Waldensians

The Waldensians (also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi or Vaudois) are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation.

Originally known as the "Poor Men of Lyon" in the late twelfth century, the movement spread to the Cottian Alps in what are today France and Italy. The founding of the Waldensians is attributed to Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant who gave away his property around 1173, preaching apostolic poverty as the way to perfection.

Waldensian teachings came into conflict with the Catholic Church and by 1215 the Waldensians were declared heretical, not because they preached apostolic poverty (which the Franciscans also preached), but because they were not willing to recognize the prerogatives of local bishops over the content of their preaching, nor to recognize standards about who was fit to preach. Pope Innocent III offered the Waldensians the chance to return to the Church, and many did, taking the name "Poor Catholics". Many did not, and were subjected to intense persecution and were confronted with organised and general discrimination in the following centuries. In the 16th century, the Waldensians were absorbed into the Protestant movement, under the influence of early Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger.

In some aspects the Waldensians of the Middle Ages could be seen as proto-Protestants, but they mostly did not raise the doctrinal objections characteristic of 16th century Protestant leaders. They came to align themselves with Protestantism: with the Resolutions of Chanforan on 12 September 1532, they formally became a part of the Calvinist tradition. They are members of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe and its affiliates worldwide. They were nearly annihilated in the 17th century.

The main denomination within the movement was the Waldensian Evangelical Church, the original church in Italy. In 1975, it merged with the Methodist Evangelical Church to form the Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches—a majority Waldensian church, with a minority of Methodists. Another large congregation is the Evangelical Waldensian Church of Río de la Plata in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Congregations continue to be active in Europe (particularly in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy), South America, and North America. Organizations such as the American Waldensian Society maintain the history of the movement and declare their mission as "proclaiming the Christian Gospel, serving the marginalized, promoting social justice, fostering inter-religious work, and advocating respect for religious diversity and freedom of conscience."

Historical sources

Most modern knowledge of the medieval history of the Waldensians originates almost exclusively from the records and writings of the Roman Catholic Church, the same body that was condemning them as heretics.Pita, Gonzalo (2014). "Waldensian and Catholic Theologies of History in the XII–XIV Centuries: Part I". ''Journal of the Adventist Theological Society'' 25.2: 65–87. Because of "the documentary scarcity and unconnectedness from which we must draw the description of Waldensian beliefs", much of what is known about the early Waldensians comes from reports like the ''Profession of faith of Valdo of Lyon'' (1180); by Durando d'Osca (c.1187–1200); and the ''Rescriptum'' of Bergamo Conference (1218).

Earlier documents that provide information about early Waldensian history include the ''Will of Stefano d'Anse'' (1187); the (c.1206–1208); and the ''Anonymous chronicle of Lyon'' (c.1220). There are also the two reports written for the Inquisition by Reinerius Saccho (died 1259), a former Cathar who converted to Catholicism, published together in 1254 as (''On the Cathars and the Poor of Lyon'').

Teachings

Waldensians held and preached a number of doctrines as they read from the Bible. These included:
# The atoning death and justifying righteousness of Christ;
# The Godhead;
# The fall of man;
# The incarnation of the Son;
# A denial of purgatory as the "invention of the Antichrist";
# The value of voluntary poverty;
# Perhaps, the universal priesthood of believers, as according to de Bourbon they claimed that all good men are priests.

They also rejected a number of concepts that were widely held in Christian Europe of the era. For example, the Waldensians held that temporal offices and dignities were not meant for preachers of the Gospel; that relics were no different from any other bones and should not be regarded as special or holy; that pilgrimage served only to spend one's money; that flesh might be eaten any day if one's appetite served one; that holy water was no more efficacious than rain water; and that prayer was just as effectual if offered in a church or a barn. They were accused, moreover, of having scoffed at the doctrine of transubstantiation, and of having spoken blasphemously of the Catholic Church as the harlot of the Apocalypse. They rejected what they perceived as the idolatry of the Catholic Church and considered the Papacy as the Antichrist of Rome.

("The noble lesson"), written in the Occitan language, gives a sample of the medieval Waldensian belief. Once it was believed that this poem dated between 1190 and 1240, but there is evidence that it was written in the first part of the fifteenth century. The poem exists in four manuscripts: two are housed at the University of Cambridge, one at Trinity College in Dublin, and another in Geneva.

The Waldensians likely denied the practice of infant baptism, at least to some extent. This is seen from the Waldensian writing, "The noble lesson", which says "And baptized those who believed in the Name of Jesus Christ". Renerius Saccho, additionally writing against the Waldensians, stated that the Waldensians believed that the "ablution which is given to infants profits nothing".

The Waldensians rejected the use of oaths and prayers for the dead. They also accepted the Trinity.

Saccho gave the following charges against the Waldensians:

* The Pope is the head of all errors
* The Monks are Pharisees
* Christians should obey God instead of the Prelates
* That no one is above one another in the church
* No one should kneel before a priest
* Tithes should not be given
* Bishops should not have royal rights
* They condemn all the sacraments of the church
* The Church has erred by prohibiting the marriage of the clergy
The Waldensians were associated by councils and papal decrees with the Cathars; however they differed radically from them: the Waldensians never accepted Gnostic views, they did not reject the sacraments in total and did not believe in mysticism.

History

Origins

According to legend, Peter Waldo renounced his wealth as an encumbrance to preaching, which led other members of the Catholic clergy to follow his example. Because of this shunning of wealth, the movement was early known as The Poor of Lyon and The Poor of Lombardy.

Though arising to prominence in the 12th century, some evidence suggests the existence of the Waldenses even before the time of Peter Waldo. Pope Alexander in 1167 at the synod of tours lamented the Waldenses as a "pest of long existence". While the Inquisitor Reinerius Saccho in the 12th century also spoke about the dangers of the Waldenses for among other reasons its antiquity "some say that it has lasted from the time of Sylvester, others, from the time of the Apostles."

The Waldensian movement was characterized from the beginning by lay preaching, voluntary poverty, and strict adherence to the Bible. Between 1175 and 1185, Waldo either commissioned a cleric from Lyon to translate the New Testament into the vernacular—the Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) language—or was himself involved in this translation work.

In 1179, Waldo and one of his disciples went to Rome, where Pope Alexander III and the Roman Curia welcomed them. They had to explain their faith before a panel of three clergymen, including issues that were then debated within the Church, such as the universal priesthood, the gospel in the vulgar tongue, and the issue of voluntary poverty. The results of the meeting were inconclusive, and the Third Lateran Council in the same year condemned Waldo's ideas, but not the movement itself; the leaders of the movement had not yet been excommunicated.

The Waldensians proceeded to disobey the Third Lateran Council and continued to preach according to their own understanding of the Scriptures. In 1184, Waldo and his followers were excommunicated and forced from Lyon. The Catholic Church declared them heretics, stating that the group's principal error was contempt for ecclesiastical

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