REFORMATION
The empire strikes back
COUNTER REFORMATION
Although it took several decades to be
effective, eventually there was a Catholic
response to the Protestant Reformation. It
was Counter-Reformation in the sense that
the Catholic Church was taking steps to
counteract some of the success of the
Protestant side. By 1547, Protestant
religions were established in England,
Scandinavia, much of Scotland, France,
Germany, and Switzerland.
COUNTER REFORMATION
Reforms prior to 1517
centered around creating a new spiritual fervor
and mild attempts to reform institutional vices.
Institutional reform is slow
Popes more interested in political affairs
Many popes live lavish lifestyles and were
uninterested in spirituality or holiness.
Reform had been linked to the idea of the church
council which was often seen as a threat to papal
authority
Papal bureaucracy moved slowly
COUNTER REFORMATION
Reforms after 1540
The Catholic Church began a reform
movement aimed at eliminating the effect
of dissidents and heretics, reforming the
Church, and checking the spread of
Protestantism.
ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE
COUNCIL
Doctrine
Equal authority to Scripture and Church
tradition
Seven sacraments
Transubstantiation
Rejected Lutheranism and Calvinism
ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE
COUNCIL
Reform of Abuses
ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE
COUNCIL
What the Council did not do
Reconciliation with Protestants
Reforms were not immediate
CREATION OF RELIGIOUS
ORDERS
Supported the effort to reform and to stop
and turn back the spread of Protestantism
throughout Europe
Angela Merici
Ignatius of Loyola
CREATION OF RELIGIOUS
ORDERS
Ursulines were founded by Angela Merici,
daughter of a country gentleman who was
known for her work with the poor. The
purpose of the nuns order was to combat
heresy through the education of girls.
They thought they could help reChristianize society by training future
wives and mothers
CREATION OF RELIGIOUS
ORDERS
Society of Jesus (Jesuits) organized by Ignatius
of Loyola (1491-1566)
A Spanish noble who was wounded in battle and
spent his recuperation time reading various Catholic
tracts. After undergoing a religious conversion, he
attempted, not unlike Luther, to reconcile himself to
God through austere behavior. He became a hermit
but still felt something was amiss. While Luther, in his
search for spiritual contentment, decided that the
Bible was the sole source of faith, Loyola hit on the
idea that even if the Bible did not exist there was still
the spirit.
Society of Jesus
Loyolas ideas are laid out in his Spiritual
Exercises; one passage in particular states his
belief in total obedience to the Church:
To arrive at complete certainty, this is the attitude that
we should maintain. I will believe that the white object
I see is black if that should be the desire of the
hierarchical church for I believe that linking Christ our
Lord the Bridegroom and His Bride the church, where
is one and the same Spirit, ruling and guiding us for
our souls good. For our Holy Mother the church is
guided and ruled by the Spirit, the Lord who gave the
Ten Commandments
Society of Jesus
This total and complete loyalty is why the Jesuit order,
although at first under suspicion by a cautious papacy
with Loyolas fervor, would be accepted as an official
order of the church in a papal bull in 1510.
Jesuits opened school, became confessors and advisors
to the nobility (resulting in great political influence),
became missionaries, and sometimes resorted to the
ends justifies the means mentality by spying and
fighting in wars. They were instrumental in returning
most of southern Germany and Eastern Europe to
Catholicism
The Inquisition had a huge influence on the Papal States, but was
less successful in other areas. Because the banning of books cut
into the profitable book trade in places such as Venice, the
Inquisition had little effect when local concerns were compromised
by restriction.
THE RELIGIOUS
SITUATION ABOUT
1560 By 1560, Luther,
Zwingli, and Loyola
were dead, Calvin was
near the end of his life,
the English break from
Rome was complete,
and the last session of
the Council of Trent
was about to assemble.
This map shows
religious geography of
western Europe at the
time.