Martin Luther was not alone 500 years ago. And he is not alone today. To mark the 500th anniversary of the reform, he prepared a series with a new article every day for the month of October through key figures of this event. Here the first entry.
More than 300 years before Martin Luther was born, an unexpected reformer suddenly appeared in the southeastern French city of Lyon. His protests against the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church were powerful tremors that heralded the coming spiritual earthquake we call the Reformation. And the movement he launched survived to join the great Reformation. This man is known in history as Pedro Valdo.
Many details about Valdo are not known, including his name. We do not know if Pedro was actually his first name, since it does not appear in any document until 150 years after his death. His last name was something like Valdès or Vaudès; Valdo being the Italian adaptation. We also don’t know the year Peter was born, or the precise year he died. Historians disagree on whether he died between the years 1205 and 1207, or between the years 1215 and 1218.
But we do know some impressive things.
A rich man regrets
In 1170, Valdo was a very rich and well-known merchant in the city of Lyon. He had a wife, two daughters, and a lot of property. But something happened. Some say that he witnessed the sudden death of a friend, others say that he heard a spiritual chant from a traveling singer, and Valdo was deeply shocked about the spiritual state of his soul, and desperately sought to know how he could be saved. .
The first thing he decided to do was read the Bible. But since it only existed in the Latin Vulgate, and its Latin was poor, he hired two scholars to translate it into the vernacular so he could study it.
He then sought spiritual advice from a priest, who directed him to the rich young man in the Gospels, quoting Jesus: “You still lack one thing; sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Luke 18:22). The words of Jesus pierced Valdo’s heart. Like the rich young man, Valdo suddenly realized that he had been serving riches and not God. But unlike the rich young man who turned away from Jesus, Waldo repented and did exactly as Jesus said: he gave everything he had to the poor (after adequately providing for his wife and daughters). Since then, he determined to live in complete dependence on God and his provision.
a movement is born
Valdo immediately began preaching from his Bible in the streets of Lyon, especially to the poor. Many converted, and by 1175 a sizeable group of men and women became Waldo’s disciples. They also got rid of their possessions and began to preach (both men and women). People started calling them “the poor of Lyon”. Later, as the group grew and became a movement, it spread to France and other parts of Europe, and they were called “the Waldensians.”
The more Valdo studied the Scriptures, the more he worried about certain doctrines, practices, and governance structures in the Catholic Church…not to mention its riches. So I speak boldly against these things. But since the church officially forbade lay preaching, Valdo and his gang received opposition from Church leaders.
A sign to resist
The Archbishop of Lyon was particularly annoyed by this self-appointed and uneducated reform movement, so he decided to crush it. But in 1179 Waldo appealed directly to Pope Alexander III, and received his approval. However, just five years later, the new pope, Lucius III, sided with the archbishop and excommunicated Waldo and his followers.
In the early years, the Waldensian movement was one of reform. Valdo had no intention of leaving the Church, and he held many traditional Catholic doctrines. But after the excommunication, and after Waldo’s death, the Protestant convictions of the Waldensians increased and solidified.
- They rejected all authority outside of Scripture.
- They rejected any mediator between God and man, except the Man Christ Jesus (although they continued to venerate Mary for a while).
- They rejected the doctrine that only a priest could hear confession, arguing that every believer was qualified to do so.
- They rejected purgatory, and thus they rejected indulgences and prayers for the dead.
- They believed that the only sacraments sanctioned by the Bible were baptism and communion.
- They rejected the Church’s emphasis on fasting and feast days, as well as dietary restrictions.
- They rejected the priestly and monastic system.
- They rejected the veneration of relics, pilgrimages, and the use of holy water.
- They rejected the authority claimed by the pope over earthly governors.
- They eventually rejected the apostolic succession of the pope.
Pre-Reformation meets Reformation
Despite Waldo’s excommunication and death, the Waldensian movement continued to grow for a time. It spread to northern Italy and regions of Spain, Austria, Germany, Hungary, and Poland.
But the persecution of the Roman Catholic Church also continued and grew in severity, so that by the 15th century, the ranks of the Waldensians had dwindled to small, obscure communities in the Alpine valleys of France and Italy. But when the Protestant Reformation broke out in the 16th century, most Waldensians became Protestants.
Pedro Valdo was a Proto-Protestant, although he did not know it. He was a merchant turned prophet who simply believed God’s Word with all his heart, and proved it with all his life. And by taking God at his word, Valdo turned the world upside down.
Originally posted for . Translated by Emanuel Elizondo.