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A History of the Vaudois Church from its Origin, and of the Vaudois of Piedmont to the Present Day
by Antoine Monastier
Formerly Pastor in the Cantone De Vaud, and a Native of the Vaudois Valleys of Piedmont.
1848 Edition
HAIL & FIRE REPRINTS 2009
HAIL & FIRE REPRINTS 2009
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DEDICATION.
Protectors and Benefactors of the Vaudois! Princes, Magistrates, and Christians of every denomination, rank, order, condition, and sex, who, by a gracious dispensation of Providence, and the effect of a fervent Christian charity, have co-operated in past ages, and who still co-operate, for the preservation of the feeble remnant of the Vaudois of Piedmont!
Permit the humble Author of this History, himself a son of the Vaudois church, the extraordinary vicissitudes of which he has here attempted to describe - permit him to be the organ and interpreter of the sentiments that animate this scanty but grateful population towards their charitable protectors and benefactors. Permit him to be the echo of the benedictions and prayers which incessantly arise, on their behalf, from the hearts of mere simple and obscure men, who still live under the cross, surrounded by snares, seductions, and dangers, contrary to the benevolent intentions of their revered and beloved sovereign.
May the memory of those powerful, glorious, and charitable protectors and benefactors, who have entered into rest, be blessed for ever
May the most precious blessings, temporal and eternal, of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, continue to rest abundantly on those who are now living, and on their children and descendants to the remotest generations!
These sentiments and wishes - a feeble token of their gratitude - truly animate the hearts of the Vaudois of the Piedmontese Alps towards their generous protectors and benefactors, past and present, and are shared and expressed on this occasion, with profound respect, by one of their number, in the name of all.
ANTIONE MONASTIER, PASTOR.
Lausanne, Oct. 17, 1846.
PREFACE.
To demonstrate their close connexion with the primitive church founded by the apostles, to establish their right to call themselves a faithful church, and even to be regarded as forming the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth, the evangelical churches appeal to the conformity of their doctrines, their worship, and their internal life with the picture the New Testament gives us of the primitive church, and with the precepts, rules, and regulations taught by this same word. This internal argument is, in fact, the most important on this question; it has an irresistible force, and is of itself sufficient.
Yet there is an external argument, which, without being conclusive, has a certain value; and which, if we are to believe the enemies of the evangelical churches, is altogether wanting to them, namely, antiquity of existence. You are but of yesterday, cries the Romish church in a tone of irony and triumph. You forsook the mother church by a revolution, which you pompously term a Reformation; but if truth be on your side, it must be very modern. An existence of little more than three centuries is a very recent title, when it relates to pretensions of professing eternal truth. To dare a conflict with Rome, you require what she possesses, and what you are destitute of, an ancient and venerable origin. Now, this attribute of the truth is not so completely wanting to the evangelical churches as might at first seem to be the case. The Vaudois church is a link that unites them to the primitive church. By means of it they establish the anterior existence of their constitution, doctrine, and worship, to that of the papistical idolatries and errors. Such is the object of the work we now lay before the public. It is intended to prove by the fact of the uninterrupted existence of the Vaudois church, the perpetuity of the primitive church, represented in the present day not only by the church of the Vaudois valleys of Piedmont, but by all her sister evangelical churches, founded solely on the word of God.
In writing this work on an essential part of ecclesiastical history, its author has had in view the glory of his Saviour. He considers that however humble and despised these Vaudois may have been in the eyes of the world, forgotten by some, hated and persecuted by others, their history exhibits and presents to the imitation of the faithful, some of the essential characteristics of the true disciples of Jesus Christ, faith, fidelity, humility, detachment from the world, perseverance and resignation under the most painful trials.
He also believes that the development of this history will demonstrate the Lord's faithfulness to the humble members of his church, the wisdom of his plans and intentions in their favour, the power he puts forth when he purposes to deliver them, and the efficacious consolations he grants them under their trials. It will moreover show, he may venture to hope, that the Head of the church has fulfilled the promise he made that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it," and that in this History of the preservation of evangelical truth in the midst of darkness, it may he perceived to His glory, that "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are," 1 Cor. i., 27, 28.
The author does not flatter himself that he has produced a perfect work; the subject was difficult, particularly in what related to ancient times. The materials to be consulted were immense; while continual concealment, partial judgments, and incomplete recitals veiled the truth at every step in Catholic writings. Nevertheless, he thinks that he has brought forward some new facts of great importance, and especially that he has contributed to a satisfactory demonstration of the ancient origin of the Vaudois church.
This has been a labour of love. A Vaudois by birth, by his affections, by all his associations, a Vaudois too, he trusts, by his faith, the author has devoted more than ten years to accomplish the wish of his life - the composition of a brief History of the Vaudois Church. In its preparation and arrangement, he has called in the aid of one of his dear sons, who is his constant assistant in his pastoral functions.
May this little work contribute to the glory of our great God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen.
CONTENTS.
DEDICATION
PREFACE
CHAPTER I. STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AT THE ACCESSION OF THE EMPEHOR CONSTANTINE. [A.D. 306.]
CHAPTER II. CHANGES IN THE DOCTRINES, WORSHIP, AND LIFE OF THE CHURCH, AFTER THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE. [FROM A. D. 337.]
CHAPTER III. OPPOSITION WHICH THE NEW DOCTRINES AND CEREMONIES ENCOUNTERED IN THE CHURCH.
CHAPTER IV. VESTIGES OF THE FAITHFUL CHURCH IN THE TENTH AND ELEVENTH CENTURIES.
CHAPTER V. RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS OP THE ELEVENTH CENTURY.
CHAPTER VI. RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY.
CHAPTER VII. ORIGIN OF THE NAME VAUDOIS.
CHAPTER VIII. THE VAUDOIS OP PIEDMONT IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY.
CHAPTER IX. TRADITIONS OF THE VAUDOIS WHICH ATTEST THEIR ANTIQUITY.
CHAPTER X. WRITINGS OF THE VAUDOIS.
CHAPTER XI. THE BELIEF OF THE VAUDOIS.
CHAPTER XII. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE VAUDOIS.
CHAPTER XIII. MISSIONARY ZEAL AND PROSELYTISM OF THE ANCIENT VAUDOlS.
CHAPTER XIV. PERSECUTION OF THE VAUDOIS IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
CHAPTER XV. THE VAUDOIS, RETREATING FROM PERSECUTION, FOUND COLONIES IN THE ALPS.
CHAPTER XVI. FIRST PERSECUTIONS KNOWN, AGAINST THE VAUDOIS OF PIEDMONT, IN THB FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES.
CHAPTER XVII. THE VAUDOIS AND THE REFORMATION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
CHAPTER XVIII. IMMEDIATE EFFECTS OF THE UNION OF THE VAUDOIS CHURCH WITH THE REFORMED CHURCH.
CHAPTER XIX. THE VAUDOIS, ONCE MORE UNDER THE RULE OF THEIR LEGITIMATE PRINCE, ARE PERSECUTED WITH THE UTMOST RIGOUR.
CHAPTER XX. DESTRUCTION OF THE VAUDOIS COLONIES IN APULIA AND CALABRIA.
CHAPTER XXI. THE BENEFITS OF THE PEACE ATTENDED WITH GREAT EVILS.
CHAPTER XXII. THE VAUDOIS, CALUMNIATED AT COURT, ARE MISUNDERSTOOD AND ILL-TREATED.
Unjust complaints against them - Letters patent refused - Complete and final expulsion of the Vaudois from the valley of the Po - Disputation with the priests - Plan for the Propagation of the Faith and the Extirpation of Heretics - Strokes ready to fall discovered in time
CHAPTER XXIII. CRUELTIES COMMITTED BY THE PAPISTS IN THE VALLEYS.
CHAPTER XXIV. PERSECUTION AND EMIGRATION. [1656 - 1686.]
CHAPTER XXV. THE VAUDOIS REFUGEES IN SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY RETURN, IN ARMS, TO THEIR COUNTRY, AND OBTAIN PEACE. [1686 - 1690.]
CHAPTER XXVI. THE VAUDOIS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY AND DURING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. [1690 - 1814.]
CHAPTER XXVII. THE VALLEYS SINCE THE GENERAL PEACE. [1814 - 1846.]
A WORD TO MY DEAR FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN OF THE VAUDOIS VALLEYS
APPENDIX.
Pieces given in the Appendix to the original work - The Three Catalogues - The Noble Lesson
A Geographical and Statistical Description of the Valleys of Piedmont - Geography
The Valley of San Martino - The Half-Valley of Perosa - The Valley of Lucerna
Population - Climate and productions - Religious administration of the Vaudois valleys
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"A History of the Vaudois Church from its Origin, and of the Vaudois of Piedmont to the Present Day"
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CHAPTER I.
STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AT THE ACCESSION OF THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE. [A.D. 306.]
Not three centuries from the death and resurrection of the Saviour had passed away, before the good news of salvation through him was spread over all the provinces of the Roman empire, and received with joy by a considerable part of their population. Faith in Jesus, the Son of the living God, was proclaimed from the shores of the Red sea to those of the Atlantic ocean; from the banks of the Nile to those of the Ebro, the Rhone, the Rhine, the Danube, and the Euphrates; in all the countries washed by the waters of the Mediterranean, even to the most retired valleys of the Iberian mountains [1], of the Alps, Hemus, and Atlas, and especially through all the cities that were scattered over this immense tract.
The gradual extension of the Christian religion was not accomplished without conflict and suffering on the part of its professors. Its progress first irritated, and then alarmed, those who were attached to national traditions, dissolute manners, and the worship of false gods, as it did the suspicious and tyrannical government of the Roman emperors. The Christians were very soon regarded as enemies of their country and rebels, and as such were exposed to the most terrible persecutions. Thousands and hundreds of thousands were destroyed by fire and sword, by instruments of torture, and by the fangs of wild beasts in the amphitheatres. But as the grain of corn falls into the ground and increases a hundredfold, so the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church; the faith of Christian confessors spoke to the heart, and won more souls to the service of their Lord than the terrors of punishment could drive from him.
During the first three centuries, the church was composed, for the most part, of persons firmly convinced of the truth of its doctrines, and who showed forth, by a pure, holy, and devoted life, the virtues of Him who had called them out of darkness into his marvellous light. The contempt and hatred with which the Christians were treated by the pagans, preserved them in general from a pernicious alliance with the vicious and indifferent; and by breaking the ties which might have held them fast to a seducing world, purified their faith, and united them more closely to one another, and to their Saviour.
The constitution of the church remained nearly the same as in the apostolic age [2]. Every believer was an active member of the Christian community, which was under the guidance of one or more pastors, whose special office it was to preach the word, and watch over souls. The pastor of a Christian community, or one of them, if there were several pastors, bore also the particular title of Bishop, that is, Overseer, on account of the inspection which it became him to exercise over all the members of his flock, and the influence that was conceded to his piety and example. But though this distinction exposed its possessor to greater danger in times of persecution, it is evident that many of those who obtained it did not entirely escape the seductions of pride and ambition. The pastors of the larger churches soon obtained, or preferred, the title of bishop to that of elder, and easily assumed a supremacy over their fellow-labourers in the work of the ministry. The fraternal connexion that subsisted between the apostles and the companions of their work, as that of St. Paul with Sylvanus and Timothy, was very soon succeeded by a dangerous hierarchy. Still, the injury which this tendency might have inflicted on that Christian liberty and brotherhood which were then so conspicuous, was considerably lessened by the individual activity which the difficult position of the church, in the midst of pagans, imposed on each of its members.
Another danger, arising from within, also threatened the constitution and life of the church, in this prosperous period of its existence, namely, the pre-eminence acquired by the bishops of Antioch, Alexandria, Carthage, and Rome, over the other bishops, and the ill use they often made of the deference that was yielded to them by courtesy. The bishop of Rome especially took the precedence of all the other bishops, on many occasions, and even aspired to a certain authority in matters of religion. But these pretensions encountered resistance in the rivalry of other apostolic or metropolitan churches, and in the independent nature of the Christian life.
The Christian worship preserved its primitive simplicity. It was held in private houses; and often in secret or in deserts. Some places of worship, however, had been erected at the close of the third century. Prayers, the singing of hymns, reading the Scriptures, preaching, and the celebration of the Lord's supper, were the ordinary acts of divine service. The Christians, who had witnessed the pompous ceremonial of paganism, and regarded idolatry with detestation, excluded all images from their places of meeting, and every idle ceremony from their worship. Nevertheless, some observances, such as the use of white vestments, unction, and the presence of sponsors, were introduced at the administration of baptism; and the holy supper, celebrated in remembrance of those who had died in the Lord, and as a sign of perpetual communion with them, sometimes degenerated into a ceremony for their supposed advantage.
In relation to doctrine, the church had already to sustain severe contests both without and within: without, against the attacks of pagan philosophers and Jews; but especially within, against the errors that were often propagated by men of piety, who were under the influence of some inveterate notion, some peculiar opinion, not in conformity with the true faith, according to the belief of the church. From being isolated partisans of a new doctrine, they rapidly became leaders of a sect, by the impression which their talents, powers of persuasion, and the very singularity of their sentiments, made on men whose turn of mind, dispositions, and circumstances, were similar to their own. But diversities of doctrine, heresies, and the formation of sects within the pale of the visible church, ought not to astonish those who are aware that an ardent imagination, the pride of reason, and particular prejudices, prevent men from seeing the truth; and that the profession of the gospel has not always eradicated these unhappy dispositions from persons who, wishing "to be something," cannot consent to be classed among "the poor in spirit."
Let us not be surprised, then, that the Christian church of the first three centuries had to defend the truth against heresies brought forth and nourished in her bosom: let us only rejoice in her victories; for invigorated from on high by her Divine Leader, to whom she applied with confidence in all her sorrows and conflicts, no less than in the days of her prosperity, she retained, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus, the form of sound doctrine; she kept that good thing which was committed unto her.
The formalism and asceticism of the Ebionites; the efforts of the Gnostics to transport the agitated soul beyond the natural limits of this world, their pretensions to explain everything, and their ambitious speculations, gave way, like the dualism of the Manicheans, to the power of simple faith in Jesus Christ, and of the Christian life which it supports. Reduced to the state of mere sects, they served as beacons, to warn believers of the danger of wandering beyond the limits that are fixed by the written word.
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FOOTNOTES:
1. Namely, the Pyrenees and their offshoots.
2. A few passages in the first and second chapters, and other places, relating to the early constitution of the church, it's officers, rights, and connexions, with civil governments, which, according to the rules of the Religious Tract Society, are retained without alteration, must be regarded as containing the individual views of the author.
CHAPTER II.
THE CHANGES IN THE DOCTRINES, WORSHIP, AND LIFE OF THE CHURCH, AFTER THE TIME OF CONSTANTTNE. [FROM A.D. 337.]
The germs of numerous errors may be detected in the preceding period, but they were checked and arrested in their progress; on the one hand, by the abundance of healthy, vigorous, and fruitful plants which covered the soil of the church, and on the other, by the little time and space which incessant persecutions allowed to perverse or ambitious spirits for the formation and propagation of their opinions.
But no sooner was a season of external peace granted to the church, along with numerous temporal advantages, than the Christian life, sound doctrine, and divine worship were deteriorated. Arius, a presbyter of Alexandria, about the year 318 or 321, put forth a system of doctrine which goes to shake the very foundations of the gospel, by denying the divinity of Christ, and regarding him only as the first and most excellent of created beings. From its first rise, this heresy, which reduces the faith of the gospel to a very inconsiderable thing, and sets the mind of man at ease, was welcomed by many with enthusiasm. Condemned at the council of Nice (a.d. 325), victorious under Constantius, combated afresh and with success by those who remained faithful to the apostolic doctrine, it nevertheless saw its principles adopted by numerous sections of the church. Professed in succession by the Visigoths, Vandals, Suevians, and Burgundians, it invaded Italy, Greece, Gaul, Spain, and Africa.
Besides many other errors, which cannot be here enumerated, there arose one, in the year 412, of which the effects were scarcely less deplorable than those of Arianism. This was the doctrine of Pelagius, a British monk, on free will, which ascribed to every man the liberty [power] of determining himself for good, as easily as for evil, and saw in the dominion of sin nothing more than a habit from which the will could release itself. This doctrine, by attributing too much power to man, and denying his inability to effect his own salvation, nullified, or at least greatly impaired, the doctrine of redemption by Jesus Christ, disowned regeneration, and presented sanctification in a false light. This system, a little modified, and with something more of a Christian colouring obtained many partisans, in spite ot the powerful opposition of Augustin, bishop of Hippo; and the merit of good works, which it favoured, insensibly was received into the belief of a great many churches, especially in the east and in France.
Endless disputes, and deplorable conflicts, in the majority of churches, and between different churches, the result of all these novel doctrines. It is almost needless to add, that true faith necessarily declined, continually showed less vigour, and was everywhere more uncommon.
One great event exerted a powerful influence on the destinies of the church, namely, the protection which an emperor, Constantine the Great, granted to the Christians, and the position in which he placed Christianity, by substituting it for paganism, and declaring it to be the religion of the state. Though certain advantages, such as liberty of worship, and freedom from persecution, were gained for the Christians by this event, yet it cannot he denied that great evils followed in its train.
Favoured by the emperor, put in possession of the pagan temples, and of the honours and credit formerly granted to the priests of idolatry, and loaded with wealth, the bishops were soon assailed by all the temptations of ambition, of the love of the world, and of power. Every functionary of the church, treading in the same path, saw his own consideration increased by the external advantages thus held out, and, like his superiors, was eager to grasp them. The distinction between the ecclesiastics and lay members became more established. The dignitaries of the church adopted a particular costume. Simplicity and humility gave place to vanity, ambition, and pride, and the ecclesiastical profession was entered by numbers for the sake of the temporal advantages that were attached to it [1].
Another great evil, also, which resulted from the new position in which the church was placed by the emperor's protection, was this protection itself. For to accept a protector, is just so far to acknowledge dependence upon him [2]. Men think they have obtained a stay and defence, and find themselves oppressed by a yoke. The Christian church soon perceived this to be the result. The emperors interfered in the choice of the metropolitan hishops, secured their submission, and on more than one occasion, by means of their numerous dependents, influenced the decisions of the councils.
In return for the advantages which the emperors derived from the submission of the bishops of Rome, we find that they supported the pretensions of the latter to pre-eminence over all other bishops, and facilitated their success. By their assistance, the bishops of Rome obtained a general recognition of their title, and their claim to be the popes, or fathers of Christendom.
The public services of the church, likewise, were affected by this substitution of Christianity for paganism as the state-religion. The worshippers of idols, who, yielding to the force of events, made a profession of the gospel, brought their superstitions with them into the church. It was thought necessary to make some concessions to them. The temples were adorned; recourse was had to the magnificence and pomp of the ancient rituals, both Jewish and pagan, from which were borrowed emblems, images, statues, vestments, altars, sacred vases, and ceremonies [3].
Upon every invasion of the barbarians, accessions were made to the ritual. It was imagined that these rude and ignorant tribes, the terror of the civilized world, and countless as the trees of the forest, could not he softened by the simple preaching of the gospel, and that the only pacific means of inducing them to receive it was the ceremonial splendour of a pompous worship.
In this manner, under the influence of a complication of causes, in a time of political troubles, which paralysed the minds and the efforts of the truly pious, (always few in number,) that idolatrous ritual which invaded the Latin or Roman church, established and developed itself, and has been perpetuated to the present day.
The authority of the holy Scriptures was weakened by the intrusion of apocryphal books into the canon of inspired writings; by the increasing importance and value attached the opinions of the fathers, or ancient ecclesiastical writers; by the pretensions of councils to fix the sense of the sacred text in an exclusive manner; and, lastly, by the usurpation of spiritual power by the popes, in their pretended quality of successors of St. Peter and St. Paul.
The foundations of the Christian faith having been disturbed, the doctrines of the church underwent continual modifications, and a ritual of man's device supplanted the "worship of God in spirit and in truth." We shall not enter into the history of these changes; they have only an indirect connexion with our narrative, that is, in consequence of the resistance made to them by the faithful. For enabling us to understand subsequent events, it will be sufficient to recollect that the worship of images was generally introduced, and became an essential part of the Romish religion. The mass, originally designed to commemorate the sacrifice of the Saviour, gradually became itself a pretended sacrifice, though an unbloody one, of the body of Christ, for the remission of the sins both of the living and the dead. Twenty popes, probably, have contributed to form the canon of the mass, each one of them devising some new forms, some additions to its ceremonial. Having commenced so promising an undertaking, why should they stop short? They proceeded to invent purgatory, indulgences, penances, vigils, fastings, Lent, dispensations, auricular confession, extreme unction, absolution, and masses for the dead, - all but so many means of entangling souls, and holding them in a fatal security, as well as of attracting to the church a tremendous authority and boundless wealth.
Lastly, by the doctrine of the real presence of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the supper, and the adoration of the host, the church fell back into idolatry. Composed of the ruins of Jewish formalism, pagan superstitions, disfigured fragments of the gospel, mixed with human speculations and reveries, the Latin Catholic, apostolic, and Roman church has for ten or twelve centuries been toiling to collect together, arrange, amend, and settle this strange medley, which she has decorated with the imposing title of one and infallible.
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FOOTNOTES:
1. To understand how the power of the episcopate established itself, and how such a hierarchy as that of the Roman Catholic church was organized, we refer the reader to Beugnot and A. de Saint-Priest, who explain in what way after the patronage granted to the church by Constantine, the partician body by degrees usurped the episcopate, thus confirming its pre-eminence in the church and in the state, and laying the foundations of the [Roman] Catholic hierarchy. (Vide Semeur, t. xiv., No. 33, pp. 258 - 261.)
2. Another most lamentable consequence of such protection is, that men are impelled to uphold by carnal weapons what is to be propagated and defended only by spiritual means, such as the faith, etc.
3. The cross being adopted as a standard, quickly became an object of worship, as his banner was for the Roman soldier.
CHAPTER III.
THE OPPOSITION WHICH THE NEW DOCTRINES AND CEREMONIES ENCOUNTERED IN THE CHURCH.
The right path of sound doctrine, the purity and simplicity of the "life hidden with Christ," were not abandoned by the church without a long resistance from the sound part of its members. Who can recount all the efforts made to avert so great a calamity? Who can tell all that was attempted to prevent such a shipwreck - to arrest this sad catastrophe? The documents which have come down to us on this subject are very few; and they have reached us only through the medium of the dominant party. We are reduced to glean on the field the few ears which they have failed to remove out of sight; and often, it must be confessed, we have found the ground totally bare where we should have rejoiced to collect a sheaf.
Resistance to the encroachments of error of all kinds often proceeded from the higher ranks of the church, but more frequently from the inferior orders. It was organized not only in the convocations of bishops, but also in the common assemblies, of Christians, in the hearts of simple priests or humble laymen.
Pope Celestin I., writing to the bishops of Vienne and Narbonne, in France, between a.d. 423 and 432, complains of men having granted permission to foreign priests to preach as they pleased, and to agitate "unlearned questions," which introduced dissensions into the church [1]. He affects not to specify the object of his complaints; yet, from the conclusion of his letter, we learn that the point in question relates to the saints, and that the preachers he had in view were not favourable to the errors in vogue on that head. "Yet," said he, "we ought not to be astonished if they attempt such things towards the living, who endeavour to destroy the memory of our brethren who are ... click to read more
The great progress of the gospel during the first three centuries - Obstacles to its promulgation - The pure and lively faith of believers during that period - The primitive constitution of the church undergoes some alteration in the episcopate - Commencement of the hierarchy - Places and nature of public worship - Alteration in reference to baptism and the Lord's supper - Internal dissensions - Heresie - The pure faith triumphant - Sects
A glance at the preceding state of the church - The peace it enjoyed opened the door for alterations - Arianism - Pelagianism - Dissensions and lamentable consequences - Constantine's protection of the church baneful - Fatal to the clergy from the snares of wealth - The church sinks by its dependence on the emperor - He elevates the episcopate - The bishop of Rome - The numerous converts from paganism bring their superstitions with them into the church - The new ceremonies become established on the invasion of the barbarians - The authority of the Holy Scriptures weakened - Doctrines modified and altered - Introduction of the mass and many errors
This opposition is manifested - From what quarter first - Noticed by pope Celestin in Gaul - Shows itself in Lombardy in the instance of Vigilantius - Continued in France, under Serenus - In Germany - Epistle of Zachary - Reflections - Opposition against images under Charlemagne - Episcopate of Clande of Turin - Notice of Claude - Passages from his writings - Character of his ministry - Effects of it in the Vaudois valleys - Considerations in support - Testimonies
Traces of continued conflict - State of society in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries - The clergy, absorbed by worldly interests, encroach on the civil power, and neglect spiritual interests - Their errors and ignorance - Progress of superstition - Rome and the church a prey to anarchy - State of the eleventh century - Rome, and its efforts to raise and to extend its power - Truth forgotten by the world, is preserved in remote places - Marks which indicate the existence of the Vaudois - Hatto di Vercelli; his writings - Reflections and inferences - Damiano - Radulph de St. Thron - Vaudois valleys - Bruno d'Asti - Extent of his testimony - Church in the north of Italy different from that of Home - Opinion of Costa de Beauregard
Attempts to propagate pure doctrine - Proceeded probably from the Vaudois valleys of the Alps - Facts in support of this opinion - Manifestation at Orléans - Arras - Turin and the château of Monteforte - at Châlons-sur-Marne - Heretics in France - Agen - Goslar - Doubts respecting their doctrines - Absurd accusations refuted - Heresies - Estimate of them - Sources of this religious movement - Bérenger of Tours - Indications of Vaudois missionaries
The power of faith - Vaudois writings - Pierre de Bruis and Henry - Scene of their preaching - their origin and mutual relation - Scene of Henry's labours - Arrested and liberated - His death - Success of the two preachers - Heretics of Périgueux - of Toulouse - Disputation at Lombers - Fresh progress of heresy - Raymond of Toulouse - Mention of the Aibigenses - Doctrine of Pierre de Bruis and Henry - Details - Heretics along the Rhine - at Cologne - Arnulph at Rome - Abailard and Arnaud of Brescia - details respecting Arnaud - Denominations given to heretics - That of Vaudois, or Valdenses, prevails - Testimonies of Rainier - of Bernard de Foncald
Three etymologies proposed - Valdenses erroneously derived from Valdo - Who Valdo was? - his person - his name - his work - his death - Valdenses derived from the Latin vallis, a valley - Testimony of Eberard - of Bernard de Foncald - Preferable etymology of the word Vaudois - this latter origin justified
Review of the past - The Vaudois referred to under the name of Montani - Testimonies of Honorius - of Eberard de Béthune - Giofredo - Decree of Otho IV. - Pure doctrines preserved - A circumstance peculiar to the Vaudois valleys - The counts of Lucerna, princes of the Holy Empire - Armorial bearings in common - Conclusion
Appeal to tradition in their memorials to their sovereigns - These memorials recorded in the writings of their adversaries - Fasiculus Temporum - Honorius and Eberard - Moneta - Polichdorf - Rainier, who calls them Leonists - Claude de Seyssel - Traditions common to the Vaudois of Bohemia and other places
Original writings of the Vaudois - Collected by Léger - Vaudois writings sent to Perrin - their general characteristics - dogmatical, practical, polemical; sacred poetry - their authenticity - They are Vaudois - written in a dialect of the ancient Romance language - Antiquity of their date attested - Anonymous witness - Peter the Venerable - Raynouard - The Noble Lesson - Internal proof from its representation of Antichrist - Objections and refutations - Inferences
Source of faith for the Vaudois - Their rule of faith - They reject every human doctrine - Their Confession of faith - Vain questions rejected - They believed the truths of the Apostles' Creed, and admitted that of Athanasius - Faith in God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - The fall of man - Redemption - The state of man after death - The sacraments - Submission to civil authority - Their silence on election, predestination, etc. - Various accusations of their adversaries examined - Conclusion
General survey - Severe discipline - Barbes, or pastors - Mutual relation of the pastors - Synods - Schools of the barbes - Missionaries - Instruction of children - Fraternal correction - Ecclesiastical punishments - Renunciation of taverns and dancing - Knowledge of the Bible - Testimony of Rainier - effects of this study - Morality, testimony of Rainier - of St. Bernard - of Claude de Seyssel - of De Thou - of Botta - Conclusion
Source and cause of this character - Testimonies of Bernard de Foncald - of an anonymous writer on this spirit of proselytism - Examples - Testimonies - Bernard de Foncald - Mapée - Rainier, a remarkable passage - Eckbert - Planta - On the unknown and acephalous priests
The Vaudois spread through different countries - in France - in Germany and Italy - in Austria and Bohemia - Preparations for a general persecution - Decree of Otho IV. in Piedmont - of count Thomas - against the Albigenses in France - Means of conversion - Counsel of Dominic - Public Disputations - Excommunication of Raymond of Toulouse - Crusades - Dominic - The Inquisition invented - approved - The heresy re-appears - New measures - Success of the Dominicans or of the inquisition against the Vaudois of Germany - Echard, the persecutor, converted
The effect of preceding persecutions - In their flight the Vaudois direct their course towards the valleys - The Vaudois churches embarrassed - Colonies in Apulia and Calabria - Proofs and documents - Situation of the colonies - Prosperity - Aggrandizement - On what occasion - Their relation to the valleys - The Vaudois spread throughout Italy visited - New colonies in Provence - The Vaudois still numerous - Threatened in the valleys
The number of Vaudois in Dauphiné and Piedmont - The inquisition at work - effects - Persecution under Clement VI. - Too slow for the wishes of Gregory XI. - Reprisals of the Vaudois - The persecution continues - Borelli against Susa and the valley of Prage'a - Ravages - Persecution of Veleti - Vaudois burned at Coni - Orders of Iolante - Martyrs - Crusade of Capitaneis - Preparations - March - Attack on the valleys - Results - Peace granted by Charles II. - Vaudois of the valley of the Po, persecuted in 1500
Small number of the Vaudois - Reduced to conceal themselves or to dissemble - When at the worst, the Reformation begins - Glance at the Reformation - Eagerness of the Vaudois to gain information respecting it - Martin of the vale of Lucerna - Morel of Mérindol, and Masson of Burgundy in Switzerland and Germany - A document which gives an account of the state of the Vaudois - Advice asked - Affecting and kind reply of OEcolampadius - Bucer and Capito visited - Sympathy and agreement of the reformers with the Vaudois - Return of the two Vaudois - Masson a martyr - Answer of the reformers carefully examined - Synod of Angrogna in 1532, to deliberate upon it - Decision of the Synod - Decision on the public service - all dissimulation branded - Disagreement - Relation between the Vaudois and the churches of Bohemia and Moravia
Renewal of persecution in Provence - of Bersour in Piedmont - Martyr - Cessation of the persecution - Martin Gonin a martyr - The first French Bible printed at Neufchâtel, at the expense of the Vaudois - Zeal for Divine service in public - The use of the French language instead of the Vaudois - Occupation of Piedmont by France rather favourable to the Vaudois cause - Complaints of Belvedere - Persecution of the Vaudois of Provence - Their final destruction - Tranquil state of the Vaudois of Piedmont - Temples built in the valleys - Several martyrs at Chambéry - Danger incurred by two pastors - Several pastors arrive in the valleys - A challenge and discussion - Attempts of the parliament of Turin against the Vaudois - Baronius - Sartoire and Varaille martyrs - a third escapes - New menaces against the Vaudois without effect - Measures in their favour
Return of the Vaudois under the rule of Savoy - Emmanuel - Philibert publishes a persecuting edict in 1560 - The inquisition active in the plain - Martyrs at Carignan, Meane, Barcelonette - Measures taken by the Vaudois - Cruelties - The duke's commissioners to the valleys - The monks of Abbadie and their victims - Momentary concession of the duke - Mission of Poussevin - Public disputation - Final measures - Preparations for defence - The count La Trinité comes to the valleys with an army - Has recourse to a stratagem - Removes the notables - Increasing oppression - Alliance with the valley of Clusone - the Vaudois attacked again and again in their refuge of Pra-di-torre always conquerors - Truce - Signing of the treaty of peace - Basis of the future relations of the Vaudois to their sovereign
State of the colonies - Influence of the Reformation - Request for a pastor from Geneva - Mission and success of Pascal - Persecution - Surprises - Horrible punishments - Total destruction of the colonies - Martyrdom of Pascal
The valleys relieved in their distress - Annoyances on the part of the priests - Unjust order - Intrigues - The valleys uader the governor Castrocaro - Embassies from the princes of the Palatinate and Saxony - Persecution in the marquisate of Saluzzo - St. Bartholomew - Attack on the valley of Perosa - Death of the good duchess Margaret - Reign of Charles Emmanuel - The valleys under French dominion - Their return to that of Savoy - Means employed to bring over the Vaudois to popery - The exiles - Martyrdom of Coupin - The Vaudois militia in the field - Fine, on account of cemeteries - The valley of Perosa occupied by the duke's troops - Secret practices of the inquisition - Abduction of children - The Vaudois on their frontiers - Ineffectual attempt to establish the monks and the mass in the Vaudois communes - Invasion of Piedmont by the French - A dreadful plague carries off half the population
Expulsion of the Vaudois from the plain of Lucerna - The Piedmontese army in the valleys - Massacres - Heroic conduct of Janavel - The Vaudois under arms - Truce - Embassy from the Swiss evangelical cantons - Measures of Great Britain and other Protestant powers - Collections - Conferences at Pignerol - Mediation of France - Signing of the treaty
Erection of the fort of La Torre - Vexations committed by the garrison - Condemnation of the distinguished Vaudois - Order for the cessation of all religious services at San Giovanni - Resistance of the Synod - Léger condemned to death - De Bagnols - The exiles - An army surprises San Giovanni - Generosity of the Vaudois - Defeat of the army - Mediation of France - Proceedings of the evangelical cantons - Conference - Charter of 1664, denominated that of Turin
- Arbitration of Louis XIV. - Peaceful times - Revocation of the edict of Nantes - Requirement of the king of France - Edict for the abolition of evangelical worship - Embassy of the Swiss cantons - Project of emigration - Indecision of the valleys - Attacks upon them by Catinat and the army of Savoy - Submission of the Vaudois - Their imprisonment - Leidet a martyr - Negotiations of the cantons for the release of the prisoners, and their departure for Switzerland - State of the Vaudois in the fortresses - Their travelling in the depth of winter, and their arrival at Geneva
Their arrival at Geneva - Distribution in Switzerland - Project and first attempt for returning to the valleys - Offers of the elector of Brandenburg and the German princes, Henri Arnaud - Second attempt - Departure of the Vaudois for Brandenburg, the Palatinate, and Wirtemberg - Return of the greater paet to Switzerland - Third Attempt - The Vaudois having assembled in the wood Prangins, cross the lake - Enter Savoy - Defeat an armed force at Salabertrand - sure - Enter victoriously into their valleys - Difficulties of their situation - Cruel measure - The Vaudois masters of the upper valleys attack that of Lucerna - Conquerors, afterwards repulsed - Retire to the heights - Desertions - Forced successively, they take refuge in Balsille - Attacked in vain before winter - Pprovidential supply - Sufferings - Attempt at negotiation - Attack of Balsille - Siege - Wonderful flight - Good news - Peace - Return of the prisoners - Bobbio restored to the Vaudois - Arnaud before the duke - Address of Victor Amadeus - Vaudois in the service of the duke - Return of the scattered Vaudois to their valleys
The Vaudois under the banners of their prince - Their re-establishment in their heritages - Their numbers - Edict of 1694 - Exile of the French Protestants domiciled in the valleys - Colonies of Wirtemberg - Death of Arnaud - Attempts at oppression - Intermission - Foreign subsidies - Siege of Turin in 1706
- Victor Amadeus in the valleys - Devotedness of the Vaudois - New vexations - Expulsion of the Vaudois from Pragela - The French and those who had become Catholics - Edict of 20th June, 1730 - Summary of the edicts concerning the Vaudois - Effects of the French revolution - Guard of the frontiers by the Vaudois - Unjust suspicions of their fidelity - Project of a massacre rendered abortive - Arrests - Petition to the king - Slight favours - Revolutionary spirit in Piedmont - Abdication of Charles Emmanuel - New state of the Vaudois - The Austro-Russians in Piedmont - Carmagnola - Wounded French - Bagration - Re-union of Piedmont to France - Misery to the valleys - Distress of the pastors - Allotment of rents, and funds for their use - New consistorial arrangement - Earthquake - Sketch of the religious state of the Vaudois - MM. Mondon, Geymet, and Peyran - New field opened for the activity of the Vaudois
The restoration - Conduct of the valleys in 1814 and 1815 - Deception - Edict which replaced them in their ancient condition - Measures taken in consequence - Temple of San Giovanni - Question of the revenues of the Romish clergy - Salaries allowed to pastors - Pastoral letters of the bishops of Pinerolo - Charles Felix - Charles Albert - Cessation of abuses - Restrictions - Foreign benefactors of the Vaudois - Frederic William III. - Count de Walburg - Evangelical chapel at Turin - Foundation of two hospitals for the valleys - Collections - Funds formed at Berlin - English benefactors - College of La Tone - Schools - Walloon Committee - Swiss cantons - Erection of the convent of La Torre - Anxieties in the valleys - Visit of Charles Albert to his subjects
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FOOTNOTES:
1. The same pope, in a second letter to the same prelates, again denounces other priests who have not been brought up in the church, who came from some remote country with foreign manners, who understand the Scriptures according to the letter, who preach novel doctrines, and refuse penance (no doubt absolution) to the dying. (Delectus Actorum Ecclesiae universalis, t. i., pp. 181, 182.
"Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city" Mat 23:34 KJV
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