September Late 12th Century A.D. Remembering the Waldensians
Editors. “Waldensians.” Encyclopedia
Britannica. N.d. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/634415/Waldenses. Accessed 20 Aug 2014.
Waldenses, also spelled Valdenses, French Vaudois, Italian Valdesi,
members of a Christian movement that originated in 12th-century France, the
devotees of which sought to follow Christ in poverty and simplicity. In modern
times the name has been applied to members of a Protestant church (centred on
the Franco-Italian border) that formed when remnants of the earlier movement
became Swiss Protestant Reformers.
Early Roman
Catholic and Waldensian sources are few and unreliable, and little is known
with certainty about the reputed founder, Valdes (also called Peter Waldo, or Valdo). As a layman, Valdes preached
in Lyon (1170–76), but ecclesiastical authorities were disturbed by his lack of
theological training and by his use of a non-Latin version of the Bible. Valdes
attended the third Lateran Council (1179) in Rome and was confirmed in
his vow of poverty by Pope Alexander III. Probably during this council Valdes made his Profession
of Faith (which still survives); it is a statement of orthodox
beliefs such as accused heretics were required to sign. Valdes, however, did
not receive the ecclesiastical recognition that he sought. Undeterred, he and
his followers (Pauperes: “Poor”) continued to preach; the archbishop of Lyon
condemned him, and Pope Lucius III placed the Waldenses under ban with his
bull Ad Abolendam (1184), issued during the Synod of Verona.
Thereafter, the
Waldenses departed from the teaching of the Roman Catholic church by rejecting
some of the seven sacraments and the notion of purgatory. Their views
were based on a simplified biblicism, moral rigour, and criticism of abuses in
the contemporary church. Their movement, often joined to and influenced by
other sects, spread rapidly to Spain, northern France, Flanders, Germany, and
southern Italy and even reached Poland and Hungary. Rome responded vigorously, turning
from excommunication to active persecution and execution. Though the Waldenses confessed
regularly, celebrated communion once a year, fasted, and preached poverty, they
repudiated such Roman practices as prayers for the dead and the veneration of
saints, and they refused to recognize secular courts because they did not
believe in taking oaths.
In the early 13th
century a number of Waldenses returned to orthodoxy; by the end of the century
persecution had virtually eliminated the sect in some areas, and for safety the
survivors abandoned their distinctive dress. By the end of the 15th century
they were confined mostly to the French and Italian valleys of the Cottian
Alps.
A second period in
their history began when the French reformer Guillaume Farel introduced Reformation theology to the Waldensian ministers (barbes) in 1526. The Waldenses raised questions concerning the number of
sacraments, the relationship between free will and predestination, and the problem of reconciling
justification by faith with the scriptural emphasis on the necessity of good
works. At a conference at Cianforan in 1532 most Waldenses accepted secular law
courts and celibacy for their barbes and agreed to accept only two sacraments (baptism and Holy Communion) and
the doctrine of predestination as presented by the Protestants in attendance.
By further adapting themselves to Genevan forms of worship and church
organization, they became in effect a Swiss Protestant church. Years of
persecution continued, however, before they received full civil rights in 1848.
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