The year is 1173, and the
setting is Lyons, France. A radical Christian began preaching of apostolic
poverty – the belief that the clergy and those following and believing in God
could do so without any land ownership of excessive wealth – and spreading the
gospel with residents of the city. The daring and influential preacher was
Peter Waldo, and sparked what would become one of the largest movements and
reformations of the time.
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| Peter Waldo: Preacher, or pest? |
The Waldensians were
followers of Waldo’s sermons, and whom believed in a thorough understanding of
the Bible and the spread of the gospel to those who otherwise would not have
been exposed to it. Central to their beliefs were the Godhead (Trinity),
voluntary and apostolic poverty (as discussed in class, and found in Cohn’s Demonization of Mediaeval Heretics), and
a staunch denial of purgatory and the Antichrist.
The Waldensians did not
believe in needing or utilizing and organized church, nor of needing to be
formally educated in order to preach. Referred to as “Poor Catholics” in 1208, after the burning of eight Waldensians in Strasbourg, the distaste and condemnation of the group came to a crux in 1215 when Pope
Innocent III declared them heretics during
the Fourth Lateran Council.
According to Bernard Gui’s
Practica inquisitionis haeretica
pravitatis, Devil worship, and other heretical acts committed by the
Waldensians, were performed in peculiar ways, primarily in the Devil being
presented in the form of an animal – most often a cat, other times a goat, so
on and so forth (CP 111). Connecting this to today’s reading, an image of this
representation can be found on page 112 of our course packet, and depicts the
adoration and worship of the Devil in the form of a cat. The image can also be
found below.
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| The "obscene kiss" - kissing the behind of a goat-like creature representative of the Devil. |
What are your thoughts? Were the Waldensians simply believers who disagreed with the religious doctrine at the time, or was there a deeper, more sinister component to their practices?
Images in order of appearance:
Adoration image take from course packet
This is a great post, I really enjoyed our class readings and discussion about the Waldensians, and I really liked your naming of the movement as a reformation. I think the Waldensians teachings and practices reveal an early movement similar to what we title as the Reformation which is another reason I find it so intriguing.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your question I personally have been leaning towards the viewpoint that the Waldensians were devout religious followers who had enough differences with the Catholic mainstream, particularly about the role of the church, for the Catholic Church to consider them a threat. For this reason the church demonized and isolated the Waldensians.
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ReplyDeleteI honestly can't see anyway that the Waldensians could be considered bad guys. I think they were very devout and religious but they just did things a little bit differently. Getting excommunicated by the pope and then being declared heretics really brought a lot of negative imagery to them. Had it not been for that I think things would have played out a lot differently.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, I enjoyed reading your blog. To answer your question I do not believe the Waldensians were necessarily bad or demonic but yet just rebelling against the Catholic views and beliefs. In this era I can see how people who go against the norm are considered bad guys but I still do not believe they were evil.
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