Of the Conversion of Peter Waldo, and the Rise of the Waldenses, and So On

M. Matthias Flaccius Illyricus (in his Catalog. Testitum heritatis, between folio 263 and folio 277, according to Jac. Mehrning in Bapt. [n379-1] Hist., page 601), writes: "About the year 1160, several of the leading citizens of Lyons were together, talking of various matters, as is customary in the summer season, in Italy and France. As they were standing there together, one of them suddenly fell to the ground and died before their eyes.

"This dreadful event, an example of the mortality of man and of the divine wrath, terrified one of their number, namely, Peter Waldo, a man who was very wealthy. He began to reflect, and resolved (impelled, no doubt, by the Holy Spirit) to repent, amend his life, and be more diligent in the fear of God than he had been until then. He therefore began to give alms generously, and at suitable times to remind his household and others who came to him of what is good, and to urge them to repentance and true godliness.

"When he had in this way done much good to the poor for some time, and grew ever more zealous to learn as well as to teach others, the people also came to him more and more; he therefore began to set before them, not his own ideas, but the holy Scriptures, and to expound and explain them in the common French language.

"But the bishop and the prelates, who, as Christ says, have the key of heaven and yet do not go in themselves, nor will let others enter, were greatly angered that this man, in their opinion unlearned and common, should bring the holy Scriptures into the vernacular language and expound them, and that great numbers already came into his house, where he instructed and admonished them.

"However, he was deeply in earnest to promote both the honor of God and the salvation of men; and the people were so eager for the Word of God, which in the churches was not preached pure, nor publicly, that they could not be turned away by the command of these papistic Pharisees and high priests; so both the teacher and those he taught said that one ought to obey God rather than men.

"Waldo therefore resolved, in spite of the commands of the wicked, to sustain the hungry Christians not only with his temporal living, which, because of his generous giving, decreased day by day, but also with the Word of God, and good instruction and admonition; and since the prelates, by tyranny and unchristian decrees, sought to suppress and wipe out the simple and true preaching of the Word of God, reason enough was thus given to Waldo and his followers to inquire the more diligently into the religion and intentions of the priests, and to speak the more boldly against them.

"As the contest with the priests grew more and more violent, more confusions and superstitions were discovered in the papistic religion, and attacked. At this time Waldo also read, in the vernacular, certain testimonies from the writings of the fathers, with which he defended his own position not only with the holy Scriptures, but also with the testimonies of the ancients, against the enemies of the truth.

"When the bishop with his papistic Pharisees and scribes saw with what steadfastness Waldo and his followers taught the Word of God, and were pained that their own infamy, ignorance, and fickleness in doctrine, and other absurdities, were attacked by Waldo and his followers, they excommunicated them one and all. Not long afterward, seeing that even by excommunication they could not be turned from their purpose, they banished them into misery, persecuted them with imprisonment, the sword, and fire, and treated them very cruelly, so that because of the distress and danger they were in, they might be compelled to leave Lyons and scatter into various countries.

"It is likely that Waldo's congregations, or some of them, whom he taught at Lyons, were there for four or five years, until they were utterly driven out of that city; for Waldo was a man of powerful abilities, and is said to have had many relatives, and so could not be checked or put down in a moment; besides, he did not attack the priests of the pope right at the beginning.

"Finally these godly people were proceeded against with great fury throughout Christendom; they were sent here and there by the inquisitors; for which we have to thank those savage wolves that go about in sheep's clothing and call themselves monks." Bapt. Hist., pages 601 to 604, from Matt. Flacc.

Claude de Rubis relates that Waldo and his followers were completely expelled from Lyons, while Albert de Capitaneis says that they could not be entirely expelled. We have not been able to learn anything further about this first persecution, except that the Waldenses, so called after Waldo, after escaping from Lyons, followed him, and then scattered, in different bands, into various countries. Balthas. Lydius, History of the Waldenses, printed at Dortrecht, 1624, 1st book of the first part, chapter 1, page 3, column 1, from Claud. de Rub. Hist., page 269. Albert de Cap., book of the origin of the Waldenses, page 1.

NOTE. Peter Blesensus, a learned man, well known by his writings, taught in the year 1167 that Rome was the true Babylon of which John prophesied; that the officials of the Roman court were genuine harpies, and the priests true calves of Bethel, priests of Baal, Egyptian idols; and that at Rome everything could be had for money. Chron. van den Onderg., page 479, column 1, from Merula, folio 767.

About the year 1170. For the year 1160 we gave an account of Peter Waldo and his conversion, and of how he brought many who sat in the darkness of popery to the light of the holy Gospel. It is stated of these people that in doctrine, faith, and life they were like the Apostolics, of whom we made mention for the year 1155, and stated that they were opposed to infant baptism, purgatory, and so on. The rise of these people, called Waldenses and Albigenses, is fixed at about the year 1170, that is, ten years after Peter Waldo began to teach them; which matters will hereafter be treated more fully and in detail. Compare Bapt. Hist., page 599, with Nietigh., page 85; also, Introduction to the Martyrs' Mirror, folio 50, columns 1 and 2 (although the principal rising of these people is there fixed in the year 1176), from Bar. in Chron., in the year 1176, numbers 1, 2, 3.

NOTE. It appears from several ancient writers that the Waldenses, or at least people who held the same belief, existed long before the year 1170, indeed before 1160; seeing that already in the year 1160 they had increased to such an extent that they were summoned to Rome before a synod, and were condemned there as obstinate heretics. Johan. de Oppido. The same occurred in the year 1164, in the synod of Tours, Bapt. Hist., page 676. Hence, when their beginning is fixed in the year 1170, this must not be understood of their origin, but of their rising, progress, and greatest prosperity.