From "The Apostle of Madeira: Dr. Robert Reid Kalley", Journal of Presybterian History, Michael Presbyter Testa, 1964.

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On Sunday, August 9th, at mid-day, the Mass to Our Lady of the Mount had ended in the cathedral. A rocket rose hissing into the air, the signal that was to mark what has been exaggeratedly called "the Madeirense Saint Bartholomew's Day." The violence that broke upon the island was frightful and devasting. Brutality and the torch were called for in a crusade to exterminate heresy.

The menacing crescendo of anti-Protestantism during the preceding week could only result in unbridled outrage. Beginning August 2nd, fierce threats and injury were directed against the "Calvinists." At length, a series of attacks was commenced upon the houses and cultivated fields of Portuguese Protestants. "Every night," wrote Capt. J. Roddam Tate, "we heard of some new instances of violence and cruelty, till at last they felt themselves under the necessity of seeking safety in flight."

In Santo António da Serra and Lombo das Faias, the authorities invaded the homes of "believers" in the late hours of the night. Soldiers were billeted in homes from which the heretics were driven, many of them still in their night clothes. The soldiers and their accomplices looted the homes, killing hogs, goats and fowl, and feasting on the provisions of the peasants who fled to hiding places in the mountains. Women and young girls suffered indignities, and men were severely beaten. Twenty-two men and young women were seized as leaders in the movement and consigned to an antiquated prison where conditions were shocking. In a scene reminiscent of Paul and Silas in the Philippian prison, they sang hymns to God...

August 8th and 9th were days of grave peril and suffering for all who were in any way associated with the evangelical movement. Hundreds sought shelter and a hiding place among the brushwood on the mountain slopes, where they wandered for days, hunted by their relentless persecutors. The civil authorities lost control over the marauding bands of despoilers, some of whom were convinced that they were engaged in a holy crusade against the heretics. The protests of British residents and many prominent Portuguese, who were filled with horror by the barbarous spectacle of fanaticism and terror, went unheeded.

On Sunday morning, August 9th, Mrs. Kalley was led, in disguise, and sheltered at the residence of the British consul who had left early that morning for his country house. [Remember that Dr. Kalley had sent the consul a letter asking for protection on this particular day? And instead, the counsel leaves the city for his country house?] During the previous week Dr. Kalley had been urged by his friends and by the British consul to leave the island, anticipating that his life was in danger. He was almost too late in heeding their persistent counsel. Disguised as a sick woman, he was carried in a hammock -- which was the customary manner of transporting invalids -- to the Quinta dos Pinheiros and, from there, before sunrise on August 9th, he was taken aboard the British vessel "Forth" which, providentially, was lying in the Bay of Funchal. That same day, from the deck of the "Forth" he was to see thick smoke and flames surrounding his house in the district of Santa Luzia. His house, furnishings, medical equipment and supplies, valuable library and irreplaceable manuscripts were destroyed in the holocaust. He could detect other clouds of smoke, where all the Bibles and evangelical literature that could be found were publically burned. The hospital was pillaged and greatly damaged, and many of the cottage schools were burned. [The hospital was attacked because it was run and funded by Dr. Kalley, as a service to the Madeirans.]

A large mob besieged and threatened with destruction the British consulate where it was believed that Dr. Kalley was in hiding. The consul chose to mingle with the crowd, without official insignia. In the evening he appeared at the shore with some of the leaders of the mob and requested Dr. Kalley to show himself on the deck, in order that the fury of the mob might be appeased and order restored. This Dr. Kalley did, although he regarded the request as an insult.

That same evening, as scheduled, the "Forth" set sail for Trinidad, in the British West Indies. There Dr. Kalley and his wife, later, were reunited and embarked for England.

When the work of destruction had been accomplished in Funchal, the unsatiated persecutors pursued the scattered flock to the mountains, hunting them down "like wild beasts of prey." A few of the "believers" were shepherds and were accustomed to keep their flocks of sheep and herds of goats in the mountains, which they knew so well. These found suitable hiding places in the ravines and caves for their fugitive brethren, and provided milk and cheese for their sustenance. Others in hiding suffered great hunger and untold hardships, while their homes and fields were laid waste.

There was no security, no law, for the despised heretics. They were fugitives in a land that was their own, and pilgrims in their native island. The two weeks following the escape of Dr. Kalley were filled with confusion and apprehension for a pursued and perscuted shepherdless people: "There were now seizures daily, and trials in which none of the Bible readers, as they were derisively called, could escape, or expect justice. False witnesses were often hired; the accused one was required to pay the costs of his own trial, and for his maintenance while in jail. They were excommunicated, and with that sentence went the command to all loyal Roman Catholics: 'Let none give them fire, water, bread, or anything that may be necessary to them for their support. Let none pay them their debts.' And this command was so literally carried out that none of those who had property were able to sell at any price. Some few made arrangements with friends to hold in trust for them what they had; but the sentence of excommunication practically reduced every one of the believers to poverty."

It began to appear that not only had Dr. Kalley's personal property been reduced to ashes, but also the work which he had achieved during 8 years of missionary service in Madeira. The unrelenting opposition and suffering which the converts had to endure seemed to point to a new climax. João Fernandes Degama, who was an eye-witness to these scenes, relates incidents of cruel torture, such as that perpetrated on a mother of three small children, D. Maria-sinha de Vasconcellos. He also gives a detailed account of the murder and barbaric mutilation of Sr. António Martins, of São Roque.

The incidents in Madeira coincided with a British plan for the recruitment of laborers for Trinidad, Antigua and St. Kitts, in the Lesser Antilles. British ships in search of workers had touched islands in the Azores and had entered the port of Funchal, Madeira, during the month of August.

On August 23rd, the "William of Glasgow" steamed out of the Bay of Funchal bound for Trinidad. Aboard were more than two hundred religious refugees, who carried no baggage and many of whom were furnished with articles of clothing by the crew. Secretly, at night or in the early morning hours, they withdrew from the thickets on the mountain slopes and made their way to the more isolated beaches, where they were taken by skiffs to the decks of the British vessel.

Thus the Madeirenses were able to comply with the demand of their enemies that they should go into exile. It was necessary, however, to arrange for their passports. The authorities were by this time so anxious to allay the storm that they facilitated their emigration by waiving the requirements of personal application and certification of church attendance.

Nevertheless, it was through tears that they watched their island home disappear over the horizon on August 23, 1846. A few days later, more than five hundred were to follow them to Trinidad aboard the "Lord Seaton." During the following months many more abandoned their island home, seeking freedom of worship across the sea. The authorities continued to facilitate their emigration in an effort to rid the island of the Calvinistas and to restore order. The first emigrants were settled in Trinidad, in Antigua, in St. Kitts, in St. Vincent, in Demerara, and in Jamaica.

The British government demanded and received from the Portuguse the sum of 7000 pounds as an indemnity for the loss suffered by Dr. Robert Reid Kalley, but the scattered Portuguese exiles, who also lost everything, found their compensation in the greater measure of freedom in the land that received them. There are no accurate figures available, but it is estimated that well over 2000 religious refugees left their island home as a result of the persecution of 1846.

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