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Rape of the Beloved - The Story of the Waldenses             

 

  

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The Rape of the Beloved
  
You raped me, murdered my children, and left me for dead. At first I tried to pacify you; I sent my precious Barbe to you, bearing gifts. You scoffed, threw away the gifts, and tortured and murdered my beloved. Your lust unsated, you entered my valleys and forced your way into my home. You repeatedly ravished me; 33 times you came in to me. I tried to resist you, but you were too strong. I tried to hide from you, but you found me. Enraged, you seized my children and murdered them before my eyes. Some you burned alive in the caves where they hid. My infant child you tore from my grasp. You threw him down from the heights and dashed him upon the rocks.

You heard that two of my children were working in one of your vineyards. You hunted them down, and put them in prison. One you tortured and murdered. The other you sent away in the dead of winter, naked and wounded.

All this was done when I was defenseless. My Husband was away on business, and you seized the opportunity to abuse me, kill my children, and steal my property. When I would rebuild, you would come again to ravage me. You were merciless. You sought to utterly destroy me and all my kin.

[Know this: my Husband is returning soon. He is a mighty warrior, and he will bring with Him a strong army to avenge my honor and the blood of my children. Some of you are claiming that you were not responsible for these atrocities. IF WE HAD BEEN LIVING IN THE DAYS OF OUR FATHERS, WE WOULD NOT HAVE COMMITTED THOSE ATROCITIES. SO YOU TESTIFY AGAINST YOURSELF THAT SONS OF THOSE WHO MURDERED US. You are accomplices. You support my persecutors, and stand by and defend their actions. But my Husband is merciful. He will not punish those who flee to him for protection, even from among those who persecuted me. But those who are obstinate and refuse to bow to him for mercy, they will suffer their just punishment.]

Until His return, every year I will memorialize my children. I invite all you of good faith to this year's memorial service to be held Saturday, August 9 at 7:45 PM, in Valdese, NC. Prior to the service, please visit the Trail of Faith that recounts the story of my rape, the murder of my children, and our ongoing faith in God. Admission is $14 for the memorial service. A tour of the Trail of Faith is $6.

Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughter'd saints, whose bones
       Lie scatter'd on the Alpine mountains cold,
       Ev'n them who kept thy truth so pure of old,
       When all our fathers worshipp'd stocks and stones;
Forget not: in thy book record their groans
       Who were thy sheep and in their ancient fold
       Slain by the bloody Piemontese that roll'd
       Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubl'd to the hills, and they
       To Heav'n. Their martyr'd blood and ashes sow
       O'er all th' Italian fields where still doth sway
The triple tyrant; that from these may grow
       A hundred-fold, who having learnt thy way
Early may fly the Babylonian woe.

 - John Milton, On the Late Massacre in Piedmont

              The History of the Waldensians

1) Descendents of the Ambrosian Church of Milan:

The Waldenses, or Vaudois, were spiritual descendants of the early church. They were an offshoot of the Ambrosians of the diocese of Milan in northern Italy. The church in Milan withstood the domination of Rome until the middle of the eleventh century. "The Papal legate, Damianus, informs us that the clergy of Milan maintained in his presence, 'that the Ambrosian Church, according to the ancient institutions of the Fathers, was always free, without being subject to the laws of Rome, and that the Pope of Rome had no jurisdiction over their Church as to the government of constitution of it.'" [1]

2) Hidden by God in the mountain valleys of the Cottian Alps:

"When their co-religionists on the plains entered within the pale of the Roman jurisdiction, they retired within the mountains, and, spurning alike the tyrannical yoke and the corrupt tenets of the Church of Seven Hills, they preserved in its purity and simplicity the faith their fathers had handed down to them. Rome manifestly was the schismatic, she it was that abandoned what was once the common faith of Christendom, leaving by that step to all who remained on the old ground the indisputably valid title of the True Church." [2]

3) Their antiquity confirmed by the Roman Catholic authorities:

Rorenco, Prior of St. Roch, Turin (1640), was employed to investigate the origin and antiquity of the Waldenses, and of course had access to all the Waldensian documents in the ducal archives, and being their bitter enemy he may be presumed to have made his report not more favorable than he could help. Yet he states that "they were not a new sect in the ninth and tenth centuries, and that Claude of Turin must have detached them from the Church in the ninth century." [3]

4) Their "errors" documented by Rome:

Here is a list of some of the Waldensian beliefs, as documented by Reinerius Saccho, who was ordered by Pope Innocent IV (in 1250) to make a list of their errors: 

1. They rejected the Roman church, believing it to be the whore of Babylon. 2. They claimed that Rome erred in yoking with the secular government in the days of Constantine. 3. They rejected the mass and claimed that the bread is only symbolic. 4. They rejected infant baptism because babies cannot believe. 5. They rejected the Catholic priests and bishops. 6. They rejected extreme unction, saying it is a curse rather than a sacrament. 7. They rejected purgatory, believing that the dead go either to heaven or hell. 8. They rejected prayers to the dead. 9. They did not believe in the prayers of the saints. 10. They rejected confession of sins to a priest, believing that sins should be confessed only to God. [4]

5) They possessed the New Testament in the vernacular:

The Romaunt New Testament, written in the 12th century and translated from the Latin Vulgate, was the first literal version since the fall of the Roman empire. It is likely that this version was paid for by Peter Waldo of Lyons not later than 1180.

6) They called their pastors "Barbes" meaning "uncles" to differentiate them from the false "fathers" of Rome:

Hidden in their mountain valleys, they formed mini seminaries where their youth would be instructed by the Barbes. They committed to memory, and were able to recite, whole Gospels and Epistles. Those instructed were sent as missionaries throughout Europe. They went forth two by two, concealing their real character under the guise of a secular profession, most commonly that of merchants or peddlers.

7) The "Nobla Leycon," a poem that outlines Waldensian beliefs, is published (1100). No heresy is to be found! Yet they will be persecuted for the next 700 years as heretics.

8) Christian persecution begins under Pope Innocent III (1181):

Pope Innocent III, perhaps the most powerful (and wicked) of the popes of Rome, marks the official beginning of persecutions of "heretics." The persecutions would last for centuries. Here is a Waldensian Timeline. The Dominican order was formed to lead the Inquisition to exterminate "heresy." The followers of Peter Waldo are excommunicated (1183) under Pope Lucius III. Albigenses of southern France are slaughtered in the Medieval Inquisition (1207); some who escape flee and join the Waldenses.

9) The Christmas Massacre of 1400:

The Waldenses of the Valley of Pragelas are attacked and forced to flee up into the mountains, where many succumbed to the elements. Periodic persecutions ensued throughout the 15th century. They suffered frequent kidnapping by the inquisitors, who burned them alive.

10) Pope Innocent VIII plans the extermination of the Waldensians in 1487:

At the urging of the pope, the King of France and the Duke of Savoy convene an army of 18,000 to exterminate the Vaudois. The plan is to attack the Waldenses from two directions. Fleeing to avoid slaughter, many of the Vaudois were overtaken and killed. Some who escaped hid in a cavern, but their pursuers lit a fire at its entrance. 3,000 perished (including 400 infants) either in the smoke or by the sword trying to escape the cavern. The Waldensians sue for peace, but are rejected. Their hunters chase them into the mountains, only to be foiled by the hand of God. Ascending a narrow pass, a cloud blocks their way. Seizing the opportunity, the Vaudois hurled rocks and logs at the papal army, causing them to either be crushed or rolled over the precipice. The war of extirpation lasted a whole year.

11) 1559: Spain, France and Savoy agree to extirpate heretics:

By 1555 it is estimated that there were some 40,000 believers in the Piedmont of the Alps. This period of relative peace was soon to be shattered. On April 3, 1559 the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis is signed, calling for the extirpation of all heretics. The Vaudois must attend mass under pain of death. The Waldenses suffered confiscations, arrests, cruel tortures, and martyrdom. Having lived peaceably with their Catholic neighbors, they sought continuing peace. These overtures were rejected and the Vaudois were once again forced to flee. They fought valiantly against the papal commander La Trinita. Once again the Vaudois were able to fend off their attackers, but with great loss of life.

12) The slaughter of the Waldenses living in Calabria:

Many Vaudois had emigrated to the south of Italy and had lived peaceably with their Catholic neighbors for centuries. This changed in 1560. In May, the pastor of the Waldenses was apprehended, taken to Rome and imprisoned. He was soon executed. Inquisitors were sent to the Waldensian town of San Sexto. The inhabitants fled, but were hunted down. The Waldenses offered to emigrate, but were denied. They were exterminated. In another town, they were tortured, slaughtered, quartered and place on pikes. Some were burned alive; others were sent to the Spanish galleys.

13) Order of Gastaldo and massacres in 1655:

In the depth of winter, all Vaudois families living in the lower valleys are ordered to attend mass or leave within three days under pain of death. The Waldenses flee rather than submit. The Marquis de Pianeza mustered an army of 15,000 to pursue those that fled to join their brethren in the upper valleys. Among the mountains, they looked down upon the destruction of their farms and property. But they valiantly fought, and Pianeza offered terms of peace. But this was only a ploy to allow his soldiers access to the upper reaches. On April 24, 1655 a thousand assassins began the work of death and torture. Hearing of the massacre from England, Oliver Cromwell proclaimed a fast and took up a collection for the suffering Vaudois. John Milton composes his sublime sonnet to record forever in verse the heinousness of the slaughter.

At the point of extinction, the Vaudois were still able to withstand the onslaught of their persecutors. They knew their mountains, and despite being few in number they were able to repel the overwhelming numbers of their enemies. At one battle, there were an estimated 1,400 Piedmontese dead versus only a handful of Vaudois. There enemies even admitted "that surely God was on the side of the Barbers." Worldwide ignomy eventually led to the withdrawal of the troops of Savoy. 

13) In 1685 the Edict of Nantes is revoked, leading to the utter destruction of the Waldenses:

Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes and went about his project of fratricide, slaughtering the French Protestant Huguenots. He sent an ambassador to the new Duke of Savoy, requesting his assistance in the destruction of the remaining Vaudois. Victor Amadeus, who was on good terms with the Waldenses (since they supported him in his war with the Genoese) was at first reluctant. But fearing the loss of his land to the King of France, he entered into an agreement to attack his subjects. An edict was written that demanded that the Vaudois "cease and discontinue all the exercises of their religion" under pain of death and confiscation of goods. All churches were to be razed to the ground. All pastors must embrace Romanism or leave the country within 15 days. All children must be trained up as Catholics.

Despite the best efforts of the Protestant nations to prevent the slaughter, the armies of France and Savoy arrived 20,000 strong. The remaining Vaudois of about 15,000 were either slaughtered, imprisoned, or removed to the fortresses of the Piedmont. Their famous valleys were now empty. Many of the Vaudois died in prison. In December, 1686 a decree of liberation was signed that freed the remaining 3,000 men who had escaped the sword and death in prison. They left to traverse the Alps into Switzerland in the dead of winter. Some perished in the elements. The remnant arrived in Geneva on Christmas Day, 1686.

14) The Glorious Return

To learn the story of the glorious return of the 800 Vaudois to their native land, you should go to the town of Valdese, NC and learn the rest of the story!

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The history of the Waldenses should be a great encouragement to evangelical Protestants. They represent a call to stand firm in the faith through adversity, and to remember that our citizenship is in heaven.

Babylon is ever the eternal enemy of the faithful. She destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC and took captive the people of Judah. She destroyed Jerusalem again in 70 AD. And she persecuted and tried to exterminate God's people throughout Christian history. Oh, how dangerous it will be to be found amidst the Babylonian woman when her judgment falls! Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues...Rev. 18:4.

I close with Psalm 138:

By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

How shall we sing of the LORD's song in a foreign land? if I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!

O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Blessed shall be he who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock! 
  

Your fellow blood-bought servant of Christ,

 

 

Dale

 

 

 

[1] Wylie, History of Protestantism, Book One, Ch. 6 

[2] Ibid

[3] Ibid

[4] Allix, Remarks Upon the Churches of the Piedmont, Ch. 22