The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1893-11-09
THE WALDENSES.
Something Of Interest Concern
ing a Remarkable People.

none occupy IL more conspicuous pace IN
thepages Ofhistory than the religious sect
known as the WaIdenses, who inhabit
the historic valleys of Piedmont, small
country lying amid the wild and beauti-
full Alpine scenery, to the north of Italy.
Some six or eight months ago a large
number of these worthy and honest, God
fearing people settled in the western part
OF our State, having been attracted here
by the superior advantages of climate
and productiveness of soil, and the vast
and varied undeveloped natural re-
sources. With this event still fresh in
our minds, perhaps something concern
ing their origin, history, customs, etc,
will be read with interest by many Of our
people.
To begin. We will have to go back
several hundred years to get the first
thread of the narrative-back to the
days Of darkness and gloom when the
blessed Christian religion first began to
diffuse itself over the continent of Europe,
through the preaching of the Apostles
and the early missionaries who immed-
ately followed them.
AS to the time when they first came
into notice, there is some doubt, various
opinions being held by different authori-
ties. They were strict religious sect,
observing the commands of the true God
whom they wOrshiped, and consequently
suffered many severe prosecutions at the
hands of the Roman Catholics, against
whose church and doctrines they were
opposed, and during these prosecutions
most OF their historical memorials were
destroyed. But their uncOntradicted
traditions run back nearly to the Chris
tian era, and warrant the presumption
that I heir {. hurch formed pithap NY
the Apostles or their immediate success
sOrs; and some of their authentic dOcu-
| ments which have been preserved, date
many hundred years before the Reforma-
ton OF Luther earl v in the year 1900
after Christ. ROmish historians as early
as 1850 speak of them as being the Oldest
sect of heretics Chose opposed to the
| church OF ROme), and it is very certain
| they had their origin much earlier than
| this period. Being situated directly
north of Italy, it is highly probable that
st. Paul, when he made his Journey into
| SPAIN which he mentions in some of his
writings Romans Xv:2S), even preached
to the dwellers of these retired valleys
| The accepted opinion of the most au-
thentic writer's on the subject is that
their church was formed by the early
missionaries or even the Apostles them
selves while others think their numbers
were augmented by an influx of Chris
tians soon thereafter, who had fled from
| Rome to escape the prosecutions there
waged against them by the Catholics
after the preaching of Paul. And by
them the gospel was handed down from
father to son, in the same purity and
simplicity as preached by the great Apos
tie of the Lord, through many genera
10 tn,,
They have been known by various
names In their early history they bore
the different applications of Valdenses,
Ealdesi, Nalesi, Vaudois, and finally by
that of Waldenses. 1t is however from
their character as dalesmen, or men of
the valley, that they received their name
1t is derived from the Latin word vaNis-
meaning valley. The French gave rise
| to various mes-udl-valley, vau1, and
| raudois And from the Italian we get
nearer the present-Ealenses, which was
soon written Naldenses, and was then
| by the English corrupted in Waldenses.
| Hence the various names under which
they have been known to the world.
NaudOis is the name universally applied
to them on che continent OF Europe, and
by which they speak of themselves, but
in England and the United States they
are known as Waldenses.
! The WaldenseS are, in religion, in all
essential particulars, Presbyterian in
order, and Calvinistjc in doctrine. But
they were not in every particular Protes-
ants, nor are they to be counted among
| the Reformed churches. Yet when these
churches in England, Germany and
France threw off the yoke of papacy (the
authority of the Catholic church of
nA TO- .,4.
within their borders to it's original purity
and simplicity, the Waldenses received
the tidings with gladness, and often held
conferences and mingled with the Re-
| formers, and all it seems were benefited
by these meetings. But they claimed
that the faith, the worship, and the eccle-
slastical organization then prevalent
among them had been handed down to
them by uninterrupted tradition from
the very earliest ages of Christianity.
Being raised as they were amid the
| wild and picturesque scenery of the Alps,
they are a hardy, adventurous people,
| exposed from childhood to a life of toll
| and danger, and have all that simplicity
of character and sturdy independence
which seem in all climes to be the natural
inheritance OF the mOuntaineer. They
are worthy people and wherever they
are known their integrity of character
and high regard for honesty are the sub
| ject of universal comment. One of the
most active persons engaged in waging
these prosecutions against the Waldenses,
the Duke Of Savoy, once writing of them,
said: "Were | to heed only the dictates
of sound policy should wish the Wal
denses to multiply instead of diminish,
for they are faithful, laborious, we'll dis
| posed and useful to the cOuntry.''
The Wadenses are a religious people,
the strictest in their observances of the
rites and ceremonies of the Protestant
faith of which we have ever read. They
We're urged by their enemies, the Catho-
and the God whom it taught them to
worship. But they were firm in their
belief, and hence the bloody prosecutions
visited upon them. In the first of these
troubles they acknowledged the leader
ship of Peter Waldo, a merchant of Lyon,
and in fact some claim that they got
| their name from this man, but it is
/ hardly possible, since he came into notice
at a much later period of their existence.
They first suffered in 1887, after which
time they were left to follow the dictates
OF their own cOnsciences, and We're unmo-
Tested for several years. But they were
not forgetful of their religious duties
which were kept up without, ceasing.
During this respite they recovered from
their loss and wrecked condition. Then
followed periods in which they again
were subjected to the same horrible tor
lures and painful trials as before-in the
years 400 and 147S. After these they
were driven from their homes and forced
to settle in other sections. They located
Of
scattered was the sect that it was said
a traveller from the northern part OF
Germany to Rome could sleep every
night at the home OF one of the brethren
Many of them settled in Bohemia, and
there joined the followers OF John Huss
the Taborites, and the Bohemian Breth.
rem. They adopted the doctrines OF the
Reformers, and this led to more serious
prosecutions than any they had pre-
viOusly undergone. In 1871 Francis d.
King of France, ordered them to be ex
+,,l