Crusade Against the Grail - Rennes-le-Chateau Research and ...

THE CRUSADE 119
Christianity's problems. ..." To combat the sects efficiently, the clergy had to
enjoy the esteem and confidence of the populace, but for some time, it had ceased
to deserve them.
On one occasion, [Saint] Bernard de Clairvaux said of the Cathars, "Certainly
there are no other sermons more Christian than yours and your customs are pure."
Should it surprise us then that Catharism— which has been identified throughout
the centuries with Occitan civilization—extended itself in such an expansive way
and that in the end was considered as the Sancta Glieiza of Occitania?
Entire monasteries passed over to Catharism and even ailing bishops were
treated and consoled by the bonshommes.
Peter Waldo, a rich merchant in Lyon, had the New Testament translated into his
mother tongue circa 1170 so he could read it. 7 Soon he realized that the angelic
life as Christ and his apostles had taught it was nowhere to be seen. Consequently,
he started to preach the Gospel as he conceived it. Soon he had numerous
followers whom he sent as missionaries on all the pathways of the world. It was
rare indeed if a noble adhered to the Waldensian sect. Its converts were almost
exclusively from the lower classes; its preachers preferred to announce the new
doctrine {la nobla leyczon, as a troubadour called it) in the streets and town
squares. Discussions between Waldenses and Cathars were frequently organized,
but a perfect harmony reigned between the two "heresies." Rome, which often
confused the Waldenses of southern France with the Cathars, classified both under
the name "Albigenses." They were two different and independent heresies, and the
only thing they had in common was that the Vatican had sworn to exterminate
them.
Inquisitor Bernard Gui in his Inquisitor's Manual, gives us a description of
Waldensian doctrine: 8
Contempt for Ecclesiastical power has been and still is the main heresy of the
Waldenses. . . an error that earned them excommunication and their
conversion to Satan. . . .
They argue against all oaths, whether in law or elsewhere ... in the name
of God, and they think that they can back up their claims by alluding to texts
of the Holy Gospel.
Again, the followers of this sect hold in contempt the sacrament