Perhaps the most radical aspect of Waldo’s preaching was the way that his audience responded. Upon hearing and understanding scripture for the first time, men and women responded by sharing the good news themselves. This meant that both men and women felt convicted to take up a vow of poverty and chastity and to begin preaching. Following the example of the first disciples (Mark 6:7-13), they went out “two by two.” The men were called barbes (a term of affection from the word “uncle”) and the women sorores (English: sisters).
There are very few records of the earliest decades of the Waldensians, but we do know from the archives of the Inquisition that women were very active as preachers. Two by two, Waldensian women traveled from town to town to preach the gospel. But when the Waldensian movement was condemned as heretical by the Roman Catholic Church, Waldensian preachers were sought by the Inquisition for possible trial, conviction, and execution by being burned at the stake. To escape persecution, the Waldensian movement rapidly went underground. Women preachers were particularly vulnerable in a society in which women were expected to remain silent in public. Moreover, women who traveled without a man were regarded as highly suspect.
As the movement became increasingly clandestine to survive, the ministry of Waldensian women changed its focus to caring for the sick and elderly. Along with the males, the sorores also took vows of poverty and chastity. They often ministered to neighbors by practicing traditional herbal and botanical medicine. As the need for male pastors grew, the sorores operated a small Waldensian seminary in the Angrogna Valley near Turin, Italy. There the sorores would prepare meals and provide training in reading and writing for the male ministers during the fall, winter, and spring. During the summer, the male trainees worked for the women at their sister house. There the men engaged in manual labor and food production. This practice continued for hundreds of years until the Waldensians joined the Swiss Reformed movement in 1532. Ironically, it was not until the early 1960’s that the first female pastors were ordained into the Waldensian Church.