What was the Counter-Reformation or Catholic Reformation of the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries? Why did it happen? Let us explore how the Catholic Church responded to the events of the Protestant Reformation and what it did to survive this Europe-wide crisis of faith.
The Counter-Reformation was a Catholic reform movement responding to the Protestant Reformation, led by Popes and Kings such as Pope Paul III and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
The Counter-Reformation: Causes
One of the central arguments of the Protestant Reformation was that the Catholic Church was greedy, corrupt, and ignorant. Protestant propaganda spread throughout Europe and depicted images of Catholic priests who abused their power to feed their immoral lifestyles. For the Catholic Church to survive this attack, it needed to reform. Therefore, between 1524 and 1563, the Church made many changes in doctrine, practice, and administration, known as the Counter-Reformation.
One of the essential elements of the Counter-Reformation was the Council of Trent, which began in 1545 by Pope Paul III and ended in 1563 by Pope Pius IV. This forum of bishops from across Catholic Europe debated and set down the reforms that the Catholic Church would implement moving forward. Many Church laws established there are still part of the Catholic Church today.
Fig. 1 Council of Trent
The Counter-Reformation: Summary
A major element of Catholic reform is that it took a more individualized approach to faith for the first time instead of focusing exclusively on outward acts of faith. As a result, religion was becoming something internalized in addition to being a part of a community, and the Catholic Church adopted this new inward turn in its reform.
New Monastic Orders
One reform element of the Catholic Church was to sanction new orders of monks and nuns to carry out Church reforms. The orders were primarily focused on emulating the life of Christ and performing good works. These orders included:
- The Theatines (est. 1524) were monks who focused on providing charity for the sick and founded hospitals.
- The Capuchins (est. 1529) were Franciscan monks who took vows of poverty and preached to the general public, wandering from town to town to spread the word of God.
- Ursulines (est. 1535) were nuns who emphasized spiritual education for girls.
- The Society of Jesus/Jesuits (est. 1540) were monks considered soldiers or warriors of Christ. They hunted heretics (Protestants, Jews, etc.) and served as missionaries. They founded many schools and universities to teach the "true" message of Christ.
Fig. 2 Arrival of the Ursulines New Orleans 1727
Did you know?
Many Jesuit colleges still exist today. After the Europeans Wars of Religion, Jesuits focused on evangelizing indigenous people in territories controlled by European countries and on academic education in the humanistic tradition, even funding universities worldwide.
Fig. 3 Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of the Jesuits
The Council of Trent
From 1545 to 1563, many Catholic Church leaders met to determine what reforms the Catholic Church needed to fight against Protestant accusations. As a result, some reforms compromised Protestant teachings, such as acknowledging that both tradition and the written scriptures provide divine truth. However, they kept some Church elements the same despite Protestant opposition, such as insisting that good works could gain salvation.
The Council also outlined methods to combat corruption and ignorance in the clergy. Reforms included:
Bishops established schools in their regions to educate priests.
Bishops would now frequently visit churches under their authority to ensure there was no corruption.
Priests who broke their vows of celibacy and slept with women were rooted out.
Priests and Bishops who indulged too much in luxury were also removed.
Fig. 4 Logo for the Catechism of the Council of Trent
The Fight Against Heresy
An effect of the Protestant Reformation on Catholic countries was the increase in the availability of Bibles in the vernacular. The Catholic Church believed that the Bible should be read in Latin, restricting access to educated clerics to preserve the mystery of faith. Protestants believed that one could only understand religion if they could read the words of God, and they printed Bibles in the common language or vernacular. During the Counter-Reformation, Catholics created a new version of their official Latin Bible, or Vulgate, and refused to recognize Bibles in any vernacular language.
The Inquisition was the more militant arm of the Catholic Church whose sole purpose was to root out heresy in Catholic lands. Spain and the Holy Roman Empire used the Inquisition the most, which is credited with keeping Protestantism suppressed throughout the Reformation.
The Carolina Code (1532): The Code, implemented by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, was a criminal law that determined how heresy trials would operate in the region. Torture was considered a legal way to get an accused heretic to confess. Any laws protecting the defendant were suspended if the crime was exceptional, as heresy was.
The Witch Trials of the Sixteenth Century
Laws like the Carolina Code opened the door for judicial proceedings against heretics and a rising devil-worshiping type of heretic known as a witch. People thought witches harmed the Christian community by poisoning livestock or causing injury or death to townspeople.
Fig. 5 An image of a witch and her familiar spirits
Inquisitors and witch hunters created chaos in the European countryside. They used torture to extract confessions and names of fellow witches because they believed witches did not act alone. The witch trials caused the deaths of thousands of women and men until finally ending in 1782.
Results of the Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation managed to keep the Catholic Church relevant to a new generation of faithful. Moreover, the Church remained strong in many areas of Europe, including Spain, France (after the Religious Wars ended), and many parts of the Holy Roman Empire. On the other hand, the Protestants had strongholds in England, Geneva, and parts of the Holy Roman Empire. Therefore, the Reformation was not a total victory for either the Protestants or the Catholics.
The Counter-Reformation - Key Takeaways
- The Counter-Reformation was a Catholic reform movement that responded to the Protestant Reformation.
- The Catholic Church added a more individualistic element of faith and created monastic orders for those who sought to emulate the life of Christ. These monks and nuns trained their will to follow God's "true" message through self-deprivation and focused on good works such as building hospitals and founding schools.
- The Council of Trent both reaffirmed traditional elements of the Catholic Church and established reforms aimed at rooting out corruption and ignorance among the clergy.
- Efforts to remove heresy from Catholic lands gained strength with a new legal system that allowed heretics to be tortured in a court of law to extract a confession. This legislation laid the bedrock for the sixteenth and seventeenth-century European witch trials.
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