Editing Waldensians (section)

=== Origins ===

According to legend, Peter Waldo renounced his wealth as an encumbrance to preaching,<ref>''Liber visionum et miraculorum'', Anonymous Chronicles of Lyon</ref>{{full citation needed|date=May 2022}} which led other members of the Catholic clergy to follow his example. Because of this shunning of wealth, the movement was early known as The Poor of Lyon and The Poor of Lombardy.<ref>Tourn, Giorgio (1999). ''Les Vaudois, l’étonnante aventure d’un peuple-église''. Claudiana.</ref>

Although they rose to prominence in the twelfth century, some evidence suggests that the Waldenses may have existed even before the time of [[Peter Waldo]], perhaps as early as 1100.<ref name="Minahan 2002 p. 2031">{{cite book | last=Minahan | first=J. | title=Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: S-Z | publisher=Greenwood Press | series=Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups Around the World | year=2002 | isbn=978-0-313-32384-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zu5GpDby9H0C&pg=PA2031 | access-date=2023-08-11 | page=2031}}</ref> In 1179, at the [[Third Council of the Lateran]], [[Pope Alexander III]] lamented that the Waldenses were a "pest of long existence".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leger |first=Jean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kItEJE3jb2kC |title=Histoire générale des Eglises evangeliques des vallees de Piemont; ou vaudoises. divisée en deux livres,...par Jean Leger, Pasteur & Moderateur des Eglises des Vallées, & depuis la violence de la Persecution, appelé à l'Eglise Wallonne de Leyde. Le tout enrichi de Tailles douces |date=1669 |publisher=chez Jean Le Carpentier |pages=155 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gilly |first=William Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C2UlwdHz0cAC&dq=waldenses+council+lateran+ancient&pg=PA45 |title=Waldensian Researches During a Second Visit to the Vaudois of Piemont: With an Introductory Inquiry Into the Antiquity and Purity of the Waldensian Church ... |date=1831 |publisher=C. J. G. & F. Rivington |language=en}}</ref> While the Inquisitor [[Reinerius Saccho]] in the thirteenth century also spoke about the dangers of the Waldenses for among other reasons its antiquity "some say that it has lasted from the time of [[Pope Sylvester I|Sylvester]], others, from the time of the Apostles."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tuy |first=Lucas de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yWDyvMCyE-EC |title=Lucae Tudensis Episcopi scriptores aliquot succedanei contra sectam Waldensium: nunc primum in lucem editi cum prolegomenis et notis ... |date=1613 |publisher=excudebat Andreas Angermarius |pages=54 |language=la}}</ref> In the seventeenth century, Waldensian Pastor [[Henri Arnaud (pastor)|Henri Arnaud]] stated that "the Vaudois are, in fact, descended from those refugees from Italy, who, after St Paul had there preached the gospel abandoned their beautiful country, like the woman mentioned in the apocalypse and fled to those wild mountains where they have to this day, handed down the gospel from father to son in the same purity and simplicity as it was preached by St Paul.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Arnaud |first=Henri |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kgpCAAAAcAAJ&q=paul |title=Histoire de la glorieuse rentrée des Vaudois |date=1710 |language=fr}}</ref>

The Waldensian movement was characterized from the beginning by lay preaching, voluntary poverty, and strict adherence to the Bible. Between 1175 and 1185, Waldo either commissioned a cleric from Lyon to translate the New Testament into the vernacular—the [[Arpitan]] (Franco-Provençal) language<ref>Harris, M. Roy (1984). "Old Waldensian: Some linguistic and editorial observations". ''Romance Philology'' 38(2), pp. 200–225.</ref>—or was himself involved in this translation work.{{citation needed|date= January 2019}}

In 1179, Waldo and one of his disciples went to Rome, where Pope Alexander III and the Roman Curia welcomed them. They had to explain their faith before a panel of three clergymen, including issues that were then debated within the Church, such as the universal priesthood, the gospel in the vulgar tongue, and the issue of voluntary poverty. The results of the meeting were inconclusive; in that same year, the Third Lateran Council condemned Waldo's ideas, but not the movement itself, while the leaders of the movement were not [[excommunication|excommunicated]] for the moment.<ref name="CE">{{cite encyclopedia|url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm |encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |title=Waldenses |via=New Advent |date= 1 October 1912 |access-date= 26 February 2014}}</ref>

The Waldensians proceeded to disobey the Third Lateran Council and continued to preach according to their own understanding of the Scriptures. In 1184, Waldo and his followers were excommunicated and forced from Lyon. The [[Catholic Church]] declared them [[heresy|heretics]], stating that the group's principal error was contempt for [[ecclesiastical]] power. Rome also accused the Waldensians of teaching innumerable errors.<ref>Brooke, Rosalind B. (1975), ''The Coming of the Friars'', New York: Routledge<!-- Barnes & Noble is a bookshop chain, not a publisher -->, pp.{{nbsp}}72–73</ref>

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''. The group would shelter the ''barba'' and help make arrangements to move on to the next town in secret.<ref>Comba, Emilio (1978) ''History of the Waldenses of Italy, from their origin to the Reformation''. New York: AMS Press, {{ISBN|978-0-4041-6119-4}}</ref> Waldo possibly died in the early thirteenth{{nbsp}}century, possibly in Germany; he was never captured, and his fate remains uncertain.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1093/pastj/gtl004 | jstor = 4125197 | issn = 0031-2746 | pages = 3–33 | last = Biller | first = Peter | author-link = Peter Biller |title = Goodbye to Waldensianism? | journal = Past & Present | date = August 2006| issue = 192 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Early Waldensians belonged to one of three groups:<ref name="herberman">Herbermann, Charles George (1913). ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'', p.{{nbsp}}250. Universal Knowledge Foundation</ref>{{nonspecific|reason=Entry needed|date=May 2022}}

* ''Sandaliati''<!-- What language are these words? Latin? Occitan? --> (those with sandals) received sacred orders and were to prove the [[heresiarch]]s wrong;
* ''Doctores'' instructed and trained missionaries;
* ''Novellani'' preached to the general population.

They were also called ''Insabbatati'', ''Sabati'', ''Inzabbatati'', or ''Sabotiers''—Some historians such as the [[Jesuits|Jesuit]] [[Jacob Gretser]] claimed this designation arose from the unusual type of [[Clog (shoe)|sabot]] they used as footwear.<ref name="Herzog">Gretser, J. (1738). Opera omnia antehac ab ipsomet auctore accurate recognita, opusculis multis, notis, et paralipomenis pluribus, propriis locis in hac editione insertis aucta et illustrata nunc selecto ordine ad certos titul: Lutherus academicus, et Waldenses sumptibus Joannis Conradi Peez. (p.112) [https://books.google.com/books?id=1utdyUTpKhsC]</ref> However, he admitted that his reasoning on this etymology did not have the support of the literature of his day because these sources, he said, contained many errors.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gretser |first=Jacob |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wkZfkeLgeqUC |title=Opera omnia, antehac ab ipsomet auctore accurate recognita, opusculis multis, notis, et paralipomenis pluribus, propriis locis in hac editione insertis, aucta et illustrata, nunc selecto ordine ad certos titulos revocata |date=1738 |pages=112 |language=la}}</ref><ref name=Damstegt>{{Cite journal |last=Damstegt |first=Gerard |date=Autumn 2016 |title=Decoding Ancient Waldenses Names: New Discoveries |url=https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3448&context=auss |journal=Andrews University Seminary Studies |volume=54 |issue=2}}</ref>{{rp|247}} Other historians such as [[Melchior Goldast]] stated that the name insabbatati was because of Sabbath keeping in the manner of Jews.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goldast |first=Melchior |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=du1TAAAAcAAJ&q=sabbato |title=Melchioris Haiminsfeldii Goldasti Rationale Constitutionum Imperialium, Autoschediasthen Sive Extemporale: In quo cum ipsis Constitutionibus argumenta dicuntur, tum Sacri Romani Imperii iura aduersus Caesaris Baronii Cardinalis Romani Annales elenchos praescribuntur (p. 78) |date=1607 |language=la}}</ref> [[Jesuits|Jesuit]] [[Inquisitor]] Francis Pegne cited in [[Nicholas Eymerich]] famous work the [[Directorium Inquisitorum|Directorium Inquisitorium]] stated that "many used to think it [insabbatati] came from Sabbath, and that they [Waldenses] observed the Sabbath according to the custom of the Jews."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eymerich (O.P.) |first=Nicolau |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N8ZJkWRUYSQC |title=Directorium Inquisitorum |date=1595 |publisher=sumptibus Simeonis Vasalini |pages=225 |language=la}}</ref> Likewise in the twelfth century, Inquisitor Moneta of Cremona railed against the Waldenses for seventh day sabbath keeping after the manner of Jews.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Moneta |first1=of Cremona |url=http://archive.org/details/venerabilispatri00mone |title=Venerabilis patris Monetae Cremonensis ordinis praedicatorum S.P. dominico aequalis Adversus Catharos et Valdenses libri quinque : quos ex manuscriptis codd. Vaticano, Bononiensi, ac Neapolitano |last2=Ricchini |first2=Tommaso Agostino |last3=Sintes |first3=Giovanni Battista |last4=Fratta |first4=Domenico Maria |last5=Pomarede |first5=Silvio |last6=Palearini |first6=Nicolò |last7=Palearini |first7=Marco |date=1743 |publisher=Romae : Ex typographia Palladis : Excudebant Nicolaus, et Marcus Palearini |others=Getty Research Institute |pages=475–476}}</ref> Johann Gottfried Hering in 1756 in his Compendieuses Church and Heretic Lexicon defined Sabbatati (a sect of the Waldenses) as those who kept the sabbath with the Jews.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hering |first=Johann Gottfried |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OLYAAAAAcAAJ&q=sabbatati |title=Compendieuses Kirchen- und Ketzer-Lexicon: In welchem Alle Ketzereyen und Secten, und deren Urheber und Stiffter, von derer Apostel Zeiten her, wie auch die meisten geistlichen Orden angezeiget und beschrieben, darnebst auch viele zur Kirchen-Historie dienende Termini und Sachen angeführet und erklähret werden |date=1756 |publisher=Fulde |page=537 |language=de}}</ref> In the early Waldenses prose tracts there existed an exposition on the 10 commandments which put forth their own explanation on the 4th commandment which defended sabbath keeping.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Unattributed |url=https://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/concern/works/xw42nf17j?locale=en&fbclid=IwAR3_SiQ6eJ64fb2WRBC9-ksBXf8oR1N29UQXfB_PB8ZTHFRUUF8_SC0MZLE |title=Waldensian prose tracts. IE TCD MS 260 |publisher=Dominique Vigneaux d’’Angrogne |year=1524 |location=France? |pages=f.209 r |language=Latin}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Blair |first=Adam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MtwRAAAAIAAJ |title=History of the Waldenses: With an Introductory Sketch of the History of the Christian Churches in the South of France and North of Italy, Till These Churches Submitted to the Pope, when the Waldenses Continued as Formerly Independent of the Papal See |date=1832 |publisher=A. Black |pages=527 |language=en}}</ref>

Many among the Waldensians claimed that people such as [[Claudius of Turin]] and [[Berengar of Tours]] were first representatives of the sect, but in modern times claims of the Waldenses to high antiquity are no longer accepted.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |title=Waldenses |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15527b.htm|access-date=2021-11-05 |via=New Advent}}</ref>

One school of thought attempts to associate [[Vigilantius]] with proto-Waldensians in the European Alps.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mA9gAAAAMAAJ |title=Sketches of the Waldenses |publisher=Religious Tract Society |publication-date=1846 |page=18 |chapter=Accounts of the Waldenses |year=1846 |isbn=978-1-02-236632-9 |quote=[...] returning to the region of the Alps, he [Vigilantius] found a body of Christians like-minded with himself; with these he gladly united, and laboured. |access-date=2 March 2022}}</ref>