Waldense

Waldensians
Waldensian symbol Lux lucet in tenebris ("Light glows in the darkness")
Classification	Protestant
Orientation	Reformed
Theology	Theology of Peter Waldo and other Waldensian theologians, nowadays mainly theology of John Calvin and other Reformed theologians
Region	Italy, Germany, Argentina, United States, Uruguay, and elsewhere
Founder	Peter Waldo
Origin	c. 1173 Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
Separated from	Catholic Church

The Waldensians (also known variously as Waldenses (/wɔːlˈdɛnsiːz, wɒl-/), Vallenses, Valdesi or Vaudois) are a pre-Protestant Christian movement founded by Peter Waldo c. 1173.

Waldensians merged into the larger Protestant movement with the outbreak of the Reformation, and became a part of the wider Reformed tradition, having influenced early Swiss reformers such as Heinrich Bullinger in Zurich and after the thought of John Calvin and his theological successors in Geneva proved very similar to their own theological ideas. The Waldensian movement first appeared in Lyon in the late 1170s and quickly spread to the Cottian Alps. Today, the Waldensian movement is centered on Piedmont in northern Italy, while small communities are also found in southern Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, the United States, and Uruguay.