Waldenses
From Textus Receptus
The persecution of the Waldenses by the Roman Catholic Church
"The Waldenses (also called Vaudois or Albigenses) are an example of what occurred during this period. They lived in the mountains of Italy and France and eventually spread throughout Europe; they refused to join the Catholic Church or recognize the Pope. They received the Bible as the sole source for faith and practice and had their own translations, which they diligently reproduced in hand-written copies. Rome persecuted the Waldenses throughout the Dark Ages up until the 18th century.
( 1 ) A few brief descriptions of the persecutions against the Waldenses follow. Note that many entire books have been written about these persecutions and the following facts only hint at the destruction and torment poured out upon these people. [For more information, the reader's attention is invited to the Fundamental Baptist CD-Rom Library, which contains dozens of rare old Baptist and Waldensian histories, including Baptist History by John M. Cramp (1852) , The Story of the Baptists in All Ages and Countries by Richard Cook (1888 ) , Memorials of Baptist Martyrs by J. Newton Brown (1854) , A History of the Baptists by Thomas Armitage (1890) , A History of the Christian Church (Waldenses) by William Jones (1819), History of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont and Albigenses by Pierre Allix (1690, 1692) , A History of the Waldenses by J.A. Wylie (1860), and A History of the Ancient Christians of the Valleys of the Alps by Perrin (1618 ) .
12th Century. The Roman Catholic Church persecuted Peter Waldo and refused to accept his translation of the New Testament into the Romaunt language. Pope Alexander III (1159-1181) expelled Waldo and his followers from his diocese, and the next pope, Lucius III, put his papal curse upon them (William Blackburn, History of the Christian Church, 1880, pp. 309, 310). The Council of Tours in 1163 promoted inquisition against Bible believers, issuing a decree that stated: "No man must presume to receive or assist heretics, nor in buying or selling have any thing to do with them, that being thus deprived of the comforts of humanity, they may be compelled to repent of the error of their way" (Gideon Ouseley, A Short Defence of the Old Religion, 1821, p. 221 ) . "Many Albigenses, refusing the terms, were burnt in different cities in the south of France" (G.H. Orchard, A Concise History of the Baptists, 1855, P. 199 ) . The Third Lateran Council "gave permission to princes to reduce heretics to slavery and shortened the time of penance by two years for those taking up arms against them" (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, V, p. 519 ) .
13th Century: In the year 1209, Pope Innocent III called for a crusade against the Waldenses in France. Anyone who volunteered to war against the "heretics" (so called by Rome because they dissented from her dogmas) was promised forgiveness of sin and many rewards. Tens of thousands took up arms for the Pope and marched against the hated Waldenses. Some 200,000 dissenters were killed by the Pope's army within a few months. Two large cities, Beziers (Braziers) and Carcasone, were destroyed, together with many smaller towns and villages. The war was conducted for 20 years! Thousands were made homeless and were forced to wander in the woods and mountains to escape their tormentors. The cruelties practiced by the Catholic persecutors were horrible and often unspeakable. The Christians were thrown from high cliffs, hanged, disemboweled, pierced through repeatedly, drowned, torn by dogs, burned alive, crucified. In one case, 400 mothers fled for refuge with their babies to a cave in Castelluzzo, which was located 2,000 feet above the valley in which they lived. They were discovered by the rampaging Catholics; a large fire was built outside of the cave and they were suffocated.
15th Century: In 1487 Pope Innocent VIII called for a crusade against the Waldenses in Italy, Germany, and elsewhere. He promised forgiveness of sins and a share in the plunder to those who participated. Charles VIII of France and Charles II of Savoy agreed to raise an army for the destruction of the Waldenses. This regular army, which numbered about 18,000 soldiers, was joined by thousands of "ruffians," urged on by the promise of forgiveness of sins and the expectation of obtaining spoil from the Waldensian possessions. James Wylie describes these volunteers as "ambitious fanatics, reckless pillagers, merciless assassins " (History of the Waldenses, 1860, p. 29 ) . This army attacked the Waldensian mountain valleys in northern Italy simultaneously from the plains to the south and from France to the west. Thousands of Bible-believing Christians perished in this crusade. Their homes and crops were destroyed. Many entire villages were razed. Their women were raped and then viciously murdered. Their children were dashed against trees and thrown off cliffs. More than 3,000 Waldensian Christians, men, women, and children, perished in one cave called AigueFroid to which they had fled for safety. These were the inhabitants of the entire village of Val Loyse, and the property of these pitiful people was distributed to the participants of the crusade. Many entire large valleys were burned and pillaged and depopulated. This crusade against the Waldensians lasted for a year.
16th Century: Following is a brief description of the persecutions in the 16th century as given by a Waldensian pastor, "There is no town in Piedmont under a Vaudois pastor, where some of our brethren have not been put to death ... Hugo Chiamps of Finestrelle had his entrails torn from his living body, at Turin. Peter Geymarali of Bobbio, in like manner, had his entrails taken out at Lucema, and a fierce cat thrust in their place to torture him further; Maria Romano was buried alive at Rocco-patia; Magdalen Foulano underwent the same fate at San Giovanni; Susan Michelini was bound hand and foot, and left to perish of cold and hunger at Saracena. Bartholomew Fache, gashed with sabres, had the wounds filled up with quicklime, and perished thus in agony at Fenile; Daniel Michelini had his tongue torn out at Bobbio for having praised God. James Baridari perished covered with sulphurous matches, which had been forced into his flesh under the nails, between the fingers, in the nostrils, in the lips, and over all his body, and then lighted. Daniel Revelli had his mouth filled with gunpowder, which, being lighted, blew his head to pieces. Maria Monnen, taken at Liousa, had the flesh cut from her cheek and chin bone, so that her jaw was left bare, and she was thus left to perish. Paul Gamier was slowly sliced to pieces at Rora. Thomas Margueti was mutilated in an indescribable manner at Miraboco, and Susan Jaquin cut in bits at La Torre. Sara Rostagnol was slit open from the legs to the bosom, and so left to perish on the road between Eyral and Lucerna. Anne Charbonnier was impaled and carried thus on a pike, as a standard, from San Giovanni to La Torre. Daniel Rambaud, at Paesano, had his nails torn off, then his fingers chopped off, then his feet and his hands, then his anns and his legs, with each successive refusal on his part to abjure the Gospel" (Alex Muston, A History of the Waldenses: The Israel of the Alps, 1866 ) .
( 2 ) Not only were the Waldensian Christians themselves destroyed during these persecutions, but their literature and vernacular Scriptures were destroyed with a vengeance. The Catholic priests who accompanied the armies made certain of this. So many copies of the Waldensian Scriptures were destroyed that we have little information about their Bibles. Only seven copies of the Romaunt New Testament have survived.
( 3 ) In the 17th century, Samuel Morland visited the Waldenses in northern Italy as the representative of England's ruler, Oliver Cromwell. Morland tried to assist the Waldenses in the bitter persecutions that were still being poured out upon them. Entire armies had been sent to destroy the Waldensian villages in the 17th century. Practically all of their documents had been destroyed. Morland gathered up any remaining materials he could find and in 1658 sent them back to England to be deposited in the library at the University of Cambridge. On a visit to the library in April 2005 I examined the F packet, which contains five small bound volumes of Waldensian doctrinal material plus a 14th-century Romaunt New Testament (though incomplete)."
Fatih vs The Moder Bible Versions by David W. Cloud
