The current exhibit at the Illinois Amish Interpretive Center may leave you with chills down your spine, as well as a better understanding of the Amish faith.

Every once in awhile, you stumble across something in small town America that will truly startle and get you thinking. The “Mirror of the Martyrs” exhibit, running through June 15, is such.

At first glance, this is a traveling display of some old books. Really old books, printed in the 17th century. Also traveling with the books are eight of the original copper plates used for the etchings that illustrate the stories.

Alongside the display cases are parts of the tales of torture and persecution contained within them.

What’s contained in these leather-bound books are 803 tales of the Anabaptists, a religious movement started as a consequence of the Reformation in the 1520’s. The Anabaptists held several beliefs that the Roman Catholic Church considered heretical.

In that era, the power structure of the church was closely intertwined with that of the royal houses in Europe. One of those ‘heretical beliefs’ was the separation of church and state, and a ‘rational’ baptismal in which the person being baptized was old enough to make a conscious decision to accept it.

Such heretical ideas were not well received. This was the era of the Roman Inquisition, less well-known, but no less brutal, than the better known Spanish Inquisition that had occurred less than a century before.

The exhibit is owned and operated by the Mennonite Historical Library. The library is based at Goshen College in Goshen Indiana. Excerpts from “Mirror of the Martyrs” are available.

The Illinois Amish Interpretive Center is open to the public, and is located at 111 South Locust in downtown Arcola. The Center is open from 9 to 5, Monday through Saturday. Groups are encouraged to book in advance by calling 888-45-AMISH.