RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Waldenses
who had asserted the power of consecrating the Eucharist, prepared the way for the transformation of his following into a sect or antichurch, a tendency present already in 1184. Under the pressure of persecution even the “friends” felt themselves sectaries, and became increasingly merged with the main body of Waldenses, although the distinction between the two classes was never forgotten by Roman Catholic writers. The condition for admission to the “ society ”’ was, from the first, “‘ conversion,” in its monastic sense of renunciation of the worldly state and vocation and personal property, and the dissolution of a previous marriage. Reception into the community seems originally to have followed directly; but even before the schism a period of probation was required of one or two years in the German-Lombard division, and of five or six in the French. This period was devoted especially to committing the New Testament to memory, as well as other books of the Bible; and at its conclusion the neophyte was ceremonially admitted, making at first, probably only among the “ brothers and sisters,” the following vows: perfect poverty, rigid obedience of the precepts of the Gospel, and the wearing of the apostolic habit. Previous to the schism the vow of celibacy seems also to have been exacted, while later both Lombards and Waldenses admitted only the unmarried. Finally, the novice pledged himself to complete submission to his superiors. The “ apostolic habit ”’ apparently consisted at first of a simple woolen cloak. Originally the ‘‘ poor men” went barefoot, but at least before 1194, they began to wear a sandal, cross-tied and supplied with a small buckle or shield on the instep, whence their nicknames. Considerable significance was attached to the sandal, and to proffer it and put it on came later to be a part of the solemn rite of reception. Thus attired, the ‘‘ poor men” roamed, two by two, as wandering preachers from city to city, imitating Luke x. 1. They were forbidden to earn their living by their own labors, receiving their food and other necessities from their friends (cf. Matt. x. 10 sqq.; I Cor. ix. 7 sqq.), and at first returning alms given in money. From the very first they attached high value to abstinence, fasting on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; and they were equally devoted to prayer, though, except for the blessing at meals, they used only the Lord’s Prayer (in Biblical strictness). At first they utterly disregarded the canonical hours, but later they prayed seven times daily. At a very early time, moreover, probably under the influence of the Cathari (see New Manicumans, II.), they refused every form of oath (cf. Matt. v. 34 sqq.), abhorred every falsehood as a mortal sin, and condemned shedding of blood, even in a righteous war or in capital punishment (cf. Matt. v.21 sqq., vil. 1sqq.). They held their chief duty to be preaching, though after being excommunicated they began to hear confessions and to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, as well as to ordain by prayer and laying on of hands. Yet before the schism they had apparently determined to celebrate the Lord’s Supper only once a year, on the evening of Maundy Thursday (q.v.), when it should be celebrated by a bishop. In France it was apparently the custom, from an early timé, to partake of fish as well as of unleavened bread and
wine at this celebration, and the power of healing the sick was soon attributed to all these elements. The preaching of the ‘‘ poor men” was very simple, normally consisting only of exhortations to repentance and the recitation of long passages from the Bible in the vernacular. From the beginning of the thirteenth century, at latest, 2. Preach- they laid special stress on the prohibiing and tion of oaths, falsehood, and the shed- Scripture. ding of blood (cf. Matt. v. 21 sqq., vil. 1 sqq.). The heresies alleged by their opponents to exist among them only served to intensify their emphasis upon the preaching of repentance and the assertion of their undertaking against the hierarchy, holding, namely, that, (1) masses, alms, and prayers do not avail the dead; (2) purgatory does not exist; (3) episcopal indulgences are invalid; (4) obedience is due only to those good priests who live the apostolic life; and (5) that “merit is more essential to consecrating, blessing, binding, and loosing than office or ordination.” The “poor men” doubted the efficacy of sacraments, especially the Eucharist, administered by unworthy Roman Catholic priests; and they held that prayer is more efficacious in the closet than in the church, besides contesting the peculiar sanctity of the sacred places of the Church. For all their doctrines and distinctive usages they at first gave formal proof by reference to the Bible: e.g., for lay preaching to James iv. 17; Rev. xxii. 17; Mark ix. 38-39; Phil. i. 15; Num. xi. 29; for the admission of women as preachers to Titus ii. 3-4, and the example of Anna (Luke ii. 36-38). While they did not avoid citing Roman Catholic writers occasionally, from the very first they adhered with the extremest rigidity to the minutest and most literal precepts of the Bible. They laid special stress from the beginning on the possession of the Scriptures by the laity in the vernacular. As early as 1179 Waldo seems to have had almost the entire Bible in Provengal, and this was very likely used by his adherents in Catalonia, Aragon, northern France, and Lorraine, and even Lombardy. In Germany, on the other hand, the Bible was translated anew. Many misunderstandings were more than probable; yet, in spite of not always realizing what the text meant, entire books were memorized and orally repeated. Even among the ‘friends’ were some, who, though illiterate, could repeat the words of Christ, the forty Sunday gospels, and even Job and the entire four;Gospels. At first the Waldenses went about publicly in their apostolic habit, preaching in the streets, markets, and even churches. These practises they were able to keep up in Languedoc till late in the thirteenth century, but elsewhere persecution soon 3. Missions; obliged them to lay aside their habit and Government. to prosecute their activity in secret. They now went disguised as pilgrims, palmers, artizans, or laborers of various kinds, sometimes carrying different costumes with them. Wherever they could find a hearing, they sought to convert some from the world, i.e., to induce them to join them, while their other adherents, or ‘ friends,’ they urged to hold regular conventicles, and particularly to abstain from oaths and the shedding of blood. In Lombardy the “ friends” were at first
Waldenses