chose the latter and spent my day at the George B. Taylor Institute on the outskirts of the city. Started as an orphanage in 1923, the Institute has moved into a variety of social ministries. Today it is primarily a home for the aged. I interviewed the director, Garbriela Lio, who was among the Italian delegation that visited Virginia in 2003, and I met most of the 32 residents, including one woman whose mother and grandmother had been baptized by Taylor.
I came away from the Institute inspired by the love and compassion which Garbriela and the staff have for the residents. I saw the furnishings provided by Virginia Woman's Missionary Union and sensed that the same love and support which sent Susan and George B. Taylor so long ago can still work wonders today. It is amazing that the relationship between Virginia and Italy developed over 130 years ago has been reborn in our time through a missions partnership. Together, Virginians and Italians can be Baptist apostles to one another.
Fred Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies. He may be reached at P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173. Anderson currently is on sabbatic in Europe.