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CHAPTER
6
VIGILANTIUS,
LEADER OF THE WALDENSES
The paganism which so soon began to
avenge itself by creeping into the doctrines and practices of the early church
has never been altogether eradicated, and has always been ready to become the
nucleus of heresy or corruption when faith declined or ardor cooled.1
THE earliest leader of prominence among the noble Waldenses in northern Italy
and southern France is Vigilantius (A.D. 364-408). By some he has been accounted the first supreme director of
the church of the Waldenses.2 In
his time the protests against the introduction of pagan practices into primitive
Christianity swelled into a revolution. Then it was that the throngs who desired
to maintain the faith once delivered to the saints in northern Italy and
southwestern France were welded into an organized system. Desiring truth based
on the Bible only, those who refused to follow the superstitious novelties being
brought into the church were greatly influenced by the clear-cut scriptural
teachings of Vigilantius. Undoubtedly Patrick of Ireland, who was at that same
time enlarging the Irish Church, was stirred by the reforms taking place in
south central Europe.
Vigilantius was born in southern France near the Pyrenees Mountains.3
His father was the proprietor of a relay
post, a "mansio," one of those many traveling stations throughout the
Roman Empire. The early home of the reformer was a relay center where change of
horses could be secured for travelers who, perchance, were merchants,
ambassadors, illustrious personages, bishops, ordinary tourists, or imperial
couriers. The business offered to the growing youth abundant opportunity to
obtain information on all topics from those who tarried at his father's mountain
abode.
As Vigilantius ranged through the solitudes tending the flocks, pursing
the chase, or guiding travelers through the mountain defiles, he increased in
stature and wisdom. Sometime while in contact with Christian travelers he
accepted Christ as his Savior. Near by were the estates of the famous historian
Sulpicius Severus. This renowned writer was the idol of the learned class. In
his mansion he was at some time host for practically all the distinguished men
of his day. He invited Vigilantius to enter his employ, first probably in
ordinary service, but later as the collector of rents and the manager of his
estates.
While Vigilantius was employed in the services of this historian, a great
change came over Sulpicius Severus. He was carded off his feet by the wave of
asceticism and monasticism which was sweeping westward. Vigilantius early
learned to love his employer. He admired greatly the brilliant intellect of this
man who could feed the hungry, clothe the poor, and visit the sick, while
engaged in many literary labors. The Struggle Against Monasticism
Now, not far to the north dwelt
Martin, bishop of Tours. Near the banks of the Loire River this prelate had
founded the first monastery in France. The extreme austerities of asceticism to
which he had subjected himself, coupled with the flaming reports of his
so-called miracles, enabled him to set loose in the West the passion for
monastic life. Sulpicius Severus, accompanied by Vigilantius, his Celtic
financier, set out to visit Martin. That conference produced a profound change
in the life of both Sulpicius and Vigilantius, but in opposite directions. The
fanaticism of Martin, bishop of Tours, drew Sulpicius and his brilliant talents
into the monastic life. Such
were the scenes related to Vigilantius by Sulpicius, if not actually witnessed
by him; and he could not remain blind to the fact that his patron was neither
happier nor better for his visit to the bishop of Tours. After his return home,
the image of Martin haunted the sensitive historian: he was pursued by the
recollection of the ascetic prelate sleeping on the cold earth, with nothing but
ashes strewed beneath him, and covered with sackcloth only; refusing a softer
bed, or warmer clothing, even in severe illness; declaring that a Christian
ought to die on ashes; feeding on the most unwholesome food, and denying himself
every indulgence; praying in the most irksome posture, forcing sleep from his
eyes, and exposing himself to the extremes of heat and cold, hunger and thirst.
The imagination of Sulpicius dwelt on what he had seen and heard at Marmoutier,
until he believed that heaven would be closed upon him, unless he should
practice the same austerities."4
The love of the marvelous, the habit of dwelling upon tales of wonders
and of practicing ascetic austerities, had seized the employer of Vigilantius.
On the other hand, Vigilantius saw in the system a form of religion without the
simplicity of the gospel of Christ. Thus
Vigilantius saw on one side vainglorious exaltation, spiritual pride, and
pretension to miraculous power; and on the other side, a false humility and
prostration of the understanding, both growing out of the same mistaken system
of asceticism: a system which undermined the doctrine of Christ's full and
sufficient sacrifice, and assigned an undue value to the inflictions and
performances of men like Martin of Tours: and which he probably foresaw would in
the end elevate them in the minds of weak brethren, to mediatorial thrones, and
render them little less than objects of divine worship. Consequently we must
attribute to impressions first received in the household of Sulpicius, the
efforts, which Vigilantius afterwards made, to expose the errors of asceticism,
and to check the progress of hagiolatry."5
The gulf between Vigilantius and Sulpicius which was formed by their
visit to Martin was widened when Sulpicius employed him as the messenger to
Paulinus of Nola, Italy. This excellent man had also gone to a retreat where he
could give his time "to those beguiling practices, which afterwards became
the characteristics of the Latin Church; and proved so fatal in the end to the
simplicity of the gospel.... Religious observances, transferred from pagan
altars to Christian shrines, were dignified with the name of honors due to the
memory of a departed saint: and as the heroes of old were invoked by the
ancestors of Paulinus, so did he himself substitute the name of Felix for that
of Hercules or Quirinus, and implore the aid of a dead martyr, when no other
name in prayer ought to have been upon his lips, than that of the one Mediator
between God and man."6 Furthermore
we are told that Pope Gelasius, in the fifth century, introduced into the West
the Purification festival, coupled with a Procession of Lights, to supplement
the heathen feast Lupercalia.7
What must have been the effect upon our simple mountaineer when he beheld
in Italy gorgeous shrines erected to commemorate a hermit? Through divine grace
Vigilantius escaped the infatuation which descends almost irresistibly upon
those who yield themselves to practices designed to supplant the simplicity of
the gospel.
The age of the apostles faded away into the age of the church fathers.
Learning and argument were used to prove the verities of the gospel rather than
the words "which the Holy Ghost teacheth."(1 Corinthians 2:13.) This
was especially true of Europe and Africa. Revolt Against Asceticism and Monasticism
As if the ransom of the Redeemer was
not sufficient without their own sufferings, those who practiced asceticism
imposed appalling torments upon themselves. They undermined the doctrine of
Christ's full and sufficient atonement for sin. Processions were formed, relics
displayed, and incense burned before the tomb of some exalted ascetic.
Monasticism followed on the heels of asceticism. Justin Martyr (A.D.
150) was prominent among the early apostates because of his perverted teachings.8
He was followed by his pupil Tatian, who
in turn taught Clement (A.D.
190), a founder of the ecclesiastical school at Alexandria. Clement declared he
would hand down the gospel mixed with heathen philosophy. But it remained for
Origen, Clement's pupil, who mutilated himself, to start the glorification of
celibacy.
Monasticism is not a product of Christianity. It was imported from
non-Christian religions. Christianity saw it first introduced from Egypt,
evidently coming from Buddhism. There were two classes of monks. The first, the
anchorites, sought to live alone in the gloomiest and wildest spots in the
wilderness. The second class, monks, evading the solitary life, gathered into
communities called monasteries. Refusing obedience to any spiritual superior
except the supreme head of the church, they placed at the command of the Papacy
a vast mobile army of men not responsible to any congregation. Let it be
remembered that the Bible training schools of Celtic and Syrian Christianity
were not monasteries of this kind, although there are writers who would have it
so. The inmates of the monasteries had a different program from the Bible
training schools, whose pupils were there, not for life, but for a period of
training, as the youth of today leaves home for four years in college.
The monks at certain times had pageantries, prostrations, and
genuflexions. All these externals were symptoms of a growing ecclesiastical
system, and they helped prepare the way for the union of the papal church with
the state. Nevertheless, these and other departures from New Testament
Christianity stirred deeply in all lands those who were to become leaders
against the new perversions and who would demand a return "to the law and
to the testimony."(Isaiah 8:20.) The Forerunners of Vigilantius
The splendid city of Milan, in
northem Italy, was the connecting link between Celtic Christianity in the West
and Syrian Christianity in the East.9 The
missionaries from the early churches in Judea and Syria securely stamped upon
the region around Milan the simple and apostolic religion. Milan was the
rendezvous of numerous councils of clergy from the East, so that the early
liturgies of Antioch, Milan, and Gaul were practically identical.10
It is impossible to find a time
throughout the centuries when there was not opposition in northern Italy to the
Roman hierarchy, sometimes great, sometimes small, but always evangelical. Dr.
Allix states this fact thus: To
this purpose it will be of use to set forth as well the constitution of the
church, as the manner in which the diocese of Milan did continue independent
until the midst of the eleventh century, at which time the Waldenses were
obliged more openly to testify their aversion for the Church of Rome as an
anti-Christian church. It will be easy enough for me to perform what I have
proposed by myself, in following the history of the church. Before the Council
of Nicaea, we find the diocese of Italy very distinct from that of Rome."11
Dr. Faber presents, in the following words, one way in which this gulf
between the churches of the Milan district and Rome originated: Now
this district, on the eastern side of the Cottian Alps, is the precise country
of the Vallenses [Waldenses]. Hither their ancestors retired, during the
persecutions of the second and third and fourth centuries: here, providentially
secluded from the world, they retained the precise doctrines and practices of
the primitive church endeared to them by suffering and exile; while the wealthy
inhabitants of cities and fertile plains, corrupted by a now opulent and
gorgeous and powerful clergy, were daily sinking deeper and deeper into that
apostasy which has been so graphically foretold by the great apostle."12 Opponents of Pagan Practices
First among those who protested
against heathen practices in the church was Helvidius I (c. A.D. 250-420 [sic]). It is interesting to note that three of the outstanding
opponents of the papal innovations in Latin Christianity were from northern
Italy. These were Helvidius, Jovinian, and Vigilantius. As for Helvidius, all
that was written by him and for him has been destroyed. Though he lived a
century and a half after Justin Martyr and more than a century after Tertullian,
Cyprian, Origen, and Clement, their writings have been preserved, while his were
destroyed. Helvidius belonged to the church which strove to hand down the
doctrines of the Bible in the pure form. He is famous for his exposure of Jerome
for using corrupted Greek manuscripts in bringing out the Vulgate, the Latin
Bible of the Papacy. If the thunders of Jerome had not been turned against
Helvidius, we would know less concerning him.
"Helvidius, a so-called heresiarch of the fourth century, a layman
who opposed the growing superstitions of the church... He was a pupil of
Auxentius, bishop of Milan, and the precursor of Jovinian."13
Duchesne points out that Auxentius, for
twenty years at the head of the diocese of Milan, was from Asia Minor and
impressed on those regions the Syrian leadership in Christianity. Daring in his
scholarship, Helvidius accused Jerome, as Jerome himself admits, of using
corrupt Greek manuscripts.14
That part of the ecclesiastical system
of the fourth century, which was peculiarly ascetic and rigid, found an
impersonation in Jerome, who exhibited its worst and most repulsive traits in
the whole tenor of his life and conversation. Sourness, bitterness, envy,
intolerance, and dissatisfaction with every manifestation of sanctity which did
not come up to his own standard, had become habitual to him, and were betrayed
in almost everything that he wrote, said, or did. Censoriousness, and the spirit
of invective, were amongst his most strongly marked failings, and the very best
men of the age did not escape his censure."15
The second renowned reformer in north Italy and forerunner of Vigilantius
was Jovinian (A.D.
330-390). He was so superior in scholarship that the united attempts of such
learned advocates of the Papacy as Jerome, Augustine, and Ambrose failed to
overthrow his scriptural and historical arguments.16
Of him Albert H. Newman says: That
the protest of Jovinianus awakened great interest and received influential
support is evident from the excited polemics of Jerome, and from the public
proceedings that were instituted against him in Rome and Milan.... The
persistence of the influence of Jovinianus is seen in the movement led by
Vigilantius. It is not unlikely that followers of Jovinianus took refuge in
the Alpine valleys, and there kept alive the evangelical teaching that was to
reappear with vigor in the twelfth century."17
Beuzart relates how a learned French historian speaks of the relentless
persecution carried on as late as 1215 by monks against so-called heretics named
Jovinianists, Patarines, and Albigenses.18
Jovinian drew the wrath of Jerome because he taught that the lives of
married people, all other things being equal, are fully as acceptable in the
sight of God as those who are not married; that eating with thanksgiving is as
commendable with God as abstemiousness; and that all who are faithful to their
baptismal vows will be equally rewarded at the day of judgment. Because of this,
Jerome said that Jovinian had "the hissing of the old serpent,"
"nauseating trash," and "the devil's poisonous concoction."19
Vigilantius was convinced that the new system of austerities,
processions, and sacraments did not result in making men preeminently happy and
holy. Vigilantins witnessed too many of the ecclesiastical riots of the day. When
Damasus was elected pope, A.D. 366, the dissentions in Rome were so violent that
the gates of the basilica, where his rival was consecrated, were broken open,
the roof was torn off, the building was set on fire, and one hundred and
thirty-seven persons were killed."20
Similar ecclesiastical riots were seen at this time in Palestine. Jerome,
in one of his epistles, declares that their private quarrels were as furious as
were those of the barbarians. What Caused the Rupture Between
Vigilantius and Rome?
When Vigilantius returned to
Sulpicius, his employer, he stood at the parting of the ways. On the one hand
there was Martin, bishop of Tours, rushing from cave to cell in the excitement
of supposed miracles; there was Sulpicius, turning from sound scholarship to
fables and visions; and the gentle Paulinus of Nola was groveling before the
image of a favorite saint - the victim of delusions. On the other hand, there
was Helvidius challenging the corrupt manuscripts in the hands of Jerome, the
bishop of Rome, and their followers; there was the great leader Jovinian
defending gospel simplicity and a married clergy. The event which decided
Vigilantius was his visit to Jerome.
By this time the Goths, Celts, and Franks had forgotten their days of
invasion and their religious differences, and were being united by the invisible
bonds of community life. They prized their Latin Bible (not the Latin Bible of
Jerome), generally called the Itala, "because it was read publicly in all
the churches of Italy, France, Spain, Africa, and Germany, where Latin was
understood; and Vetus, on account of its being more ancient than any of the
rest."21 To
supplant this noble version, Jerome, at the request of the pope and with money
furnished by him, brought out a new Latin Bible. He was looked up to by the
imperial church as the oracle of his age. Vigilantius having inherited his
father's wealth and desiring to consult Jerome, determined to visit him in his
cell at Bethlehem.
He went by way of Italy, paying a second visit to Panlinus. While he was
there, processions to the tomb of the saint were made, accompanied by the
swinging of incense and carrying of lighted tapers; but Vigilantius said
nothing. The gentle manners of Sulpicius and Panlinus coupled with their meek
devotion softened their delusions. When, however, he encountered the fierce
polemics of Jerome, the eyes of the Gallic reformer were opened. Vigilantius,
A.D. 396, was the bearer of a letter from Paulinus to Jerome, and this was the
introduction which made him personally acquainted with the most extraordinary
man of that age. Jerome was the terror of his contemporaries; the man above all
others, who, in a mistaken attempt to do his duty to God, failed most signally
in his duty towards men, unmindful of the apostle's words, "If a man say, I
love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar," etc. The mortification of
the flesh had tended to puff up his spirit, and of all the polemical writers of
the fourth century, he was the most bitter and severe."22
The first meeting of Vigilantius with Jerome at Bethlehem is described in
this language: A
narrow bypath leading off from the street, at the spot where the tomb of King
Archelaus formerly stood, conducted the traveler to the cell of Jerome; here he
found the ascetic clad in a vestment so coarse and sordid, that its very
vileness bore the stamp of spiritual pride, and seemed to say, "Stand off,
my wearer is holier than thou." The face of the monk was pale and haggard.
He had been slowly recovering from a severe illness, and was wasted to a shadow.
Frequent tears had plowed his cheeks with deep furrows; his eyes were sunk in
their sockets; all the bones of his face were sharp and projecting. Long
fasting, habitual mortification, and the chagrin which perpetual disputation
occasions, had given an air of gloominess to his countenance, which accorded but
ill with his boast, that his cell to him was like an arbor in the Garden of
Eden."23
Vigilantius was at first warmly received by Jerome. The scenes at
Bethlehem were the same as he had witnessed on the estates of his friends who
had been drawn into the tide of asceticism. The sourness of temper and the
fierce invectives of the editor of the Vulgate began to raise doubt in the mind
of Vigilantius, however, as to the value of the whole system. The Gallic
presbyter was especially incensed at Jerome's criticism of Panlinus; but it was
when Jerome turned fiercely upon Rufinus, his former friend, that the break
between Vigilantius and Jerome took place.
Vigilantius left Bethlehem to visit Rufinus at Jerusalem. There was
nothing in the life and atmosphere of that ancient city to encourage the visitor
from southern France. He learned enough from his interview with Rufinus to
recoil from Jerome's leadership and to discover the first protest arising in his
heart against the new system of asceticism and monasticism. He returned from
Jerusalem to Bethlehem fully determined to protest against the unchristian
vagaries of the monk whom few dared to oppose. As a result of this encounter,
Vigilantius resolved to quit for good the contentious successors of the
Alexandrian school, because of their loose theology and because they associated
with the swarms of Egyptian monks. He determined to raise his voice in defense
of the gospel's primitive simplicity.
Another incident occurred to strengthen his resolution. He revisited
Nola, Italy, returning by way of Egypt. One can imagine his indignation when he
learned that Jerome was not satisfied with all the humiliations and sufferings
Paulinus had undergone to conform to asceticism, but had written a taunting
demand that his friend surrender all his wealth immediately.
Then Vigilantius decided to break the silence. How and where and against
what, we learn from Jerome's reply to Reparius, a priest of southern France, to
whom, about A.D.
404, Jerome wrote the following concerning Vigilantius: I
have myself before now seen the monster, and have done my best to bind the
maniac with texts of Scripture, as Hippocrates binds his patients with chains;
but "he went away, he departed, he escaped, he broke out," and taking
refuge between the Adriatic and the Alps of King Cotius, declaimed in his turn
against me."24
In the Cottian Alps, in that region lying between the Alps and the
Adriatic Sea, Vigilantius first began public efforts to stop the pagan
ceremonies that were being baptized into the church. Why did he choose that
region? Because there he found himself among people who adhered to the teachings
of the Scriptures. They had removed to those valleys to escape the armies of
Rome. "He was perhaps aware that he would find in the Cottian Alps a race
of people, who were opposed to those notions of celibacy and vows of continence,
which formed the favorite dogma of Jerome, and were at the bottom of all his
ascetic austerities."25
How fruitful were the endeavors of Vigilantius, may be seen in the
following, taken from another letter of Jerome to Reparius: "Shameful to
relate, there are bishops who are said to be associated with him in his
wickedness - if at least they are to be called bishops - who ordain no deacons
but such as have been previously married."26
It is not known whether the bishops who
were agreeing with Vigilantius in his crusade against the semipagan Christianity
of his day were on the Italian or the French side of the Alps. It mattered
little as far as Jerome was concerned, since the preaching of Vigilantius on
both sides of these mountains produced the thundering denunciations of Jerome,
the great champion of the state church, that were heard all the way across the
Mediterranean from Bethlehem. Thus the new mission of Vigilantius had created a
cleavage between those who elected to walk in the apostolic way and those who
gave church "development" as their reason for adding pagan ceremonies
to the glamour of state gorgeousness. The New Organization of Free Churches
The Alpine churches of France and
Italy were not swept into the new hysteria. They welcomed Vigilantius with open
arms, and his preaching was powerful. "He makes his raid upon the churches
of Gaul," cried out Jerome. Those in the south of France who desired the
new teachings appealed to Jerome to defend the innovations against the attacks
of Vigilantius. Jerome's reply, addressed to Reparius, reveals what doctrines
and practices the Gallic reformer was denouncing - church celibacy, worship of
relics, lighted tapers, all-night vigils, and prayers to the dead.
Again and again Jerome begged to have sent to him the book which
Vigilantius wrote. The historian Milner has exclaimed, "For a single page
of Jovinian or Vigilantius I would gladly give up the whole invectives of
Jerome."27 The
new leader of the churches which had not united with the state spent his fortune
in collecting manuscripts, circulating the Scriptures, and employing amanuenses
to write pamphlets, tracts, and books. Jerome demanded that he be delivered over
to the state for banishment or death; and as historians and the decrees of popes
point out, the state church, when seeking the life of opponents, turned them
over to the secular tribunal for punishment.28
This was done in order to disguise their
crime.29 "The
wretch's tongue should be cut out, or he should be put under treatment for
insanity," wrote Jerome. Thus the ecclesiastical leaders, supported by
state police power, were abandoning the persuasion of love for the brutal
argument of force.
In spite of all this, those in the regions under consideration, were
determined to follow the Bible only. They were growing in strength, and were
coming closer together. Under the impetus of the campaigns of Vigilantius, a new
organization was being created, destined to persist through the coming
centuries. Vigilantius had prepared himself for this throughout the years by
giving days and nights to study and research. It is a regrettable fact that none
of his writings have been preserved.
How demoralizing the influence of the monastic hysteria was may be seen
in the transformation wrought in Augustine (A.D. 354-430). This renowned writer of the church (probably of all Catholic
Fathers, the most adored by the Papacy) was forced by the popular pressure into
the views of Jerome, and was in correspondence with him. His complete surrender
to the policy of persecution is given at length by Limborch.30
Augustine, from his episcopal throne in
north Africa, gave to the Papacy a deadly weapon; he invented the monstrous
doctrine of "Compel them to come in." Thus he laid the foundation for
the Inquisition. Intoxicated with Greek philosophy, he cried out that its spirit
filled his soul with incredible fire.31 He
had wandered nine long years in Manichaeism, which taught the union of church
and state and exalted the observance of the first day of the week.32
Augustine found many reasons why the
doctrines and practices of the church should be enforced by the sword.33
The doctrine "Compel them to come
in," sent millions to death for no greater crime than refusing to believe
in the forms of ecclesiastical worship enforced by the state. Such was the
atmosphere of the age in which Vigilantius ministered.
In his day another controversy existed which was to rock the Christian
world. Milan, center of northern Italy, as well as all the Eastern churches, was
sanctifying the seventh-day Sabbath, while Rome was requiring its followers to
fast on that day in an effort to discredit it. Interesting pictures of the
conflict are given by an eminent scholar and writer, Dr. Peter Heylyn.34
Ambrose, the celebrated bishop of Milan,
and Augustine, the more celebrated bishop of Africa, both contemporaries of
Vigilantins, described the interesting situation. Ambrose said that when he was
in Milan he observed Saturday, but when in Rome he fasted on Saturday and
observed Sunday. This gave rise to the proverb, "When you are in Rome, do
as Rome does." Augustine deplored the fact that in two neighboring churches
in Africa, one observed the seventh-day Sabbath, another fasted on it.35
Vigilantius has been called "the Forerunner of the
Reformation," "one of the earliest of our Protestant
forefathers."36 Although
the practices against which he inveighed continued for hundreds of years, yet
the influence of his preaching and leadership among the Waldenses.37
burned its way across the centuries until
it united with the heroic reforms of Luther. As the Papacy promoted persecutions
from time to time against the Waldenses, it proclaimed the "heresy" of
these regions as being the same brand as that of Vigilantius. Two centuries
later medieval writers leveled their attacks against Claude, bishop of Milan,
and against his followers on the basis that he was infected with the
"poison" of Vigilantius.38 From
the days of the Gallic reformer on, multiplied churches of northern Italy and
southern France bore an entirely different color from that which rested upon
legal ecclesiasticism. Thus, Vigilantius, in southern Europe, like his
contemporary, Patrick, of Ireland, can be counted as being one of the early
bright stars of the Church in the Wilderness. |