jan 28, 1173 - Waldensian movement founded

Description:

The movement originated in the late twelfth century as the Poor Men of Lyon,[1] a band organized by Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant who gave away his property around 1173, preaching apostolic poverty as the way to perfection. Waldensian teachings quickly came into conflict with the Catholic Church. By 1215, the Waldensians were declared heretical and subject to intense persecution; the group was nearly annihilated in the 17th century and was confronted with organised and general discrimination in the centuries that followed. In the era of the Reformation, the Waldensians influenced early Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger. Upon finding the ideas of other reformers similar to their own, they quickly merged into the larger Protestant movement. With the Resolutions of Chanforan on 12 September 1532, they formally became a part of the Calvinist tradition.