We come, though, to a period of time where the historical record points out that there is growing dissatisfaction with the Roman Catholic Church, and there are those who we do have the historical account of, who are going to speak up, who are going to speak out, who are going to do what they can do to make some changes. It may be for a variety of different reasons, but they recognize what is going on—what has become the “church”—is really not the church at all. And so, either in the small and quiet ways, or perhaps in very large and boisterous ways, change is afoot.

There are some who would be called pre-reformers. There are several different ones that we could look at, but some of them—like those who were part of the Monastic movement, who, during the actual time frame of The Middle Ages, were attempting to make changes within their movement—are counted historically as being pre-reformers, but in a sense, they were simply making adjustments and changes to what they had already adopted, which was, indeed, a form of Catholicism. There are other individuals—for example, Frances of Assisi—who worked to make some minor changes, and to bring about some minor reforms. But these, once again, were within the framework of the Catholic Church itself. As a matter of fact, these minor changes—minor reforms—were even supported and advocated by the pope. They were recognized as things that they felt needed some work.

The Reforming Sects

However, there did come about some reforming sects and individuals who, during the period of The Middle Ages, actually did part company with the Catholic Church, and began, in their own way, to make reforms—to bring about significant changes in what they saw.

One of these groups was The Cathari, or, as a group, they were called The Catharus. This movement first appeared in southern France in the early 11^th Century. The name comes from a Greek word meaning “pure.” They sought to purify the “church” by returning to the simplicity of the New Testament church. Well, say now, there’s quite a concept, isn’t it? That sounds like what we are doing—returning to the New Testament, calling things by Bible names, doing things in Bible ways.

However, they fell short in their attempt. They had some strange doctrines that they developed. It was really kind of a curious mix that they ended up with of New Testament doctrine, along with some other doctrines, which were popular in the day. For example, they had the belief that both Christ and Satan were sons of God. Christ was the good son; Satan was the bad son. Christ was responsible for creating, for making, the souls of men; Satan was responsible for making the bodies of men. And of course, this, no doubt, sounds somewhat familiar, because it tracked, in a certain sense, with the Gnostics, who believed that the body was impure. And so, some of their doctrines, it is believed, were copied from such ones as the Gnostics.

They also adopted some of the Monastic practices. They lived a very ascetic life. They refused to eat meat, eggs, milk, and that sort of thing, because they figured both that they were part of the fruits of reproduction and that they wanted to divest themselves of these kinds things that were thought to be somewhat luxurious items. This particular movement had a large following in northern Italy. It moved, also, into southern France and into northern Spain.

Now, under Pope Innocent III—you remember, we talked about him in Lesson 7—the Cathari became the victims of a bloody Crusade, which attempted to eliminate them. Although the Cathari disappeared as a reforming force in the West, some of their emphasis lived on.

The Cathari, interestingly enough, had also translated the Scriptures into their own language, making them available for people, and this practice was employed by later reformers. For example, we’re going to talk about John Wycliffe.

Well, then there were The Waldenses. This was a sect which was founded by one named Peter Waldo in AD 1176, also in France. Peter Waldo has an interesting story. He was a rich merchant in Lyons, France. But, in 1176, he was impressed with the biblical account of the rich, young ruler, whom Jesus encountered. He contemplated that account, and the instruction that Jesus had given that rich, young ruler. And so, this very wealthy merchant divested himself of his possessions. He distributed them to the poor, and he began to go about the city and countryside preaching and begging his daily bread.

Some others began to be attracted to Waldo. They were inspired by his example, and they began to preach, as well. They called themselves “the poor men of Lyons”—Lyons, France. Well, they went about the countryside and into the cities, not taking a wage, not having very much in the way of possessions—living very ascetic lives. They would be the followers, then, of this one, Peter Waldo.

Like the Cathari, they made the New Testament central in their beliefs and practices. They had access to vernacular [the common everyday language of a people] translations of the New Testament. You recall, at this time the primary translations of the Bible were Latin translations; but there were some vernacular translations. And so, one of their practices was, they would commit large sections of Scripture to memory.

They looked upon the Roman Catholic Church as being corrupt. They rejected the authority of all clergy, except those who they read about in the New Testament, namely Jesus and His apostles. They rejected masses for the dead. They rejected the use of Latin in the worship services. And, while they observed the Lord’s Supper and practiced baptism, they held that these might be administered by “laymen,” rather than by “priests” only.

So, here we have two sects, and there were others during this time, but these were, perhaps, the most well-known, The Cathari and The Waldenses. And these were known as some of the early pre-reformers.