Thirty Six Persons Called Waldenses, in the Year 1390

The holy apostle Paul wrote very fittingly (Second Timothy 3, verse 12), "And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution;" for this was seen, in the year 1390, in the case of certain devout Christians, who, being citizens of the city of Mentz, in Germany, had their citizenship no less in the new and heavenly Jerusalem; having accepted the faith and doctrine of the Son of God, upon which they, as obedient followers of Christ (as may be inferred), had been baptized according to the confession of the Waldensian brothers, in order thus to work out, in the footsteps of faith, their salvation with fear and trembling, according to the rule, Philippians 2, verse 12.

But since the rulers of darkness could not bear this light of truth, it came about, in the city of Bingen, that thirty six (not among the least) of these children of light were arrested, and, refusing to depart from the truth they had once confessed, were condemned to death, namely, to be executed with fire; that is, to be burned alive; which was also done to them, and so they, through fire, offered up a living, holy sacrifice acceptable to God.

Concerning the offering of these people, mention is made in the 2nd book of the History of the Persecutions, folio 505, column 3, from Matth. Flacc. Illyr., Catal. Test. Verit. [n487-1] This Illyricus also acknowledges that at that time (in the year 1390) thirty six citizens of Mentz were burned alive at Bingen, for the faith of the Waldenses.

NOTE. Someone may ask himself whether these martyred persons, who were called citizens of Mentz, and were put to death at Bingen, were not the same martyrs spoken of in a certain place in the preceding century; since it is also stated of them that they were inhabitants of Mentz, and lost their lives at Bingen; however, this cannot well be reconciled, since there is a great discrepancy, in regard to the time as well as the number of the persons. For as regards the time, the former lived one hundred and eighty seven years earlier than the latter, since they were already dead in the year 1212 (according to the account of Bruschius, in his History of the German Monasteries; also A. Mell., folio 457, column 3); but these last mentioned ones were put to death in the year 1390, as has been shown. Regarding the number of persons, that of the former is given as thirty nine, but that of the latter as thirty six, a discrepancy of three. As to their citizenship or residence at Mentz, which is stated of both, as well as that both were put to death at Bingen, these are facts that need not cause anyone to think that, because there is an agreement in these respects, the same people have been noticed twice by the writers; for it may be that at that time those of Mentz had no court of their own, or power to pronounce sentence of death, and that therefore they had to hand over those of their prisoners who were held for capital crimes to those of Bingen, or at least had to bring them to trial there, as is customary, even at the present day, in many other cities.