The following includes excerpts from a small booklet called The Burning Bush, by Captain R.M. Stephens, one of the many Englishmen who have taken a deep interest in the history and welfare of the Waldenses. The name finds its significance in the Bible text in Exodus 3:2.

     "And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed."

     The analogy is clear. The miracle of the small bush which was completely wrapped in flame yet it was not consumed, continuing to live on, applies appropriately to the Waldensian experience. After hundreds of years of enduring the torch of the fiercest flames of persecution ever inflicted upon any church, it was never totally consumed. The Waldensian Church still stands today.

     "People generally visit Italy in order to see classical antiquities, mediaeval palaces, beautiful pictures, wonderful sculptures or other of the works of man. Let those who visit Waldensian Valleys put such things out of their minds altogether.

     The real interest of the Valleys lies not in the natural but in the spiritual. There are no antiquities, the arts have never flourished here; life has ever been too full of realities. If at any time such things began to appear, quickly they were crushed by the ruthless hands of those who, like their master, came only ‘to steal and to kill and to destroy'.

     The interest lies far deeper, for in the Valleys we see God Himself at work, keeping the Light burning in spite of every attempt to extinguish it. We see the Truth, driven across the plains of Lombardy before the invading hosts, halting at Turin, then chased by new enemies into the rocky fastness of Pra del Torno, there to remain unknown to the world, though known to God, until 1532 the Waldenses and the Reformers meet face to face: each an astonishment to the other, one astonished that God should after all have reserved to Himself seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal; the other that God should have, as it were, raised the dead to life. (p. 9)

     "The total Waldensian population is about fifteen thousand. (15,000 in the Valleys: another 20,000 in other parts of Italy and 15,000 more in South America) ...The houses are built of stones laid without mortar.

     Steps lead up to the wooden balcony, invariably running the full length of the house on a level with the first floor, where the family eats and sleeps. Everything within is of the simplest character. The ground-floor is devoted to a varied assortment of livestock, hay, farm produce and agricultural implements. The balcony will be gay with its climbing roses, wistaria or vines. The roof is composed of great paving stones. (P. 23)

     "The typical Waldensian church architecture is unmistakable. It may be seen in all its naked simplicity in the sixteenth century churches of Ciabas and Angrogna. In Pragelato Valley several of the existing Roman Catholic churches were originally Waldensian. In spite of later alterations their origin may easily be detected."