Peter Waldo
The first mention of Peter Waldo in history is when, in 1170, he hears a religious ballad sung by a minstrel and, so overwhelmed by emotion, gives away his fortunes he had amassed as a merchant and starts living his life in poverty as a preacher. He managed to convince a priest who lived nearby to translate large sections of the New Testament into the local language, Provençal, and he wandered throughout Lyons, preaching the message of Christ to anyone who would hear him and soon memorised the gospels. He was so empowering and passionate that he inspired a number of young men to follow his example and give up their possessions and live a life of poverty.
Waldo had grown so popular amongst the people of Lyons that some priests who lived there tried to stop him, but he went over their heads and appealed directly to the pope himself. In 1179 the pope responded with praise about what they were doing, but said that because they had no theological training they could only preach if the Archbishop of Lyons gave his permission.
The Waldenses, as they had come to be known, felt that their message was too important to be stopped, checked over and dissected by the traditional views of the church, who believed that the bible should only be written in Latin and you should only be allowed to read it if you had a certain amount of training. They rejected the pope's order and were, subsequently, excommunicated from the church in 1184.
The Waldenses were radical in the church's terms. They refused to believe in purgatory as it was not in the bible, they lived their lives according to the teachings of the new testament, rather than what the church made it out to be, they rejected the idea of saints because it was not in the new testament and made it so that anyone, not just priests could consecrate the sacramental bread and wine. They rejected the structure of the church, stating it was unbiblical, and refused to take oaths or go to war.
Peter waldo, himself, was not heard of after his excommunication, but his followers were harassed by the church and it's followers afterwards, especially in the inquisitions. They escaped to the near-inaccessible mountains of northern Italy as soon as possible and their ideals managed to survive over the centuries and are still alive today.
Waldo had grown so popular amongst the people of Lyons that some priests who lived there tried to stop him, but he went over their heads and appealed directly to the pope himself. In 1179 the pope responded with praise about what they were doing, but said that because they had no theological training they could only preach if the Archbishop of Lyons gave his permission.
The Waldenses, as they had come to be known, felt that their message was too important to be stopped, checked over and dissected by the traditional views of the church, who believed that the bible should only be written in Latin and you should only be allowed to read it if you had a certain amount of training. They rejected the pope's order and were, subsequently, excommunicated from the church in 1184.
The Waldenses were radical in the church's terms. They refused to believe in purgatory as it was not in the bible, they lived their lives according to the teachings of the new testament, rather than what the church made it out to be, they rejected the idea of saints because it was not in the new testament and made it so that anyone, not just priests could consecrate the sacramental bread and wine. They rejected the structure of the church, stating it was unbiblical, and refused to take oaths or go to war.
Peter waldo, himself, was not heard of after his excommunication, but his followers were harassed by the church and it's followers afterwards, especially in the inquisitions. They escaped to the near-inaccessible mountains of northern Italy as soon as possible and their ideals managed to survive over the centuries and are still alive today.