CHAPTER 7 Defining Evangelizing - Evangelism Unlimited

Thomas P. Johnston 269
Unfortunately for the Christianity planted by Henry of Lausanne and for the Waldenses, 290
Roman Catholics called their evangelism “hereticking”!
From the 12 th Century and following, the Roman Catholic Popes and clergy sought to
control evangelism by prohibiting “lay preaching” or what is contemporaneously called “lay
visitation”, which often involved (1) house-to-house or door-to-door evangelism; they also
prohibited (2) street, open-air, or outdoor evangelism. In subsequent centuries Rome
prohibited the translation of the Bible into the vernacular language, as well as printing,
selling, owning, or reading a vernacular Bible (and even some Latin Bibles), or even
gathering in homes to read the Bible. 291
According to the various Roman Catholic decrees of 1179, 1184, 1199, and 1215, New
Testament itinerant evangelists were the pests of society. They were to be hated by all and
shunned by all. No business was to be transacted with them, they were not to be given food
or lodging, nor were they to be listened to at all. Thus was the lot of the “wandering
preachers” (German wandeprediger). Yet the “poor men of Lyons” and the Albigenses
continued to flourish, despite the harsh measures against them. It was then that Pope
Innocent III called for even harsher treatment, by conspiring with the King of France to
pronounce war against the region of Toulouse—it was called a “crusade” or holy war.
Once any hope of political asylum was shattered by the Fall of Toulouse, numerous
inquisitors hunted the “poor men of Lyons” and the Albigenses throughout Southern France.
The following is a list of the inquisition records transcribed by Jean Duvernoy, with some minor
additions (in parentheses are the name of the inquisitors, the towns where they inquisited,
and the document names if not identified with an inquisitor or town): 292
a) Inquisition records with known dates:
a) 1241-1242 (Pierre Cellan)
b) 1243-1247 (Bernard de Caux; ms XXII, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris)
c) 1245-1246, 1253 (Ferrer and Pons de Parnac, Toulouse; manuscript 609, Bibliothèque
Municipale, Toulouse)
d) 1254, 1256 (Jean de Saint-Pierre and Réginald de Chartres)
e) 1262-1309 (Pierre de Fenouillet and Hugue de Saissac)
f) 1266-1275 (ms 161, Bibliothèque Municipale, Carcassonne)
g) 1273-1280 (Toulouse: Ranuphle de Plassac, Pons de Parnac, Pierre Arsieu, Hugues Amiel,
and Hugues Bouniols; ms Fonds Doat t. XXV and XXVI, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris)
h) 1284-1289 (Jean Galand and Guillaume de Sainte-Seine; ms XXVI, Bibliothèque Nationale,
Paris)
290 “3. Finally, the history of Waldo in Lyons appears exemplary as regards the invention of the heresy and the
establishment of the “Society of Persecution” that Robert Ian Moore described. Waldensianism as a heresy is not born
in Lyon with Waldo, as the same, if my hypothesis is correct, collaborates with the Archbishop. It is outside of Lyon
that it is born from the moment where this collaboration is rejected, and that Waldo and his followers have become not
only useless but more so dangerous, and as a consequence they are condemned and chased out of Lyon” [3. Enfin,
l’histoire lyonnaise de Valdès apparaît exemplaire quant à l’invention de l’hérésie et à la mise en place de la “société de
persécution’ que décrit Robert Ian Moore (La persécution: Sa formation en Europe [Xe-XIIIe siècle] [Paris, 1991]). Le
valdéisme en tant qu’hérésie ne naît pas à Lyon avec Valdès, puisque celui-ci, si mon hypothèse est la bonne, collabore
alors avec l’archevêque. Il naît hors de Lyon à partir du moment où cette collaboration est rejetée, et que Valdès et ses
partisans sont devenus non seulement inutiles mais encore dangereux, et qu’en conséquence on les condamne et on les
chasse de Lyon”] (Michel Rubellin, “Au temps où Valdès n’étais pas hérétique: hypothèses sure le rôle de Valdès à
Lyon,” in Monique Zerner, ed., Inventer l’hérésie? Discours polémiques et pouvoirs avant l’inquisition, Collection du
centre d’études médiévales de Nice, vol. 2 [Paris: C.I.D., 1998], 217).
291 Decrees, councils, and apostolic letters were promulgated against reading the Bible in the vernacular and
against the other mentioned concerns in the years: 1179, 1184, 1199, 1211, 1215, 1229, 1234, 1246, 1408, 1414-1416,
1545-1565, 1559, 1564, 1590, 1664, 1836, 1864, 1897 (see Histoire du Livre Saint en France; available at
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/hlybk/bible/ france.htm; accessed 2 February 2005; Internet; as well as Daniel Lortsch, Histoire
de la Bible en France; available at: http://www.bibliquest.org/Lortsch/Lortsch-Histoire_Bible_France-1.htm; accessed 5
March 2005; Internet.
292 Manuscripts and dates reconstructed primarily from the writings and translations of Jean Duvernoy, as found on
his website: http://jean.duvernoy.free.fr.