Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/310

LEFT WALDENSES 270 WALDENSES of the poor, and devoted himself to preaching the truth to the people by the wayside. Everywhere he found eager listeners, and was followed by groups of simple and earnest persons of both sexes who did their best, even to their dress, to carry out the apostolic ideal, loving to bear the name of the Poor Men of Lyons. The tenets ascribed to them in the ear- liest accounts are chiefly that oaths even in a court of justice are not allowable, that homicide is under no circumstances justifiable, that every lie is a moral sin, that all believers are capable of priestly functions, and that the sacraments are invalidated by uncleanness of life in the officiating priest. We find at first no special doctrines that could be condemned as heretical, and even in later days, as Mr. Lea points out, the documents of the Inquisi- tion constantly refer to "heresy and Waldensianism," the former meaning Catharism, The archbishop of Lyons forbade them to preach, but in vain; Pope Alexander IIL gave them a modi- fied approval, but Lucius III. anathema- tized them at Verona in 1184, and Inno- cent III. at the fourth council of the Lateran in 1215. But it was impossible to com.pel silence, for the missionary zeal of these sincere enthusiasts _was boundless, and their influence quickly grew. Alonso II. of Aragon ordered them to quit his dominions in 1194, and in southern France they became involved in the common destruction of the Albi- genses, though their quarrel with the Church differed from that of the latter in relating to matters of practice rather than of doctrine. But under persecution their diver- gences from the Church naturally grew ever the greater, and we find that grad- ually, though never uniformly, they came to repudiate the invocation of the Vir- gin and saints, transubstantiation, and purgatory with all its consequences. Thus the Waldensian martyrs at Strass- burg in 1212 made no distinction between laity and priesthood, while at the same time both the French and Lombardian Waldenses held that the Eucharist could be celebrated only by an ordained priest, ahd it was at that time still the latter only who believed it invalid if the priest was living in sin. Yet they themselves maintained a kind of order of preachers (perfecti), living in voluntary poverty and celibacy, in contradistinction to the ordinary oredentes. And by some ac- counts there was a kind of hierarchy among the perfecti, a theory which gains some support from the frequent use of such terms as majoralis, tnagnus ma- gister, major, and minor. Their morality was austere, and we find the very inquis- itors acknowledging their chastity, so- briety, truthfulness, and industry. Their crowning offenses were their paramount regard for Scripture and the unresting proseljrtism of their preachers, who went abroad two by two, ostensibly practicing some calling, as pedlers or tinkers, but ceaselessly exhorting the faithful in se- questered places, hearing confessions, and administering absolution. Their principal seats were the slopes and fast- nesses of the Cottian Alps, E. in Pied- mont, W. in Provence and Dauphine. After the Cathari were finally crushed they supplied the chief work that re- mained to the Inquisition in France. They had grown strong among the poorer class in Languedoc, with schools, a good organization, and missionaries reputed to have skill in medicine. They next spread into Lorraine, Burgundy, Franche Comte, Narbonne, and the mountains of Auvergne. We find Bernard Gui burn- ing them at Toulouse in 1316, and by this time persecution had done its per- fect work as well in refining their piety as in completing their estrangement from Rome. Their doctrine of non-resistance made it easy to harry and confiscate their propei'ty, yet we find the victims often too poor to pay for the wood that burned them. During the years 1336-1346 espe- cially they were severely harassed; 12 were burned in front of the cathedral at Embrun in 1348, Popes Clement VI. and Urban V. stimulated the zeal of the Inquisition, and we read how the great inquisitor, Francois Borel, burned 150 at Grenoble in one' day in 1393. Gregory XL urged on the unhappy work in Prov- ence, Dauphind, and the Lyonnais, and in 1375 the prisons were crowded with far more prisoners than could be fed, and charity was actually asked fo' them by the Church. During the Great Schism they con- trived to escape, and after the Council of Constance the Hussites engaged for a time all the energies of the Church. We hear, however, of the persecutions again in 1432 and later years, and by this time, says Mr. Lea, so completely had the Waldenses monopolized the field of misbelief in the public mind of France that sorcery became popularly known as vauderie, and witches as vaudoises. Six- tus IV. tried to stir up Louis XI. in vain ; but Charles VIII. was more docile, and Pope Innocent VIII. was able in 1488 to organize a crusade against them in both Dauphine and Savoy. The valley of Pragelato, Val Cluson, and Freyssin- ieres were ravaged pitilessly with fire and sword and wholesale confiscations, many barbes (pastors) were burned, and in Val Louise the poor fugitives were