Francisco Penzotti was born in Italy in 1851, and emigrated with family to Uruguay when he was 13 years of age. He became a carpenter and at age 19 married a Spanish immigrant named Josefa Joaquina Segastibelza. When they wed, the local Catholic priest insisted on a large fee in gold to perform the ceremony. They scrounged up the money, but soured on the church because of it.
Soon after they wed, the couple was on their way to a dance when a Bible distributor from the American Bible Society offered Francisco a copy of the Gospel of John and invited him to a Methodist meeting. Though the Roman Catholic Church issued strong warnings against attendance at such meetings, Francisco and Josefa went and were eventually led to Christ. He later said that the thing which impressed him most about these meetings was their eagerness to study the Scripture.
After conversion, the persecution began. Arsonists burned down Francisco’s carpentry shop. He took this as a sign from God to go full-time into Bible distribution and received backing from the American Bible Society. He traveled around South America visiting Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Chile, and Peru establishing mission posts and distributing the Scriptures. He ended up settling in the Peruvian seaport city of Callao where he found the fields ‘ripe for harvest’ and his little church grew wildly.
At the late 1880s, Article IV of the Peruvian constitution forbade the public exercise of non-Catholic religious observances. Bible sales were legal, but discouraged and, as a result, most Peruvians were ignorant of the teachings of Scripture. Penzotti sold Bibles and held private meetings to expound the Word of God. His meeting houses overflowed and he had to rent larger and larger meeting places – raising the ire of local Catholic priests. At times, objects were thrown into his meetings and even the occasional rifle shot to intimidate the congregants.
On July 26th, 1890, Peruvian officials arrested Francisco Penzotti while he was eating breakfast for violating Article IV of the Peruvian constitution. He was forcibly marched to prison at bayonet point. He was housed in a filthy prison with hardened convicts and his health was nearly broken. However, he won a number of his fellow inmates to Christ. The church, with well-trained leaders, prospered even more in Francisco’s absence.
The President of Peru intervened, and ordered Francisco’s release after about 8 months of confinement. Persecution continued, however, with “Death to the Protestants” vandalizing the church doors and continued harassment. He was jailed again.
This time, a picture of him behind bars was smuggled out of Peru and published in American and Italian papers, along with his story. Francisco’s story caused public outrage in Italy, the United States, and Great Britain. The American Secretary of State himself intervened with the government of Peru, demanding assurances that the safety of Protestant missionaries could be guaranteed. This international pressure helped ease the persecution suffered by Peruvian Christians, as well as across South and Latin America.
Francisco Penzotti, the Italian-born man, is seen as the man who opened the door for Protestant missions in Peru, as well as much of South America.
Christian History e-mail 26 Jul 2021.
https://www.bu.edu/missiology/2020/02/28/penzotti-francisco-g-1851-1925/
https://www.umc.org/en/content/penzotti-francisco
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