On Thu, 25 Jul 1996, Kris Utterback wrote:
>
>
> This ties in with what J. B. Russell called "Reformist heretics," those
> who started out as critics and ended up outside, sometime impelled by a
> hostile reception. What little I have read about Peter Waldo suggests
> that this was how the Poor of Lyons got themselves into trouble.
> (Speaking of modern survivals, there is a Chiesa Valdensiana in Rome.)
>
> tom izbicki
Depends what one means by "hostile." The Church effectively accepted
Waldensian spirituality, since it was not unlike a wide variety of
"apostolic life" movements, including the Franciscans a generation or two
later. But the Church insisted on limits on authorized preaching, as had
always been the case. I would not consider the insistence that the Poor
Men of Lyons follow the same rules as everyone else a "hostile"
reception, but others (both then and now) probably would.
>
>
> I have another modern survival, and also a question. One of my students (a
> lapsed Mormon convert), was staying with a friend who told him his son had
> returned from a Mormon mission in Italy. I don't remember all the details, but
> at some meeting telling how successfully the Mormons are penetrating the world,
> the leader told how Waldensians in mountainous Italy were converting to
> Mormonism "by the thousands". Picturing those thousands of Waldensians
> converting to Mormonism has given us lots of laughs, but does anyone
> know how many people would claim to be Waldensian today?
> Here in the States you get bragging rights
> if you have a Native American ancestor (My husband proudly claims his Mohawk
> great-grandmother, who was also Will Rogers' grandmother). Is being a
> Waldensian in that same class?
I don't have statistics at hand (but they could be obtained from the
World Encyclopedia of Christianity), but several thousand members
(perhaps 20,000-30,00, possibly even more, would
sound about right. The Waldenses are fully organized as a church,
participate in some ecumenical bodies etc. The story of their return to
the Piedmontese Alps in the 16th? century is a dramatic one, often
retold. (Euan Cameron has a book on this, I believe.) I think they even
publish a historical journal; they have a seminary to train clergy. I
think there are organized Waldensian congregations in North
Carolina and perhaps elsewhere around the world.
Dennis Martin
Loyola University Chicago
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