Waldensians

Waldensians, Waldenses or Vaudois are names for a Christian spiritual movement of the later Middle Ages, descendants of which still exist in various regions. Over time, the denomination joined the Genevan or Reformed branch of Protestantism. About the earlier history of the Waldenses considerable uncertainty exists because of a lack of extant source material.Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 874-876] They were persecuted as heretical before the 16th century, endured near annihilation in the 17th century, [ [http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/sonnets/sonnet_18/index.shtml Milton: Sonnet 18 ] ] and were then confronted with organized and generalized discrimination in centuries that followed. [Neff, Christian and Harold S. Bender. "Waldenses." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia. 1959. ] [ [http://www.chiesavaldese.org/indexen.html Chiesa evangelica valdese - Welcome ] ] [ [http://www.waldensian.org/ American Waldensian Society ] ] There are active congregations in Europe, South America, and North America. The contemporary and historic Waldensian spiritual heritage includes proclaiming the Gospel, serving the marginalized, promoting social justice, fostering inter-religious work, and advocating respect for religious diversity and freedom of conscience. [ [www.waldensian.org waldensian.org] ]

General description

The earliest Waldensians believed in poverty and austerity, promoting true poverty, public preaching and the personal study of the scriptures.pp. 874-876] The sect originated in the late 12th century as the "Poor Men of Lyons", a band organized by Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant of Lyon, who gave away his property around 1177 and went about preaching apostolic poverty as the way to perfection.pp. 874-876]

In 1179, they went to Rome, where Pope Alexander III blessed their life but forbade preaching without authorization from the local clergy.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] They disobeyed and began to preach according to their own understanding of scripture. Seen by the Roman Catholic Church as unorthodox, they were formally declared heretics by Pope Lucius III in 1184 and by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] In 1211 more than 80 were burned as heretics at StrasbourgWho|date=July 2007, beginning several centuries of persecution that nearly destroyed the sect. Part of their legacy is recognized as works of the writer Henri Arnaud. The Waldensian Church of Italy has survived to the present day.

Some groups of Mennonites and Baptists in the attempt to trace apostolic succession through the Waldenses, claim that the Waldenses history extends back to the apostolic church.Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 874-876.] Many Roman Catholic and mainstream Protestant scholars contest that this has no basis in fact.Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 874-876.] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] [ [http://www.waldensian.org/ American Waldensian Society ] ] The mainstream academic view is that the Waldensians were followers of Peter Waldo (or Valdes or Vaudes) and that any similarity in doctrine between the Waldensians and the early Christians is not necessarily the result of direct ancestry.Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 874-876.] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] [ [http://www.waldensian.org/ American Waldensian Society ] ]

History

Ancient origins asserted and contested

Some researchers argue that the group has existed since the time of the apostles, a claim largely rejected by modern scholarship. [Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 874-876] The supporters of the ancient origin claim the Waldenses' name does not in fact come from Peter Waldo, as modern scholars contend, but from the area in which they lived. [Ancient Church of Piedmont", Dr. Peter Allix, pp.182, Oxford: 1821] They claim Peter Waldo in fact got his name by association with the Waldenses. This thought was current in the early 19th century:

:"Some Protestants, on this occasion, have fallen into the snare that was set for them...It is absolutely false, that these churches were ever found by Peter Waldo...it is a pure forgery." [Ancient Church of Piedmont", Dr. Peter Allix, pp.192, Oxford: 1821]

:"It is not true, that Waldo gave this name to the inhabitants of the valleys: they were called Waldenses, or Vaudes, before his time, from the valleys in which they dwelt." [Ancient Church of Piedmont", Dr. Peter Allix, pp.182, Oxford: 1821]

:"On the other hand, he "was called Valdus, or Waldo, because he received his religious notions from the inhabitants of the valleys." ["History of the Christian Church", William Jones, Vol II, p.2.]

The claim of an ancient origin was for a long time accepted as valid by Protestant historians.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] The alexandrine "Nobles Lessons", written in Provençal, was thought at one time to have been composed in 1100, but all scholars now date it between 1190 and 1240. [Bosio, Enrico - "La Nobla Leyczon considérée au point de vue de la doctrine, de la morale et de l’histoire", Bulletin de la Societe d'Histoire Vaudoise, n. 2 (dic. 1885), pp. 20-36.] Other scholars claimed Claudius, Bishop of Turin (died 840), Berengarius of Tours (died 1088), or other such men who had preceded Peter Waldo, as the founder of the sect.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] In the nineteenth century, however, critics came to the conclusion that the poem and other Waldensian documents offered as proof had been altered.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] For example, the respected Waldensian scholar Dr. Emilio Comba dismissed the theories related to the ancient origin of the Waldensians in the middle of the 19th century. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses]

Origins in the Middle Ages

According to the Waldense Church and the Waldense Scholarship, the Waldensians started with Peter Waldo, who began to preach on the streets of Lyon in 1177.Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 874-876.] He was a wealthy merchant and decided to give up all his worldly possessions; he was sick of his own affluence: that he had so much more than those around him. [ [http://www.waldensian.org/ American Waldensian Society ] ] He went through the streets giving his money away and decided to become a wandering preacher who would beg for a living. He began to attract a following. Waldo had a philosophy very similar to Francis of Assisi. [ [http://www.waldensian.org/ American Waldensian Society ] ]

Preaching required official permission, which he was unable to secure from the Bishop in Lyon, and so in 1179 he met Pope Alexander III at the Third Council of the Lateran and asked for permission to preach. Walter Map, in "De Nugis Curialium", narrates the discussions at one of these meetings. The pope, while praising Peter Waldo's ideal of poverty, ordered him not to preach unless he had the permission of the local clergy. He continued to preach without permission and by the early 1180s he and his followers were excommunicated and forced from Lyon. The Catholic church declared them heretics - the group's principal error was "contempt for ecclesiastical power" - that they dared to teach and preach outside of the control of the clergy "without divine inspiration." Though there is evidence early Waldensians affirmed doctrines like transubstantiation, prayers for the dead, and infant baptism, they were also accused of the ignorant teaching of "innumerable errors". [Rosalind B. Brooke, The Coming of the Friars (NY: Barnes and Noble, 1975), 72-73.] [A.H. Newman, A History of Anti-Pedobaptism from the Rise of Pedobaptism to A.D. 1609 (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1897), 41]

In 1207, one of Waldo's early companions, Durand of Huesca, converted to Catholicism after debating with Bishop Diego of Osma and St. Dominic. Durand later went to Rome where he professed the Catholic faith to Innocent III. Innocent gave him permission to establish the Poor Catholics, a mendicant order, which continued the Waldensian preaching mission against the Cathars. The Franciscans and Dominicans later supplanted the Poor Catholics.

Waldo and his followers developed a system whereby they would go from town to town and meet secretly with small groups of Waldensians. There they would confess sins and hold service. A traveling Waldensian preacher was known as a "barba" and could be either man or woman. (The idea of a female preacher was novel, almost revolutionary in and of itself, for the era.) The group would shelter and house the "barba" and help make arrangements to move on to the next town in secret.

The Catholic response to Waldensians

The members of the group were declared schismatics in 1184 in France and heretics more widely in 1215 by the Fourth Council of the Lateran's anathema. The rejection by the Church radicalized the movement; in terms of ideology the Waldensians became more obviously anti-Catholic - rejecting the authority of the clergy.

Much of what is known about the Waldensians comes from reports from Reinerius Saccho (died 1259), a former Cathar who converted to Catholicism and wrote two reports for the Inquisition, "Summa de Catharis et Pauperibus de Lugduno" (roughly) "Of the Sects of Modern Heretics" (1254) [ [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/waldo2.html Reinarius Saccho, "Of the Sects of the Modern Heretics"] 1254. e-text of this list of Waldensian beliefs] Waldo possibly died in the early 13th century, possibly in Germany, but he was never captured and his fate uncertain.

As early as the twelfth century, the Waldensians were granted refuge in Piedmont by the Count of Savoy. While the House of Savoy itself remained strongly Roman Catholic, this gesture angered the Papacy. While the Holy See might have been willing to tolerate the continued presence of large Muslim populations in the Normans' Kingdom of Sicily, it was less than willing to accept a new Christian sect in Piedmont.

In the thirteenth century, there was a substantial enough problem with clerical literacy that preaching to the laity in churches was hampered. Therefore, the field was somewhat clear for peripatetic evangelism of the Waldensians. At the same time, the lack of ecclesiastical structure and training meant that each sect could be at wide variance with others. The Waldensians became a diverse movementFact|date=July 2008 as it spread out across Europe in France, Italy, Germany, and Bohemia.

Particular efforts against the movement began in the 1230s with the Inquisition seeking the leaders of the movements. The movement had been almost completely suppressed in southern France within twenty years but the persecution lasted beyond into the 14th century.

Reformation

The Waldenses were most successful in Dauphiné and Piedmont and had permanent communities in the Cottian Alps southwest of Turin. In 1487 at the insistence of Pope Innocent VIII a persecution overwhelmed the Dauphiné Waldenses, but those in Piedmont defended themselves successfully. A crusade against Waldensians in the Dauphiné region of France was declared in 1487, but Papal representatives continued to devastate towns and villages into the mid 16th century as the Waldensians became absorbed into the wider Protestant Reformation.

When the news of the Reformation reached the Waldensian Valleys, the Tavola Valdese [ [http://81.88.54.234/aws/aws073.php Church structure described by American Waldensian Society - see second paragraph.] ] decided to seek fellowship with the nascent Protestantism. A Synod held 1526 in Laus, a town in Chisone valley, decided to send envoys to examine the new movement.

In 1532 they met with German and Swiss Protestants and ultimately adapted their beliefs to those of the Reformed Church. Moreover, the Waldensian absorption into Protestantism led to their transformation from a sect on the edge of Catholicism that shared many Catholic beliefs into a Protestant church adhering to the theology of John Calvin, which differed much from the beliefs of Peter Waldo. From that moment the Church became the Italian branch of Reformed churches.

The Swiss and French Reformed churches sent William Farel and Anthony Saunier to attend the Synod of Chamforan, which convened in October, 12th 1532. Farel invited them to join the Reformation and to leave secrecy. A Confession of Faith, with Reformed doctrines, was formulated and the Waldensians decided to worship openly in French.

The first French Bible translated by Pierre Robert Olivétan with the help of Calvin and published at Neuchâtel in 1535 was based in part on a New Testament in the Waldensian vernacular. The cost of its publication was defrayed by the churches in Waldensia who collected the sum of 1500 gold crowns for this purpose. [Wylie, (p. 62)]

Outside the Piedmont the Waldenses joined the local Protestant churches in Bohemia, France and Germany. After they came out of clandestinity, the French king, Francis I, armed a crusade against the Waldensians of Provence, completely destroying them in France in 1545.Fact|date=April 2007

The treaty of 5 June 1561 granted amnesty to the Protestants of the Valleys, including liberty of conscience and freedom to worship. Prisoners were released and fugitives were permitted to return home. The Reformation was also somewhat beneficial to the Vaudois, with the religious reformers showing them respect, but they still suffered in the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598).

As early as 1631, Protestants scholars began to regard the Waldensians as early forerunners of the Reformation, alike how the followers of John Wycliffe and Jan Hus were regarded, who were similarly persecuted by Roman Catholic authorities.

Later history

In 1655 the Duke of Savoy commanded the Vaudois to attend Mass or remove to the upper valleys, giving them twenty days in which to sell their lands. In a most severe winter these targets of persecution, old men, women, little children and the sick "waded through the icy waters, climbed the frozen peaks, and at length reached the homes of their impoverished brethren of the upper Valleys, where they were warmly received." There they found refuge and rest. Deceived by false reports of Vaudois resistance, the Duke sent an army. On 24 April 1655, at 4 a.m., the signal was given for a general massacre, the horrors of which can be detailed only in small part.

The massacre was so brutal it aroused indignation throughout Europe. Oliver Cromwell, then ruler in England, began petitioning on behalf of the Vaudois, writing letters, raising contributions, calling a general fast in England and threatening to send military forces to the rescue. The massacre prompted John Milton's famous poem on the Waldenses, [http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/sonnets/sonnet_18/index.shtml "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont."] . The resistance which lasted into the 1660s was then led by a farmer, Josué Janavel [ [http://www.regard.eu.org/Livres.11/Janavel/ Janavel, Combats, Exil et Pouvoir d'un Grand Capitaine] , Biography of Josué Janavel (in French] ).

sought help from William of Orange. He gathered a band of followers in Switzerland; and in 1689 made an attempt to regain their homes in the valleys.

After the French Revolution the Waldenses of Piedmont were assured liberty of conscience, and in 1848, the ruler of Savoy, King Charles Albert of Sardinia granted them full religious and civil rights. Copies of the Romaunt version of the Gospel of John were preserved in Paris and Dublin. The manuscripts were used as the basis of a work by Gilly published in 1848, in which it was related to the history of the New Testament in use by the Waldensians. [Gilly, William S., "The Romaunt Version of the Gospel according to St. John, from MSS. preserved in Trinity College, Dublin, and in the Bibliothèque du Roi, Paris. With an introductory history of the version of the New Testament, anciently in use among the old Waldenses, and remarks on the texts of the Dublin, Paris, Grenoble, Zurich and Lyons MSS. of that version".] A group of Waldensians settled in the United States at Valdese, North Carolina.

Later sects such as Anabaptists and Baptists also began to point to the Waldensians as an example of earlier Christians who were not a part of the Roman Catholic Church, and held beliefs similar to their own. The Mennonite book "Martyrs Mirror" lists them in this regard as it attempts to trace the history of believer's baptism back to the apostles. James Aitken Wylie (1808-1890) likewise believed that the Waldensians preserved the apostolic faith during the Middle Ages. [J. A. Wylie, [http://www.doctrine.org/history/HPv1b1.htm#CHAPTER%206 The History of Protestantism] ] Still later, Seventh-day Adventist Ellen G. White taught that the Waldenses were preservers of biblical truth during the great apostasy of the Roman Catholic Church. [cite book
author=Ellen G. White
title=The Great Controversy
url=http://www.whiteestate.org/books/gc/gc4.html
pages=Chapter 4 - The Waldenses] She believed that the Waldenses kept the seventh-day Sabbath, engaged in widespread missionary activity, and "planted the seeds of the Reformation" in Europe. Like the claims of ancient origins, these claims are not backed by any mainstream scholarship. [ [http://www.lifeassuranceministries.org/studies/waldenses.html Did the Waldenses keep the seventh day sabbath?] ] However, others point to evidence of seventh-day keeping by at least some Waldenses prior to and about the time of the Reformation [cite book
author=J.N. Andrews
title=History of the Sabbath
url=http://dedication.www3.50megs.com/historyofsabbath/hos_twentyone_b.html#Anathema
pages=Chapter 21 - The Sabbath During the Dark Ages] [cite book
author=J.N. Andrews
title=History of the Sabbath
url=http://dedication.www3.50megs.com/historyofsabbath/hos_twentyfive.html#Keepers
pages=Chapter 25 - Sabbath Keepers During The Reformation TimesFrom The Fifteenth To The Seventeenth Century] Today, the Waldensian Church is included in the Alliance of Reformed Churches of the Presbyterian Order.

Waldensians by Region

In Italy

In 1848, after many centuries of harsh persecution, the Waldensians (as well as the Jews) acquired legal freedom in the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia as a result of the liberalising reforms which followed Charles Albert of Sardinia’s granting a constitution (the Statuto Albertino).Subsequently the Waldensian Evangelical Church, as it became known, developed and spread through the Italian peninsula.

The Waldensian church was able to gain converts by building schools in some of the poorer regions of Italy, including Sicily. There is still a Waldensian church in the town of Grotte, Province of Agrigento at the southwest part of the island. The Waldensians that belonged to this church were derided as "crazy Protestants" by their countrymen and those that married Waldensians were sometimes disowned by their predominantly Roman Catholic families.Fact|date=November 2007 The Grottese that emigrated to Rochester, New York in 1910 and the years after that had their own church and minister until about the 1930s, when they merged with the Waring Baptist Church after their church was burned by the neighborhood Catholics.Fact|date=November 2007

During the Nazi occupation of North Italy in the Second World War, Italian Waldensians were active in saving Jews faced with imminent extermination, hiding many of them in the same mountain valley where their own Waldensian ancestors had found refuge in earlier generations.

In 1975 the Waldensian Church joined the Italian Methodist Church to form the Union of Waldensian and Methodist Churches, which is a member of the World Council of Churches, of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and of the World Methodist Council. It has 50,000 members (45,000 Waldensians, of whom 30,000 in Italy and some 15,000 divided between Argentina and Uruguay, and 5,000 Methodists).

In South America

The first Waldensian settlers from Italy arrived in South America in 1856 and today the Waldensian Church of the Río de La Plata (which forms a united church with the Waldensian Evangelical Church) has approximately 40 congregations and 15,000 members shared between Uruguay and Argentina. More history is available in Spanish at the website of [http://www.iglesiavaldense.org/historia.html the Waldensians in South America] .

In the United States of America

Since colonial times there have been Waldensians who found freedom on American shores, as marked by the presence of them in New Jersey and Delaware. In the late 1800s many Italians, among them Waldensians, emigrated to the United States. They founded communities in New York City, Chicago, Monett, Galveston and Rochester. Some Waldensians living in the Cottian Alps region of Northern Italy migrated to North Carolina in 1893 and founded the most notable Waldensian settlement in North America in Valdese, North Carolina, where the congregation uses the name [http://www.waldensianpresbyterian.com/ Waldensian Presbyterian Church] .

In 1906, through the initiative of church forces in New York City, Waldensian interest groups were invited to coalesce into a new entity, The American Waldensian Aid Society (AWS), organized “to collect funds and apply the same to the aid of the Waldensian Church in Italy and elsewhere…and to arouse and maintain interest throughout the US in the work of said Church…” Today, this organization continues as the [http://www.waldensian.org/ American Waldensian Society] . The American Waldensian Society recently marked its [http://www.waldensian.org/100/aws100_01.asp/ Centennial] with a conference and celebrations in New York City.

By the 1920s most of the Waldensian churches and missions merged into the Presbyterian Church due to the cultural assimilation of the second and third generations.

The work of the American Waldensian Society continues in the United States today. The mission of the American Waldensian Society is to foster dialogue and partnership among Waldensian Churches in Italy and South America and Christian churches within North America in order to promote a compelling vision of Waldensian Christian witness for North America.

The vision of the society is to be a passionate witness in North America to the contemporary and historic Waldensian spiritual heritage: to Proclaim the Gospel; to Serve among the Marginalized; to Promote Social Justice; to Foster Inter-religious Work; and to Advocate Respect for Religious Diversity and Freedom of Conscience.

There exists a group under the name "The Old Waldensian Church of Anabaptists" that claim to have originally come from the Italian organization but after coming to America has maintained independence from church organizations or government incorporation including any tax exemption status. Once a sizable Church they have dwindled today to a very small group in Ohio and another in Pennsylvania. [Arnold,Dr.Marvin M., "History of Churches in Michigan and the Ohio Valley", pp. 10,Essay, Arno Publications, Washington, MI 2002]

The most well known Waldensian Churches in America were in New York and in Valdese North Carolina. There is no longer a church in New York City.

The American Waldensian Society assists churches, organizations and families in the promotion of Waldensian history and culture. The society is friend to those who work to preserve their millennial heritage among their descendants. For example, over the course of 41 years, the Old Colony Players in Valdese, North Carolina, have staged " [http://www.oldcolonyplayers.com/FTDF%20Story.html/ From this Day Forward] ," an outdoor drama telling the story of the Waldenses and the founding of Valdese.

Both the Waldensian Presbyterian Church and the American Waldensian Society have links with the Italian-based Waldensian Evangelical Church, but, differently to the South American Waldensian communities, they are independent from it.

In Germany

In 1698 approximately 3,000 Waldenses fled from Italy and came to South Rhine valley. Most of them returned to their Piedmont valleys, but those who remained in Germany were assimilated by the State Churches (Lutheran and Reformed) and 10 congregations exist today as part of the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland.

Characteristics of the Waldensian Church

Today

The present Waldensian Church considers itself to be a Christian Protestant church of the Reformed tradition originally framed by John Calvin.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] It recognizes as its doctrinal standard the confession of faith published in 1655 and based on the Reformed confession of 1559. It admits only two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] Supreme authority in the body is exercised by an annual synod, and the affairs of the individual congregations are administered by a consistory under the presidency of the pastor. [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Waldenses ] ]

Historic doctrine

Among the earliest beliefs taught by the Waldensians were the denial of purgatory, and of indulgences and prayers for the dead. They considered all lying as a serious sin, they refused to take oaths and considered the shedding of human blood a crime. They consequently condemned war and the death penalty. In the pre-Reformation days of the movement, they also taught that the validity of the sacraments depended on the worthiness of the minister. They challenged the authority of the Roman Catholic Church insofar as it was not based on the Scriptures.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses]

Historical organization

Among the Waldenses the perfect, bound by the vow of poverty, wandered about from place to place preaching.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] Such an itinerant life was ill-suited for the married state, and to the profession of poverty they added the vow of chastity. Married persons who desired to join them were permitted to dissolve their union without the consent of their partner.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] Orderly government was secured by the additional vow of obedience to superiors.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] The perfect were not allowed to perform manual labour, but were to depend for their subsistence on the members of the sect known as the friends.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] These continued to live in the world, married, owned property, and engaged in secular pursuits. Their generosity and alms were to provide for the material needs of the perfect.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] The friends remained in union with the Roman Catholic Church and continued to receive its sacraments with the exception of penance, for which they sought out, whenever possible, one of their own ministers.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses]

The name Waldenses was at first exclusively reserved to the perfect; but in the course of the thirteenth century the friends were also included in the designation. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses]

The perfect were divided into the three classes of bishops, priests, and deacons. The bishop, called "major" or "majoralis", preached and administered the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and Holy Orders. The celebration of the Eucharist, frequent perhaps in the early period, soon took place only on Holy Thursday.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] The priest preached and enjoyed limited faculties for the hearing of confessions. The deacon, named "junior" or "minor", acted as assistant to the higher orders and by the collection of alms relieved them of all material care.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] The bishop was elected by a joint meeting of priests and deacons.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] In his consecration, as well as in the ordination of the other members of the clergy, the laying-on of hands was the principal element; but the recitation of the Lord's Prayer, so important in the Waldensian liturgy, was also a prominent feature.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] The power of jurisdiction seems to have been exercised exclusively by one bishop, known as the "rector", who was the highest executive officer.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] Supreme legislative power was vested in the general convention or general chapter, which met once or twice a year, and was originally composed of the perfect but at a later date only of the senior members among them.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses] It considered the general situation of the sect, examined the religious condition of the individual districts, admitted to the episcopate, priesthood, or diaconate, and pronounced upon the admission of new members and the expulsion of unworthy ones.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses]

ee also

*List of Italian religious minority politicians
*Henri Arnaud, writer, pastor, and soldier
*Italo Calvino, writer
*Durand of Huesca, early follower of Peter Waldo (later re-converted to Catholicism)
*Paolo Ferrero, politician
*Riccardo Illy, politician
*Lucio Malan, politician
*Domenico Maselli, politician and pastor
*Frederick Henry Snow Pendleton, Anglican protector in South America
*Valdo Spini, politician and writer

References

Further reading

* , "History of the Waldenses", (c.1860) ISBN 1572581859, [http://www.reformedreader.org/history/wylie/toc.htm online ebook]
* Audisio, Gabriel, "The Waldensian Dissent: Persecution and Survival, c.1170 - c.1570", (1999) Cambridge Medieval Textbooks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521559847
* Cameron, Euan, "The Waldenses: Rejections of Holy Church in Medieval Europe", (2001) ISBN-10: 0631224971, ISBN-13: 978-0631224976
* Muston, Alexis, "The Israel of the Alps : a complete history of the Waldenses and their colonies : prepared in great part from unpublished documents", (1978) ISBN 0404161405
* Comba, Emilio, "History of the Waldenses of Italy, from their origin to the Reformation", (1978) ISBN 0404161197

External links

* [http://www.chiesavaldese.org/ Chiesa evangelica valdese] , Italy
* [http://www.iglesiavaldense.org/ Iglesia Valdense] , South America
* [http://www.waldenser.de/ Waldenservereinigung] , Germany
* [http://www.waldensian.org/ American Waldensian Society] , North America
* [http://www.waldensianpresbyterian.com/ Waldensian Presbyterian Church] , Valdese, North Carolina, USA
* [http://www.ci.valdese.nc.us/ Town of Valdese] , North Carolina, USA
* [http://www.anabaptistnetwork.com/waldensians The Waldensians] , an Anabaptist perspective on the Waldensians
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm The Waldenses: Catholic Encyclopedia] , a Roman Catholic point of view from the New Advent Encyclopedia
* [http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~waldense/history.htm Waldensian History] , A Brief Sketch, by Ronald F. Malan, M.A.
* [http://www.regard.eu.org/Livres.11/Janavel/ Janavel, Combats, Exil et Pouvoir d'un Grand Capitaine] , Biography of Josué Janavel (in French)