Catholic Reformation
From Freepedia
The Catholic Reformation or the Counter-Reformation was a strong reaffirmation of the doctrine and structure of the Catholic Church, climaxing at the Council of Trent, partly in reaction to the growth of Protestantism. Even before the posting of Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517, there had been evidence of internal reform within the Church, combating trends that heightened radical demands to fundamentally alter the doctrine and structure of the Medieval Church and even contributed to the anticlericalism of figures such as Jan Huss and John Wycliffe in the late fourteenth century. The Catholic Reformation, aimed at correcting the sources of the Reformation, and pronounced since the pontificate of Pope Paul III, was both retaliatory, committed to protecting Catholic institutions and practices from heresy and Protestantism, but also reformist, committed to reform the Church from within to stem the growing appeal of Protestantism. Broadly speaking, the Catholic Reformation, which climaxed in the Council of Trent, the nineteenth of twenty-one ecumenical councils, represented a three-sided strategy: an autocratic church at the top linked to the individual by the parish church. (The first Ecumenical Council was the First Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325; the 21st and latest was the Second Vatican Council, which convened in the mid-1960s under Pope John XXIII.) The Catholic Reformation was a strong reaffirmation of the doctrine and structure of the Medieval Church, presiding over reforms that would preserve its influencethe dogma of salvation by faith, works and unwritten tradition. Transubstantiation, during which the consecrated bread and wine were held to become (substantially) the body and blood of Christ, was upheld, along with the Seven Sacraments. Other Catholic practices that drew the ire of liberal reformers within the Church, such as pilgrimages, the cults of saints and relics, and the cult of the Virgin were strongly reaffirmed as spiritually vital as well.
Reform
But while the basic structure of the Church was reaffirmed, there were noticeable changes to answer complaints that the Catholic Reformers tacitly were willing to admit were legitimate. Among the conditions to be corrected by Catholic reformers was the growing divide between the priests and the flock; many members of the clergy in the rural parishes, after all, had been poorly educated. Often, these rural priests did not know Latin and lacked opportunities for theological education at the time. (Addressing the education of priests had been a fundamental focus of the humanist reformers in the past.) Parish priests now became better educated, while Papal authorities sought to eliminate the distractions of the monastic churches. Notebooks and handbooks thus became common, describing how to be good priests and confessors.
In addition, between 1512 and the 1560s a movement of 'evangelical Catholics' of high-ranking member of the curia, called Spirituali, actively tried to reform the church through reform of the individual.
Members of orders active in overseas missionary expansionism often expressed the need that the rural parishes, whose poor state of affairs contributed to the growth of Protestantism, often needed Christianizing as much as heathens of Asia and the Americas, thus contributing to recovering significant territories that would have otherwise been lost to the Protestants. The Ursulines focused on the special task of educating girls. and other Protestant sects. Not only making the Church more effective, they reaffirmed fundamental premises of the Medieval Church.
However, the Jesuits, founded by the Spanish nobleman Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) were, by far, the most effective of the new Catholic orders. His Societas Jesu was founded in 1534 and received papal authorization in 1534 under Paul III. An heir to the devotional, observantine, and legalist traditions, the Jesuits organized their order along military lines, they strongly reflected the autocratic zeal of the period. Characterized by careful selection, rigorous training, and iron discipline, the worldliness of the Renaissance Church had no part in the new order. Loyolas masterwork Spiritual Exercises reflected the emphasis on was strongly reminiscent of devotionalism. However, they are really the heirs to the observantine reform tradition, taking strong monastic vows of chastity, obedience, and poverty and set an example that improved the effectiveness of the entire Church. They became preachers, confessors to monarchs and princes, and educators reminiscent of the humanist reformers, and their efforts are largely credited with stemming Protestantism in Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, southern Germany, France, and the Spanish Netherlands. They also strongly participated in the expansion of the Church in the Americas and Asia, conducting efforts in missionary activity that far outpaced even the aggressive Protestantism of the Calvinists. Even Loyolas biography contributed to the new emphasis on popular piety that had been waning under the eras of politically oriented popes such as Alexander VI and Leo X. After recovering from a severe battle wound, he took a vow to "serve only God and the Roman pontiff, His vicar on earth." Once again, the emphasis on the Pope is a key reaffirmation of the Medieval Church as the Council of Trent firmly defeated all attempts of Conciliarism, the belief that general councils of the church collectively were God's representative on earth, rather than the Pope. Firmly legitimizing the new role of the Pope as an absolute ruler strongly characteristic of the new age of absolutism ushered in by the sixteenth century, the Jesuits strongly contributed to the reinvigoration of the Church during the Catholic Reformation.
The inadvertent start of the scientific revolution
Some historians such as James Burke have noted some would ironically create even more formidable challenges to the Roman Catholic Church's authority and very world view.
This came about with the initiative to make the Catholic Church more attractive to the common person. In addition to better training for the clergy, there was also the idea of making the Church's facilities and activities more attractive to the laypeople. Part of this including extensive decorations that would eventually encourage the baroque art style and more celebrations of holidays and similar events.
The need to have these events followed closely throughout the dioceses raised the problem with the accuracy of the calendar. It was noted having problems with in part because the Ptolemic astronomical model was extremely complicated owing to the frequent modifications needed to account for new observations. In 1514, at the request of the Secretary to the Pope asked a Polish mathematician and canon of Frombork, MikoĊaj Kopernik to see how the calendar could be reformed. To do so, the priest, known today as [[used to establish a new calendar in 1582 with relatively little comment in the Catholic Church itself who treated the conception as little more than a mathematical convenience.
However, the fact that this model directly contradicted the official doctrines of the Church and allied philosophers eventually became an unavoidable issue. This occurred when scholars like Galileo Galilei began to amass physical evidence that this concept of the universe actually existed in reality. This examination of the Copernican theory was a factor in starting the
See also
- Protestant Reformation
- Council of Trent
- Philip II of Spain (for more on the political side of the Catholic Reformation)
- Pope Sixtus V
- Pope Paul III[[
