Waldenses

American  

[wawl-den-seez, wol-] / wɔlˈdɛn siz, wɒl- /

plural noun

1. the members of a Christian sect that arose after 1170 in southern France under the leadership of Pierre Waldo, a merchant of Lyons, and joined the Reformation in the 16th century.

---

Waldenses British  

/ wɒlˈdɛnsiːz, wɒlˈdɛnsɪən /

plural noun

1. Also called: Vaudois.  the members of a small sect founded as a reform movement within the Roman Catholic Church by Peter Waldo, a merchant of Lyons in the late 12th century, which in the 16th century joined the Reformation movement

---

Other Word Forms

• Waldensian adjective

Etymology

Origin of Waldenses

First recorded in 1400–50; plural of Middle English Waldensis, from Medieval Latin, after Pierre Waldo; -ensis

Example Sentences

His wife and one of his sisters were Waldenses, another sister was a Catharan, and the monk of Vaux-Cernay describes him as an enemy of God and a cruel persecutor of the Church.

From Project Gutenberg

This necessarily involved non-resistance, rendering the Waldenses dangerous only from such moral influence as they could acquire.

From Project Gutenberg

So broad a discipline must of necessity have led back some waverers into the pale of the church, but the Waldenses of Lombardy, in their congregationes laborantium, preserved the tradition of the independent Humiliati.

From Project Gutenberg

It may be noted, too, that ten years before the contribution to London, Dublin sent a relief amounting to £1,000 to the Waldenses, when suffering from the persecution of the Duke of Savoy.

From Project Gutenberg

It is impossible to forget the persecutions of the Cathari, the Albigenses, the Waldenses, the Hussites, the Huguenots, and of every sect that had the courage to think just a little for itself.

From Project Gutenberg