We do not know what Calvin did or said at Aosta. The only fact which appears proved—and a monument more than three centuries old attests it—is that his presence did not remain unknown, and caused a sensation there more or less lively. The reformer would have run great danger had he been arrested in the city of Bishop Gazzini, 'who by his vehement discourses was arming all his flock against the heretics, and who, seeing Satan incarnate in the evangelical teachers, called upon them to expel the ravenous beast.' Such are the expressions made use of by the historian of the diocese.[833] Calvin, already a fugitive, hastened to leave the neighborhood of the city. To these simple and natural facts some extraordinary circumstances have been added. For instance, certain writers have represented the Count of Challans in fierce pursuit of Calvin, and following him with drawn sword into the very heart of the mountains. This is a legend tacked on to history, as happens far too frequently.
It was natural that Calvin, under the circumstances in which he was placed, should not take the ordinary road, as it was certain he would be looked for there, and he might easily have been overtaken. It would appear, if we follow the traces his passage has left round Aosta, that he sought to escape from the enemies of the Reformation. When we leave 'Calvin's Farm,' and turn to the right, we come to a bridge near Roisan, below the village of Closelina. This is called in the neighborhood 'Calvin's Bridge.' Calvin crossed it, and thus followed a more difficult and less frequented road than the St. Bernard. If we climb the mountain in the direction of the valley of La Valpeline, we arrive at a col inclosed by Mont Balme, Mont Combin, and Mont Vélan: this is the 'pass of the window,' afterwards named 'Calvin's Window,' and by it the reformer entered Switzerland again.[834]
As we have said, Calvin's passage had made a deep impression in Aosta. The inhabitants of that most catholic city looked upon their opposition to the reformer, and the flight to which they compelled him to have recourse, as a glory to their city calculated to bring upon them the admiration of the friends of the papacy. Consequently, five years after these events, on the 14th May, 1541, the Aostans erected a stone cross in the middle of their city in memory of the act. As this primitive monument had become decayed, it was replaced two centuries later (1741) by a column eight feet high, which Senebier mentions, and on which there was this inscription:[835]
'Hanc Calvini fuga erexit anno MDXLI.
Religionis constantia reparavit MDCCXLI.'
Finally, a hundred years later, this was succeeded by the monument, which every traveller can now see as he passes through Aosta, and which we have examined more than once ourselves.[836] There are thus three centuries and three successive monuments. Calvin's passage through the city of Aosta is, therefore, among the number of historic facts commemorated on the very spot where they occurred, in the most peremptory manner.
=CALVIN RETURNS TO FRANCE.=
Calvin passed through Switzerland, halted at Basle, and thence proceeded to Strasburg. He determined to choose one of these two cities, in which to pass that studious and peaceful life he desired so much, either in the society of Cop, Gryneus, and Myconius, or of Bucer, Capito, and Hedio. But he desired first to return to Noyon, where he had some business to arrange. Leaving Du Tillet at Strasburg, he started for France, which he could do without imprudence; for he had not left his country under the weight of any judicial sentence which he had evaded. Moreover the government just then was less severe.
The arrival of the young doctor was no sooner known in Paris than many friends of the Gospel hastened to his inn. They were never tired of listening to him. 'There is not in all France,' they told him, 'a man who inspires us with so much admiration as you do.'[837]
But Calvin was eager to reach Noyon, where a severe disappointment awaited him: his brother Charles, the chaplain, was no more.[838] The circumstances of his death filled Calvin with sorrow and with joy. 'Charles openly confessed Jesus Christ on his dying bed,' his surviving brother, Anthony, and his sister Mary told John, 'and desired no other absolution than that obtained from God by faith. Accordingly, the exasperated priests had him buried by night, between the four pillars of the gallows.'
Calvin invited Anthony and Mary to leave a country in which believers were covered with infamy.