COMBA, EMILIO. - Waldensian pastor and historian, born in S. Germano Chisone (Pinerolo) on 31 Aug. 1839, died at Guttanen (Switzerland) on 3 Sept. 1904. After completing his early studies in nearby Torre Pellice, he went to Geneva, where, under the guidance of Merlé d'Aubigné, he completed his theological training. Returning to Italy, he began publishing numerous writings on religious topics with a polemical bent, and from the outset displayed a particular aptitude for active proselytizing. He then traveled to central Italy and took up residence in Perugia, where he came into contact with Cardinal Pecci, the future Leo XIII, and engaged in theological controversy with him.
Having been appointed pastor, he was first invited to serve in small centers in northern Italy, then settled in Venice, where he remained from 1867 to 1872. There, besides devoting himself to historical work, he helped to found an evangelical church. Subsequently moving to Florence, where he had been called by the Waldensian school there, he founded *La Rivista cristiana*, which was published from 1873 to 1887.
Among Comba’s principal writings are: *Francesco Spiera* (Florence 1872); *Storia dei martiri della Riforma italiana* (Turin 1879); *Histoire des Vaudois d'Italie* (1878); *Claudio di Torino* (Florence 1895); *I nostri protestanti* (2 vols., 1879–97).