COMBA, EMILIO. - Waldensian pastor and historian, b. at S. Germano Chisone (Pinerolo) on 31 Aug. 1839, d. at Guttanen (Switzerland) on 3 Sept. 1904. After completing his early studies in nearby Torre Pellice, he went to Geneva where, placing himself under the guidance of Merlé d'Aubigné, he completed his theological preparation. Having returned to Italy, he began publishing numerous writings on religious subjects with a polemical bent, and from his first attempts he showed a particular aptitude for active propaganda. He then went to central Italy and stayed by preference in Perugia, where he had contacts with Card. Pecci, the future Leo XIII, and polemicized with him on theological subjects.
Appointed pastor, he was sent first to small centers of northern Italy, then settled in Venice, where he remained from 1867 to 1872. Here, besides attending to historical works, he helped to found an evangelical church. Having subsequently moved to Florence, where he had been called by that Waldensian school, he founded La Rivista cristiana, which lived from 1873 to 1887.
Among C.'s writings, the following should chiefly be remembered: Francesco Spiera (Florence 1872); Storia dei martiri della Riforma italiana (Turin 1879); Histoire des Vaudois d'Italie (ibid. 1887); Claudio di Torino (Florence 1895); I nostri protestanti (2 vols., ibid. 1895-97).
Bibliography
Maria Zazetta