Peter Waldo
Peter Waldo | |
---|---|
Pierre Vaudès/de Vaux | |
Waldensian |
Peter Waldo (
The tradition that his first name was "Peter" can only be traced back to the fourteenth century. This has caused some historians, such as Jana Schulman, to see it as likely a later invention.
Relationship with Waldenses
Peter Waldo is regarded by many historians, including Jana Schulman, as having founded the Waldensians sometime between 1170 and 1177.[6][7][4]
There were claims that the Waldensians predated Peter Waldo. In his A History of the Vaudois Church (1859), Antoine Monastier quotes Bernard, Abbott of Foncald, writing at the end of the 12th century, that the Waldensians arose during the papacy of Lucius.[8] Monastier takes him to mean Lucius II, Pope from 1144 to 1145, and concludes that the Waldenses were active before 1145. Bernard also says that the same Pope Lucius condemned them as heretics, but they were condemned by Pope Lucius III in 1184.[9]
Monastier also says that Eberard de Béthune, writing in 1210 (although Monastier says 1160), claimed that the name Vaudois meant "valley dwellers" or those who "dwell in a vale of sorrow and tears", and was in use before Peter Waldo.
A claim persisted until the 19th century that Waldo had not begun any new movement but that he had arisen from a pure Christianity established by the Apostles in the Alps soon after Jesus' ascension, and that Waldo was merely perpetuating this pure faith.[4]
Life and work
Most details of Waldo's life are unknown. Extant sources relate that he was a wealthy clothier and merchant from
Through reading his Bible and writings of the
Waldo began traveling around Lombardy begging and preaching about the value of poverty. The region of Lombardy was a hotbed of religious reform movements at the time, many of which would be later deemed heresies by the Catholic Church. These include the Cathars, the Humiliati, the Albigensians, and the Speronists. As Waldo gathered followers and they determined their own doctrines they shared many features with these other reform movements - to the point that it becomes difficult for historians to determine the origins of many of the religious ideas circulating among them.[4] Unlike the leaders of these other groups Waldo had never joined the Catholic Church's priesthood or any of its religious orders.[4]
Other events, besides hearing of Saint Alexius, may have also contributed to Waldo's decision to take up poverty and preaching including a rejection of transubstantiation when it was considered a capital crime to do it,[citation needed] and the sudden and unexpected death of a friend during an evening meal.[12][13] From this point onward he began living a radical Christian life, giving his property over to his wife, while the remainder of his belongings he distributed as alms to the poor. At about this time, Waldo began to preach and teach publicly, based on his ideas of simplicity and poverty, notably that "No man can serve two masters, God and Mammon."[14]
Inspired by his example Waldo began to attract followers and they grew into a community of believers. By 1170 Waldo had gathered a large number of followers, referred to as the Poor of Lyons, the Poor of
In January 1179, Waldo and one of his
Waldo condemned what he considered as
Waldo's ideas, but not the movement itself, were condemned at the Third Lateran Council in March of the same year.[21] The leaders of the Waldensian movement were not yet excommunicated.
In 1180, Waldo composed a profession of faith which is still extant.[22][23][24]
Driven away from Lyon, Waldo and his followers settled in the high valleys of
See also
- Waldensians
- Waldensian Evangelical Church
- John Charles Beckwith
- Luserna San Giovanni
- Val Pellice
- Waldensian valleys
References
- ^ "Waldo". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
- ^ Ussher, James (19 February 1687). "Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates: Quibus Inserta Est Pestiferæ Adversùs Dei Gratiam À Pelagio Britanno in Ecclesiam Inductæ Hæreseos Historia. Accedit Gravissimæ Quæstionis De Christianarum Ecclesiarum Successione & Statu Historica Explicatio. A Jacobo Usserio ." impensis Benj. Tooke – via Google Books.
- ^ Schmieder, Heinrich Eduard (19 February 1854). "Petrus Waldus und Franz von Assisi: Ein Vortrag auf Veranstaltung des Evangelischen Vereins für Kirchliche". Schultze – via Google Books.
- ^ ISBN 9780313308178.
- ISBN 978-1-61069-026-3. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
- ^ "Waldenses". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
little is known with certainty about the reputed founder, Valdes (also called Peter Waldo, or Valdo). As a layman, Valdes preached (1170–76) in Lyon, France
- ^ Weber, N. (1912). "Waldenses". Catholic Encyclopedia. New Advent. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
The real founder of the sect was a wealthy merchant of Lyon who in the early documents is called Waldes (Waldo)… On the Feast of the Assumption, 1176, he disposed of the last of his earthly possessions and shortly after took the vow of poverty.
- ^ Monastier 1859, p. 58.
- ^ Weber, N. (1912). "Waldenses". Catholic Encyclopedia. New Advent. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
Pope Lucius III consequently included them among the heretics against whom he issued a Bull of excommunication at Verona in 1184.
- ^ Lelong 1723, p. 313-14.
- ^ Jones 1819, p. 18-19.
- ^ Perrin 1884, p. 21.
- ^ Aston 1993, p. 18.
- ^ "Internet History Sourcebooks Project". sourcebooks.fordham.edu.
- ^ Wylie 1848, p. 17.
- ^ RHGF 1786, p. 682, section E.
- ^ Roe, Hooker & Handford 1907, p. 4445.
- ^ Cathcart 1883, p. 1200.
- ^ Beard 1885, p. 24.
- ^ Perrin 1884, p. 22.
- ^ Map 1924, p. 76.
- ^ Tourn 1980, p. 232.
- ^ Waldo 1969.
- ^ "The Waldensian Confessions of Faith (Circa 1120) | Reformed Theology at A Puritan's Mind". Retrieved 1 January 2023.
- Gale Group. 2004. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
Sources
Primary
- Anonymous (January 1996) [1218]. "The Conversion of Peter Waldo". In Halsall, Paul (ed.). Internet Medieval Source Book. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
- Waldo, Peter (1969) [1180]. "Profession of Faith". Wikispaces.com. Translated by Wakefield, Walter; Evans, Austin. Archived from the original on 14 July 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
- "Ex Chronico Canonici Laudunensis". Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France (in Latin). Vol. XIII. Paris. 1786.
- Map, Walter (1924) [after 1192]. "Of the Sect of the Waldenses". De Nugis Curialium. Translated by Tupper, Frederick; Bladen Ogle, Marbury.
Secondary
- Aston, M. (1993). Faith and Fire: Popular and Unpopular Religion, 1350–1600. London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-85285-073-9.
- Beard, C. (1885) [1883]. "Reform before the Reformation". The Reformation of the sixteenth century in its relation to modern thought and knowledge. The Hibbert Lectures. London: Williams and Norgate. p. 24.
- Cathcart, W. (1883). "Waldenses, The". The Baptist Encyclopædia: A Dictionary of the Doctrines, Ordinances, Usages, Confessions of Faith, Sufferings, Labors, and Successes, and of the General History of the Baptist Denomination in All Lands. Vol. 2. Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts. pp. 1200–1201.
- Lelong, Jacques (1723). "Biblia Gallica: Versiones antiquae et codices manuscripti". Bibliotheca Sacra (in Latin). Vol. I. Paris: François Montalant.
- . Vol. II. London: W. Myers.
- Monastier, Antoine (1859). A History of the Vaudois Church from Its Origin. London: Religious Tract Society.
Bernard.
- Perrin, J.P. (1884). History of the Old Waldenses Anterior to the Reformation. New York, NY: Macon & Company.
- Roe, E.T.; Hooker, L.R.; Handford, T.W. (1907). "Waldenses". The New American Encyclopedic Dictionary. New York, NY: J. A. Hill.
- Tourn, G. (1980). The Waldensians: The first 800 years (1174–1974). Torino: Claudiana.
- Wylie, J.A. (1848). History of the Waldenses. London: Cassell, limited.
Further reading
- Audisio, Gabriel, The Waldensian Dissent: Persecution and Survival, c.1170 – c.1570, Cambridge Medieval Textbooks. (1999) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-55984-7
- Leff, G. (1999) [1967]. Heresy in the Later Middle Ages: The Relation of Heterodoxy to Dissent, C. 1250-c. 1450. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-5743-4.
- Wakefield, W.L.; Evans, A.P. (1991) [1969]. Heresies of the High Middle Ages. ACLS Humanities E-Book. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-09632-4.