From 1670 to 1698, Henri Arnaud was a pastor in the Waldensian Church, which was a small Protestant minority in the Piedmont region of Italy. Arnaud is still somewhat controversial today because he persuaded the Waldensians to take up arms to defend themselves when the authorities used force to attempt to take away their religious freedom.
Arnaud grew up being painfully aware of the reality of religious persecution. He was born in Embrun in France in 1643, the same year that Louis XIV became King of France. Louis XIV’s motto was “One king, one law, one faith.” During his entire 70-year reign, Louis XIV’s aim was to force Protestant minorities back into the Catholic Church, not only in France but also in neighboring countries such as the Palatinate in what is now Germany and Savoy-Piedmont, where the Waldensians lived.
Arnaud’s life was shaped by Louis XIV’s intolerant religious policy. From 1670. Arnaud was a pastor in the Waldensian Church. This small Protestant church had roots in several valleys in Piedmont, which at that time belonged to the Dukes of Savoy. In 1686, under the pressure of Louis XIV, the Duke of Savoy gave the Waldenses the choice of conversion or exile. The Waldenses followed Arnaud’s advice and offered armed resistance, but in vain. Many Waldensians were killed or died in prisons. In 1687 the survivors went into exile in Switzerland and on to Germany.
But Arnaud did not give up. In 1689 the Waldensians returned armed to their valleys. There they started a guerrilla force that persuaded the Duke of Savoy to restore religious freedom to the Waldenses. Arnaud played an essential role in what he called this “Glorious Return.” Nevertheless, Arnaud’s success was only temporary because in 1698 he and about 2700 Waldensians had to go into exile again because they were native French and the French king Louis XIV did not want to tolerate such “rebels” living so close to his border.
Once Arnaud and his Waldensian compatriots were accepted in Germany as what today would be called religious refugees, Arnaud participated in founding and developing a number of Waldensian colonies.
Arnaud became a pastor in Dürrmenz but lived in Schönenberg near Ötisheim. In 1718 he had a church built there, where he was buried in 1721. Opposite the Henri Arnaud Church, built in 1883, is his former residence. Next to the headquarters of the German Waldensian Association (or, in German, Deutsche Waldenser Vereinigung), there is an informative Waldensian Museum.