While the Auvergne is known as a Roman Catholic province,  Lutheran ideas did make their way into the area as early as the 1530s, and Protestantism could still be found there on the eve of the Revolution. This article approaches the Protestant presence in Auvergne based on the people rather than the institutions of the four departments (Allier, Cantal, Haute-Loire, and Puy-de-Dôme) and four authorized places of worship (Maringues, Job, Parentignat, and La Gazelle). The resulting file, which numbers about 1,500 people, shows a community that was small, destitute, and highly rural. The persecutions, both before the Edict of Nantes (1598) and after its Revocation (1685), were accompanied by a significant decline in numbers and high emigration rates, but also by firm local resistance.