Customer Reviews

History of the Waldenses

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Waldenses were a people that lived in the Italian Alps and, despite living hundreds of years before the reformation, made the Bible their only rule of faith and rejected such papal innovations as the mass, the celibate priesthood, confession, purgatory, indulgences, and infant baptism. The Waldenses rejected the whole complex of pagan practices adopted by the Roman Church during the middle ages, and held that the Pope was anti-Christ.

This work is excerpted from a much longer one; it is a reprint of the Sixteenth Book of Wylie's "History of Protestantism." This is a obviously a protestant view of the Waldenses, and assumes the correctness of their religion vis-a-vis the Roman church. For a Roman Catholic perspective, read the article on the Waldenses in the Catholic Encyclopedia, or read the recent book by a Euan Cameron that is listed on Amazon.com.

Most Catholic and liberal protestant scholars have accepted the view that the Waldenses began with Peter Waldo, a rich man of Lyon, France, who, around 1160 AD, gave all his money to the poor and became an itinerant preacher. The Waldenses themselves, however, who might better be called Vaudois, traced their religion back to apostolic times. Wylie notes that even some Catholic researchers admitted that the Vaudois were "not a new sect in the ninth and tenth centuries . . ." Even if they only date to the 12th century, the Vaudois religion predates the reformation by 300 years.

The Vaudois translated the Scriptures into both Italian and French. From their mountain strongholds, the Vaudois sent out traveling salesmen whose real mission was to witness and give away copies of the Scripture in the people's language. These missionaries were liable to be imprisoned or burned at the stake if Papal authorities discovered their clandestine religious mission, but they were not typically molested in their homelands. Notable exceptions were in the years 1400 and 1488, in which unsuccessful attempts were made to suppress them.

Ironically, the most savage persecution of the Vaudois began only after the protestant reformation was well underway in northern Europe. A major campaign of extermination was mounted in 1561, but again met with only partial success. Finally, in 1655, the valiant Vaudois were very nearly wiped out. Wylie considers the atrocities committed against this simple and inoffensive people too grotesque to be described in detail. The 1655 massacre was so infamous and terrible, however, that the government of England, then under the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, lodged a protest with all of the governments concerned. John Milton was inspired to write the sonnet which begins:

"Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, who bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold,
Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old
When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones,
Forget not: in thy book record their groans
Who were thy sheep and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody piedmontese that rolled
Mother and infant down the rocks."

The one bright spot in the story of the 1655 massacre was the remarkable leadership of Joshua Gianavello, of the Village of Rora. Gianavello has become the subject of an historical novel "Rora," for sale on Amazon and glowingly reviewed by no less than Newt Gingrich.

The work of extermination begun in 1655 was nearly completed in 1686, when the remaining Vaudois were either killed, imprisoned, or exiled to Switzerland and Germany. Remarkably, Henri Arnaud led a few hundred of the Vaudois back to their mountain stronghold in 1690 and reclaimed by force their ancient patrimony. Thus, the Vaudois have continued on to the present time.

Interestingly, in 1893, a company of Vaudois migrated to the United States and founded the town of Valdeses, Burke County, North Carolina. At the time, a local newspaper wrote:

"All the little Waldensian children are taught to read and write at a very early age, and their knowledge of the scriptures would put to shame many of our church people of maturer years. They speak both French and Italian very fluently, and are all apparently very bright and intelligent and very anxious to learn the language of this new country."

If you want a true history of how the Catholic Church persecuted the Christians of the 'dark ages' then this is a great book for your collection.

Come read how the true church of Christ banned together, pressed forward and spread the word of God at the cost of their lives from the fallen church of Rome. Yes, some people will be very upset about this book but it is documented history and stands as an example of what Christianity can cost you if you truly follow Jesus and "Walk, even as He walked".

Rick in Orlando

This book is an excerpt from a broader history and was written in the 19th century. It chronicles the struggles & persecutions of a European fundamentalist christian sect. It traces the Waldenses' roots back to the 11th century. If historical chronicling is tedious to you, I recommend James Byron Huggins' epic historical fiction work titled RORA. It is an easy read and might entice you into reading "The Waldenses".

History of the Waldenses by J.A. Wylie is a quality portrait of a people denied basic christian rights by the papal hegemony in Rome. Well written and concise, I fully recommend this insightful look into the tragic martyrs of the mountains. The Waldenses have shown the rest of the Christian world that compromise and ethical withdrawls have no business in the churches of the middle ages or today. Thank you Waldenses for suffering in the name of Jesus, and allowing me to worship my God in freedom.