The Waldensian dissent

by Audisio, Gabriel

"The Poor of Lyons, called by their detractors 'Waldensians' after their founder Waldo or Vaudes, first emerged around 1170. Like other groups of the period, they formed a religious community founded on the strict observance of the gospel, preaching and poverty. Defying Church rulings stating that the laity had no right to preach and applying the scriptures to the letter, in particular denying the existence of purgatory and refusing to take oaths, they were condemned as heretics. The community was forced underground and dispersed widely; but through a unique, organised body of intinerant preachers they nevertheless managed to maintain links throughout the whole of Europe." "This book is less a history of Waldensianism than an account of those men and women who, remaining true to an ideal, lived in anxiety and under suspicion, often fearful and sometimes in blind terror. Proclaiming their faith timidly, yet with an astounding - sometimes dogged - tenacity, they hold up a mirror to us to