Waldensian
- Grew from
- Roman Catholic
- From
- 1173 AD
- Origin
- Lyon
- Confession
- Waldensian Confession 1655 AD
Began when Valdes, a merchant of Lyon, gave away his property and started preaching in the vernacular. Refused permission to preach and excommunicated in 1184, the movement survived three centuries of persecution in the Alpine valleys of Piedmont, and in 1532 joined the Reformation as an existing church rather than a new one.
What marks it out
Preaching by lay people, including women, in the language of the hearers — the specific act that got the movement condemned, since it bypassed the licensed clergy. Scripture translated into Occitan long before the Reformation. The oldest Protestant body in continuous existence, and the only one that predates Luther by three hundred years.
Alongside it
Also from Roman Catholic.
- Hussite (1415 AD)
- Lutheran (1517 AD)
- Anglican (1534 AD)
- Reformed / Presbyterian (1541 AD)
- Eastern Catholic churches (1596 AD)
In the record
-
1517 AD Reform
The Reformation begins
Luther's objections to indulgences opened a wider argument about authority, scripture and justification that divided western Christendom.
This body appears in the history but does not carry recorded doctrinal positions here, so it is absent from the comparison panels.