“The stubbornest bunch of people you would ever want to meet“—a Waldensian family, as described by a contemporary descendant.
Who were the Waldensians, and why did they become so stubborn? In about 1170, Peter Waldo, a merchant in Lyon, France, was inspired by the story of St. Alexis. In an effort to draw closer to God, gave away most of his possessions to the poor. He also had the Gospels and other Biblical passages translated into French, and he began to preach in the streets. He focused on teaching the Bible rather than the Church’s added doctrines, such as offerings or prayers for the dead, purgatory, and payments to get souls out of purgatory.
His movement, which became known as the Poor of Lyon, allowed lay people, including women, to preach. Their main source of inspiration was the Sermon on the Mount, and they advocated non-violence. They refused to swear oaths and also rejected any compromise by the Church with those having political power.
As this movement gained followers, religious leaders began to condemn it. Persecution began by 1215, when the Roman Church declared Waldensians were heretics, to be excommunicated and punished if they didn’t repent.
In spite or because of this, the movement spread from the south of France to Italy, from Lyon to Bergamo, from Provence, in south of France, to Guardia Piemontese in Calabria (south Italy), from the Waldensian Valleys, in Piedmont (northwest Italy), to Venice (northeast Italy), and finally to Austria, Germany, Poland, and Czechoslovakia.
More persecution followed:
1487-1507: anti-Waldensian crusade led by Cremona’s Archdeacon
1545: Waldensian community in Provence was exterminated
1560: first persecution of Waldensians by troops of Savoy’s Duke Emanuele Filiberto
1561: Treaty of Cavour drove Waldensians out of the plains to worship in remote mountains, halting the group’s spread
17th century: persecution continued
1655: Piedmont Easter massacre–1700 Waldensians killed in a campaign of looting, rape, torture, and murder. News of these atrocities reached England and the Netherlands. John Milton wrote a poem about it, “On the Late Massacre in Piedmont.” Following are a few lines:
“Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughter’d saints, whose bones
Lie scatter’d on the Alpine mountains cold,
Ev’n them who kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshipp’d stocks and stones…
Who were thy sheep and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piemontese that roll’d
Mother with infant down the rocks…”
1685: after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, all the Waldensians (12,000) were imprisoned
1687: the few survivors (2,700) were deported from Piedmont to Geneva
In 1689 the Waldensians returned to their valley, armed, to regain their lands and their right to exist (The Glorious Return).
Like the Jewish people, if the Waldensians weren’t strong in their beliefs and personality, they would have converted to Catholicism centuries ago to avoid persecution.
In addition to northern Italy, Waldensian survivors have established communities in southern Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Uruguay, and Valdese, NC (see http://www.waldensianheritagemuseum.org/
Why do I care about the Waldensians? Their villages offered a potential refuge to characters in my novel-in-progress.
Inspiring, tough people, those Waldensians!