A Free Atmosphere

In the spring of 1851 François Frédéric Roulet joined a crowd in Geneva to hear a Calvinist reverend deliver an exposé on “Mormonism.” As Roulet walked out of the hall, he met a man distributing a tract called “The Ancient Gospel Restored.” The man, a Scottish Latter-day Saint missionary named Thomas B. H. Stenhouse, had been renting a room from Roulet, and the two struck up a conversation. Roulet was curious about this controversial new religion, and he was soon convinced he had found God’s truth. On May 4 Roulet was baptized in Lake Geneva by Stenhouse. He was among the first to be baptized in Switzerland.

Roulet was baptized five months after missionaries first arrived in Switzerland. In October 1849 Elder Lorenzo Snow of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles had been called on a mission to Italy and the surrounding areas. During a stop in England on his journey, Snow met Stenhouse and called him to join the mission. On November 24, 1850, they climbed Monte Castelluzzo—which they called “Mount Brigham”—near Piedmont, Italy, where Snow, aware of the unusual degree of religious freedom in Switzerland, ordained Stenhouse a high priest and appointed him to preach the gospel there.

Stenhouse journeyed over the Alps to Geneva that December. Two months later, Elder Snow followed, crossing the mountain passes during a severe snowstorm, “scarcely knowing,” he said, “whether I was dead or alive. It is one thing to read of traveling over the backbone of Europe in the depth of winter, but doing it is quite different.”

These two missionaries in Switzerland soon found themselves at a crossroads. Because of Switzerland’s mix of Italian-, French-, and German-speaking people, the missionaries recognized the need for Church literature in additional languages. Snow, resolute in his commitment to establish the Church in Europe, left his blessing on Switzerland, then returned to England to manage translations of pamphlets and scriptures. Stenhouse, who stayed and continued to preach, found lodging in Roulet’s home.

Illustration of T. B. H. Stenhouse preaching to François Frédéric Roulet.

After his baptism, Roulet, who spoke French and German, helped spread the gospel as a traveling elder. His mother, Marguerite; his wife, Jennie; and his brother Charles all joined the Church. Stenhouse introduced the Church in Lausanne, Switzerland, where Serge Ballif, a well-educated man of means, and his wife, Elise, were baptized. Ballif immediately used his wealth to support the missionaries, feed poorer Saints, and fund the publication of Le Reflecteur, a French-language periodical, and he even sent copies of the Book of Mormon with friends who were traveling to Poland.

In early 1853, Stenhouse, Roulet, and Ballif ventured into Basel, a German-speaking canton in Switzerland. He wrote to the mission in Germany to request help, and Elder George Mayer arrived from Hamburg in March. On May 31, Mayer baptized Friedrich Schaffrath, his wife, Emley, and their daughter, Emley. By October, Basel had a small congregation. “The fire of the Gospel seems to be effectually kindled in Basel,” an editorial in Millennial Star reported that fall, “and only access to the many honest hearted in that region is wanted, to add to the flame.”

By the end of 1853 there were at least 110 Latter-day Saints in Switzerland. In 1854 many immigrated to Utah. Some, including Roulet and Ballif, later returned to Switzerland as missionaries.