In the fragments that remain of this courageous Bishop, which are cited by Leger, Part I. p. 137, he combats with great vigour, the abuses above mentioned, and proves that it was not his wish to establish any new sect, but to preserve the doctrines of the apostles in their original purity.** We cannot, therefore, doubt his having used his utmost exertions in his own diocese, of which our valleys formed a part.
** The title of the Bishop's work, of which fragments are cited by Leger, is Apologeticum rescriptum Claudii Episcopi adversus Theodemirum Abbatem. And after a careful examination of these fragments, and some of the Vaudois MSS. I am inclined to think that the latter are no more than a development of the former; for there is the same connection of ideas, and the arguments are placed in the same order; so that the writings of Claude seem to have been the text on which the Vaudois amplified, which is natural, as the Bishop addressed men of education and learning, and had not occasion to use so many arguments and explanations as the Vaudois writers had, who wrote for the illiterate and the multitude.--Note by Peyran.
Indeed we have the fullest evidence that the Vaudois preserved the purity of their faith during the ninth and tenth centuries. To prove this fact, it will be sufficient to give a single quotation from the missionary Marco Aurelio Rorenco, Grand Prior of St. Roch, at Turin, whose work is entitled Narratione delle Intro-duzione delle heresie nelle valli de Piemonte, Turin, 1632.* Speaking of the doctrine of Claude, which this author is pleased to call heresy, he says--"This doctrine continued in the valleys all the ninth and tenth centuries;" and again, "that during the tenth century no change took place, but the old heresies were continued." In order to feel the full force of the above citation, we must call to mind that Rorenco** had been for ten years a missionary, directly sent out to the Vaudois, with orders to search into the origin of their doctrine; and that writing with the approbation of the clergy of Turin, he was little likely to favour the Vaudois.
* He also wrote Memorie Historiche, Turin, 1645.
** Rorenco says in another place, that it is impossible to say with certainty at what period this sect took root in the valleys.--p. 60 of Nar. del Introd.