Waldenses, wol den'seez, a Christian sect which owes its origin to Peter Waldus (Waldo), a rich citizen of Lyons. About 1170 Waldo sold his movable goods for the support of the poor and went about preaching by the wayside. His followers were known as the Poor Men of Lyons. They suffered many persecutions. Their chief strongholds were, and still are, in the mountain tract of the Cottian Alps, southwest of Turin, where, since 1848, they (about 10,000) enjoy the same religious and political rights as the Roman Catholics of Italy. The design of the founder was to reform the clergy and to preach the word of God freely to every one in his native language; but his followers went far beyond the original plan. They made the Bible alone the rule of their faith, renounced entirely the doctrines, usages and traditions of the Roman Church, and formed a separate religious society.