WALDENSIAN HERETICS
Origins and Beginnings
This group of heretics was formed in approximately 1170
AD, and was named after its founder, a man called Waldes. A
citizen of Lyons in France, Waldes was a wealthy man who
forfeited his riches to live in poverty and evangelical
perfection. His primary motivation was to imitate the
apostles.
For his own purposes, Waldes organised a
translation of the Gospels and some other books of the
Bible into French. He then translated some authoritative
sayings of St Augustine, St Jerome, St Ambrose and St
Gregory which he arranged under titles and were known to him
and his followers as "sentences". The Waldensians read these
often, but barely understood them as they were largely
illiterate.
Nevertheless, the group were
infatuated with their interpretation and usurped the position
of the apostles, by preaching in the streets and other public
areas. Waldes converted many people, both men and women, and
sent them out to preach as his disciples. These "disciples"
were unlearned and in the most part, quite ignorant. They
travelled to many towns, entering houses and preaching in
public places including churches, spreading false
information.
At one stage, they were summoned by
the archbishop of Lyons, Lord Jean aux Belles-Mains, and
were forbidden to preach their ideas and "sentences". The
Waldensians refused to obey the archbishop, stating that it
was necessary to obey God rather than man. They then went on
to say that God had commanded the apostles to preach to all
men, taking the role upon themselves and declaring that they
were the apostles successors by profession of their poverty
and sanctity. They scorned the prelates and clergy of
their time for abounding in riches and living in relative
luxury.
Refusing to obey the orders of the
archbishop, the Waldensians were declared contumacious and
were eventually excommunicated and expelled from Lyons
and from their country. In a council held in Rome before
the Lateran council, they again proved themselves to be
obstinate, and as a result, they were judged schismatic,
and finally condemned as heretics. As their numbers grew,
they dispersed through that province and into the surrounding
regions, and on into Lombardy. Thus separated from the
Church, they began to mingle with other heretics and they
mixed their own ideas and heresies with those of earlier
heretics.
Beliefs of the Waldensian Heretics
The Waldensian Heretics way of life
The teachings of Waldensian Heretics
How the Waldensian Heretics avoided the detection