Rise of Waldensians

The Waldensians were a medieval Christian movement that began with Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant of Lyon who gave away his goods to live in voluntary poverty and preach the Gospel. His followers, known as the Poor of Lyon, insisted on preaching without permission from the clergy and translated parts of the Bible into the vernacular. They were condemned as heretics at the end of the century and were persecuted for centuries, surviving in the Alpine valleys of Piedmont and Provence. In the sixteenth century they joined the Protestant Reformation. Their descendants form the Waldensian Church, a Protestant church based in Italy, with communities in South America.

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