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Show Huguenot Day A little known observance in America is Huguenot Day, April 13. The day is the anniversary an-niversary of the Edict of Nantes--and it may be well for all Americans to remember the day's meaning. ON THE 13th, in 1508, King Henry IV of France, in Nantes, signed the edict ending end-ing the persecution and execution of Protestants. It was early in that century that Martin Luther's reform movement gained a foothold in France. Soon many of that country's most distinguished families were Protestants. WITHIN ten years persecution persecu-tion began. Many Protestants were burned, but the most infamous incident was the massacre on St. Bartholomew's Day in 1572, when thousands were slain, many in churches. Henry IV's Edict of Nantes provided religious tolerance nd liberty in France for eighty-seven years, until revoked bv Louis XIV. DURING the many periods of persecution tens of thousands ot French Protestants Protes-tants fled to America for their lives-they were first called Huguenots about 1560. |