Welcome!
The Waldensians welcome your interest in learning more about them. If you have questions this website doesn’t answer, or if you’d like to get to know Waldensians personally, please send an email to info@waldensian.org
- The Church of England and the English Committee in Aid of Waldensian Church Mission
The American Waldensian Society is only one of several groups based outside of Italy and South American that were founded with the purpose of supporting the Waldensians. This article by Rev. Dr. Euan Cameron, Henry Luce III Professor Emeritus of Reformation Church History and Dean and Vice President Emeritus at Union Theological Seminary in New York, explains how and why the English Committee in aid of the Waldensian Church Missions was founded.
The Waldensian Churches became the focus of both interest and support from the Church of England in the early 19th century. That interest was built on traditions going back nearly two centuries, and on a historical vision of what Waldensian belief was about. This article attempts to trace the rise of the campaign of support which led to the establishment of the “English Committee in Aid of Waldensian Church Mission” exactly two centuries ago.
The Waldensian Church survived into the 1800s by defiance in the face of violent attacks. The treaty which ended the war with Savoy of 1560-1 gave the church limited authority to function in a narrowly defined space. That permission did not save it from the massacres of 1655, or the exile of so many of its people in 1686-89. The Napoleonic Empire gave a brief initial period of civil equality to the Reformed Churches, which was rescinded after Waterloo. At the time of the Anglican missions, the Waldenses were again living under the humiliating restraints that dated back essentially to 1561.
The Waldensian Churches of c. 1800 were following the worship and beliefs of Reformed Protestantism. Yet a historical perception grew that this “Calvinist” character of their life and belief had developed late. It was believed that the loss of many of their pastors in 1630 during the Italian plague of 1629–1631 made it necessary to replace the pastorate with French-speaking trainees from the Genevan academy. The influence of Genevan ministers from the 1550s was not at that time recognized. Around 1800, candidates for the Waldensian pastorate were studying at Lausanne, where Unitarian ideas were making inroads into orthodoxy and worrying conservatives.
England had long supported the Waldensian communities. Following the notorious massacres of 1655, much money was raised by the regime of Oliver Cromwell by public subscription. Some was intended to support an annual grant, which was rescinded by Charles II but revived under Queen Anne. A regular grant to “enable the Vaudois to maintain their Ministers, Churches, Schools, and Poor” was re-established in 1768 under George III, but ceased in 1797 once Piedmont fell under French control. The loss of that grant impoverished the Church: so, from the end of hostilities in 1815 a campaign was mounted in England to have the grant restored. A series of pamphlets by supporters such as Sims (1815), Lowther (1821), and Acland (1825) brought the needs of the communities to public attention and called, unsuccessfully, for the restoration of the royal grant.
By far the most influential work in arousing interest in England was the Narrative of an Excursion to the Mountains of Piemont, and Researches among the Vaudois, or Waldenses, first published by Rev. William Stephen Gilly (1789-1855, pictures above) in 1824. It was a resounding commercial success, many times reprinted. Gilly, Rector of North Fambridge in Essex just northeast of London, wrote the work essentially as a travelogue, into which historical narratives of different heroic episodes in the Waldensian experience were inserted at various points. The work was – and remains – extremely readable and accessible.
A fund already existed for the support of the Vaudois churches, supported by three trustees. However, on 26 May 1825 a committee was formed to gather together all the interested parties. The Committee met at the home of George Henry Rose (1770–1855) a diplomat and networker, with the Bishop of London in the chair. Several of those who had published in support of the Waldensian church were included; Gilly became the honorary secretary, and I. S. Pons acted as an intermediary with the church in Piedmont. The records of the Committee are now conserved in Cambridge University Library.
Anglican support for the Waldenses was, to some extent, predicated on a mythical understanding of their history. Gilly and others believed that the Waldenses were the ancient, primitive, biblically-oriented Christians of northern Italy, who had lasted through the centuries uncorrupted by the doctrines and practices of the papacy. The Reformation was not thought to have breached this tradition, and the introduction of “Calvinism” after the introduction of a new cadre of pastors following losses in the plague of 1630 was seen as a distraction from their ancient calling. From 1827 their most indefatigable patron, Col. J. C. Beckwith (1789–1862) raised funds to endow the communities with better schools, better accommodation for churches and ministers, and to enable Waldensian ministers to be formed in a seminary of their own, rather than in Switzerland.
With their civil emancipation within Piedmont-Savoy in 1848, the Waldenses could evangelize beyond their valleys. This impulse led to the completion of the tempio in Turin in 1853 and a wider campaign to grow the Church. Beckwith, ever the Anglican, sought in vain to persuade the Church to establish moderators for life (quasi-bishops) and to adopt a liturgy comparable to that used in England. The Waldenses, politely and gratefully, remained Reformed; but their relationship with the Church of England foreshadowed the ecumenical engagement which remains a fundamental commitment. Euan Cameron, the Henry Luce III Professor Emeritus of Reformation History and Vice President Emeritus at Union Theological Seminary, New York, is a member of the board of the American Waldensian Society. He is also now serving as the parish priest at All Saints Episcopal Church in Ivoryton, Connecticut. This text was the basis for a talk by Euan at a Waldensian Awayday in Cambridge, England.