French Vaudois Italian Valdesi
Members of a Christian movement that originated in 12th-century France.
Devotees sought to follow the example of Jesus by living in poverty and simplicity. The movement's reputed founder, Roman Catholicism by rejecting such concepts as purgatory and the veneration of the saints. Rome responded with active persecution and execution of Waldenses, and their numbers diminished by the end of the 15th century. In the 16th century they adopted the church organization of Genevan Protestantism. Intermittently persecuted, they have remained a small movement within Christianity, surviving today in Argentina, Uruguay, and the U.S.