Waldensians

During the Middle Ages, Waldensians believed in poverty and austerity, promoting true poverty, public [|preaching] and the personal study of the scripture. The sect originated in the late 12th century as the //Poor Men of Lyons//, a band organized by [|Peter Waldo], a wealthy merchant of [|Lyon], who gave away his property around 1177 and went about preaching apostolic [|poverty] as the way to perfection. In 1179, they went to Rome, where [|Pope Alexander III] blessed their life but forbade preaching without authorization from the local clergy. They disobeyed and began to preach according to their own understanding of scripture. Seen by the Roman Catholic Church as unorthodox, they were formally declared [|heretics] by [|Pope Lucius III] in 1184 at the [|Synod of Verona], and by the [|Fourth Lateran Council] in 1215. In 1211 more than 80 were burned as heretics at [|Strasbourg,]beginning several centuries of [|persecution] that nearly destroyed the sect.

- Waldensians are important to our course because we encountered them as one of the heretical movements that Bernard Gui writes about as an inquisitor. - they also demonstrate the fine line between Church sponsorship and heretical group. *they were not that different from Franciscans!!!* - Lastly, remember what Prof. Buc said about the most feared enemy is not the one that looks different, like Muslims, but the ones that look similar, like heretics.