1
The Waldenses: An Analysis of Insabbatati
and Sabbatati in Medieval and Reformation
Sources
P. Gerard Damsteegt, Dr. Theol., Andrews University
Presented at the Evangelical Theological Society
November 17, 2005
Theories about the names given to the Waldenses
Beginning in the 12
th
century Roman Catholic sources used the Latin
words insabbatati and sabbatati to describe the Waldensians, a group of
Christians who lived in the Alpine regions of Spain, France and Italy, whom
the Catholic Church considered as heretics. The Waldenses opposed many
teachings and worship practices of the Catholic Church during the Middle
Ages and the Reformation and rejected the doctrine of purgatory, the mass,
the use of holy water, ashes, candles, kissing of relics, and the celebration of
papal holy days of festivals, while strongly adhering to the apostolic
teachings.
During the following centuries historians have interpreted these names in
several way to describe the unique characteristics of the Waldenses. In the
18
th
century, Robert Robinson in his Ecclesiastical Researches summarized
the three major views that have been advocated concerning the above names.
The first view he mentioned held that the Waldenses observed "Saturday for
the Lords day." The second view stated that "they rejected all the festivals,
or sabbaths... which the Catholic church religiously observed." The third
view asserted that the Waldenses "were called so from sabot, or zabot, a