Waldensians

Background

In twelfth-century Western Europe, lay movements arose in many places that criticized the wealth and worldliness of the church and sought to live in poverty like the apostles. At the time, only authorized clergy were permitted to preach, and the Bible was read chiefly in Latin. Valdes (commonly known as Peter Waldo), a wealthy merchant of Lyon, France, renounced his property in 1173 and embraced voluntary poverty. He is said to have been deeply moved by Jesus' words to the rich young man (Matthew 19:21). He hired clergy to translate the Gospels and other texts into the vernacular spoken by ordinary people. The name "Peter" is believed to have been added by later writers, and the years of his birth and death are uncertain.

Development

Medieval Condemnation and Persecution

In 1179 Valdes and his companions traveled to Rome during the Third Lateran Council to seek approval. Pope Alexander III approved their vow of poverty but forbade them to preach unless invited by the clergy. When they continued preaching, the archbishop of Lyon excommunicated them and expelled them from the city around 1182–1183. Valdes is said to have responded with the words "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29), which became a central conviction of the Waldensians. In 1184 Pope Lucius III, at the Council of Verona, condemned the so-called "Poor of Lyon" as heretics. They are also understood to have been condemned again at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. Thereafter the Waldensians, fleeing the Inquisition, scattered to the Luberon in southern France, the Alpine valleys of Piedmont, southern Italy, Germany, and elsewhere. Itinerant preachers known as barbes ministered to believers living in hiding.

Joining the Reformation

In 1530 the Waldensians sent representatives to confer with Reformers such as William Farel, Johannes Oecolampadius, and Martin Bucer. In September 1532 an assembly held at Chanforan in the Angrogna Valley of Piedmont, with Farel in attendance, resolved to join the Reformation. The assembly decided to replace the clandestine practice of the faith with public worship, to install settled pastors in place of itinerant preachers, and to abandon the practice of outwardly participating in Catholic sacraments. It also adopted the doctrine of predestination and Reformed sacramental practice and agreed to sponsor a French translation of the Bible. As a result, the Olivétan Bible was published in Neuchâtel in 1535.

Consequences and Influence

After the Waldensians made their faith public, persecution intensified. Persecution continued in southern Italy and the valleys of Piedmont during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and Protestant leaders such as Oliver Cromwell of England and William of Orange came to their aid. In 1686 Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy, acting in line with the policy of Louis XIV of France, began the systematic expulsion of the Waldensians from the valleys.

Today the Waldensian Church is based in Italy, centered in the "Waldensian Valleys" west of Turin, and through emigration it also has communities in Argentina, Uruguay, the United States, and elsewhere. It stands in the Reformed tradition and is a member church of the World Council of Churches. Its motto is "The light shines in the darkness" (Lux lucet in tenebris).

Assessment

• Protestants generally regard the Waldensians as forerunners of the Reformation. The Luther Monument in Worms, Germany, includes a statue of Waldo alongside John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, and Girolamo Savonarola. Korean Protestants also frequently present the Waldensians as a root of Reformed faith, pointing to their emphasis on Scripture, lay preaching, and voluntary poverty.
• From the perspective of the Catholic Church, the church of the time cited disobedience and preaching based on private interpretation of Scripture as grounds for condemnation. The Catholic Encyclopedia describes the Waldensians as having begun as a movement of evangelical poverty before drifting toward a rejection of the priestly hierarchy. In recent years there have also been moves toward reconciliation, such as Pope Francis's visit to the Waldensian church in Turin.
• Historians point out that the early Waldensians did not hold Protestant doctrines from the outset. Around 1180 Valdes made a profession of faith affirming Catholic doctrine, and it was only after 1532 that the Waldensians adopted predestination and abandoned confession (the confession of sins to a priest). Much of their early history depends on records left by their opponents.