The Waldensians

Monastic Orders · Updated August 15, 2026

Overview

The Waldensians were declared heretics not for preaching poverty, which the Franciscans also did, but for refusing to let bishops control who could preach. The trouble started in the late twelfth century in Rome's spiritual jurisdiction, in the French city of Lyon. A wealthy merchant named Peter Waldo gave away his property around 1173 to live as a wandering preacher. His followers called themselves the Poor of Lyon. They embraced apostolic poverty and simplicity, living much like other reform movements that operated inside the Catholic Church. The conflict was never about their doctrine of poverty. It was about authority.

Pope Innocent III recognized that The Waldensians shared goals with orthodox reformers, and he offered them a path back into the Catholic Church. Those who accepted his terms became known as the Poor Catholics. The terms required them to stop preaching without episcopal authorization. Many refused the offer and kept preaching on their own authority. The Fourth Lateran Council formally declared the Waldensians heretical in 1215. The ruling targeted their defiance of episcopal authority over preaching, not their commitment to poverty itself. Stripped of legal protection, the movement spread from Lyon into the Cottian Alps, a mountainous region spanning modern-day France and Italy that became their stronghold. They survived there for centuries, and on 12 September 1532, the Waldensians formally joined the Calvinist Reformation at the Synod of Chanforan. That decision aligned the medieval movement with emerging Protestantism.

Organized persecution across the 1600s devastated the movement and nearly annihilated it. Congregations survived in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy, where Waldensian communities had taken root in the Alpine valleys. The Waldensian Church still exists today, based in Italy, and operates as a Protestant denomination with approximately 20,000 members.

The Waldensians were declared heretics not for preaching poverty, which the Franciscans also did, but for refusing to let bishops control who could preach.

Source: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Key facts

Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant, gave away his property around 1173 to preach apostolic poverty.: Waldo was a merchant in Lyon, France. His followers were originally called the Poor of Lyon.
The Waldensians were formally declared heretical by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215.: The council was convened by Pope Innocent III. The heresy ruling was based on defiance of episcopal authority over preaching, not on the doctrine of poverty itself.
Pope Innocent III offered the Waldensians a path back into the Catholic Church.: Those who accepted became known as the Poor Catholics. Many refused the offer and faced centuries of persecution.
The Waldensians formally joined the Calvinist Reformation at the Synod of Chanforan on 12 September 1532.: This synod took place in the Cottian Alps, in what is today the border region of France and Italy. The decision aligned the medieval movement with emerging Protestantism.
The Waldensians were nearly annihilated in the seventeenth century.: Organized persecution and discrimination across the 1600s devastated the movement, though congregations survived in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy.
The movement spread from Lyon to the Cottian Alps before the Reformation.: This mountainous region spans modern-day France and Italy and became the stronghold of Waldensian communities for centuries.

Context

The Waldensians began as an ascetic movement in late twelfth-century Lyon when a wealthy merchant abandoned his possessions to preach poverty and simplicity. Though initially similar to other reform movements within the Catholic Church, they broke from Rome by insisting on the right to preach without episcopal authorization. They survived centuries of persecution in the Alpine valleys of France and Italy before formally joining the Calvinist Reformation in 1532.