Waldenses
A
movement that began in the city of Lyons in the decade 1170-80. During these
years a wealthy merchant of the city, Peter Waldo, underwent a deeply felt
personal religious experience. Following this, he gave away his property and
adopted a life of strict gospel simplicity and poverty. Touched by his example,
many men and women became his followers. Thus, the most perfect example of
reformist dissent in the twelfth century was composed of simple lay people,
many of whom were illiterate.
These
"Poor Men of Lyons" did not intend to challenge the authority of the
church, but the hostility of first the local clergy and finally the papacy
drove them into opposition. Their condemnation by the Archbishop of Lyons in
1181 was formalized in 1184 when Pope Lucius III declared the movement
heretical and called for its destruction. Thereafter, although they were
subject to periodic persecutions of great violence, the Waldenses developed
quickly in Languedoc and the Piedmont. From here they spread throughout central
and eastern Europe.
In
common with most popular religious movements of the period the Waldensian ethic
was personal and anticlerical. In search of an authentic gospel ethic, they had
the NT, the prophets, and selections from the fathers translated into the
vernacular. They believed that the Bible should be the supreme authority in
their lives, and insofar as the established clergy did not conform to the teachings
of the Gospels, it was condemned. Ultimately the Waldenses declared themselves
a counterchurch, the "true church," in opposition to the Roman
Church, whose clergy and sacraments were renounced as invalid.
Waldensian
thought changed and altered throughout the Middle Ages. In 1207 a significant
number of the membership were brought back into the Roman Church following a
debate with Catholic clergy. Those who returned were given special
dispensations to practice their rigorous life style as the "Catholic
poor." In addition, there were disagreements within the brotherhood over
articles of faith. However, the general requirements of Waldensian belief
emerge clearly from the source materials of the period.
Waldo
believed that he and his followers must abandon all other activities in order
to spend their time as evangelists in the apostolic mold. Therefore, he
required the leaders of the movement, the "perfect," to give up
traditional jobs and to live by begging. Waldo also recommended celibacy,
following, he believed, the injunctions of Paul, but also because he believed
it would facilitate the evangelistic endeavor.
The
Waldenses believed in the divinity of Jesus Christ and salvation by Christ.
They accepted, at least in theory, that all true believers were entitled to
preach, evangelize, and give the sacraments. They celebrated the Eucharist,
though at one point it was reduced to an annual (Holy Thursday) occasion. An
initiation ceremony or baptism, which seems to have resembled the Cathar
sacrament, was also common. Their reading of the NT convinced the Waldenses
that purgatory was a myth . From this they concluded that prayers for the dead
and indulgences were worthless. They banned the taking of oaths, despised lies,
and condemned the death penalty.
In
many areas the Waldenses resembled the Cathari. Both dissenting groups rejected
the Roman Church, believed in evangelism and poverty, and abstained from
killing and oaths. However, the Waldenses were not dualists; they did not
reject creation and engaged in many debates with the Cathari concerning this
issue. Still the two groups were often confused. The division of Waldensian
society into the "perfect" and the "believers," in the
Cathar tradition, may reflect this.
In
spite of persecution by the revived and militant medieval papacy, whose
incarnation was Innocent III (1198-1216), Waldensianism survived to stimulate
and challenge the atmosphere in which the Protestant Reformation began. Many of
its beliefs entered the mainstream of the Protestant tradition.