A general movement of reform and missionary activity in the Roman Catholic Church from the mid 16th-c, stimulated in part by the Protestant Reformation. It included the revival of the monastic movement (eg Capuchins, 1528; Oratorians, 1575), especially the creation of the Jesuit Order. It provided for the enforcement of disciplinary measures by the Roman Inquisition; its doctrinal formulations were made by the Council of Trent; and liturgical and moral reforms were introduced throughout the Church. There was a strong influence from mystics (eg John of the Cross, Teresa of Ávila) and devotional teachers (eg Francis of Sales). In a secular sense, the term also refers to the success of Roman Catholic powers in Europe in the late 16th-c and early 17th-c.
The Counter-Reformation or Catholic Reformation was a movement within the Catholic Church to reform itself, starting with the middle of the sixteenth century, in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic Reformation was comprehensive and comprised five major elements:
Doctrine Ecclesiastical or Structural Reconfiguration Religious Orders Spiritual Movements Political DimensionsSuch reforms included the foundation of seminaries for the proper training of priests in the spiritual life and the theological traditions of the Church, the reform of religious life to returning orders to their spiritual foundations, and new spiritual movements focus on the devotional life and a personal relationship with Christ, including the Spanish mystics and the French school of spirituality.
The Council of Trent
Pope Paul III (1534-1549) initiated the Council of Trent (1545-1563), a commission of cardinals tasked with institutional reform, to address contentious issues such as corrupt bishops and priests, indulgences, and other financial abuses. The Council clearly repudiated specific Protestant positions and upheld the basic structure of the Medieval Church, its sacramental system, religious orders, and doctrine. Other Catholic practices that drew the ire of liberal reformers within the Church, such as indulgences, pilgrimages, the veneration of saints and relics, and the veneration of the Virgin Mary were strongly reaffirmed as spiritually vital as well.
But while the basic structure of the Church was reaffirmed, there were noticeable changes to answer complaints that the Counter Reformers tacitly were willing to admit were legitimate. (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.
Thus, the Council of Trent was dedicated to improving the discipline and administration of the Church. The worldly excesses of the secular Renaissance church, epitomized by the era of Alexander VI (1492-1503), exploded in the Reformation under Pope Leo X (1513-1522), whose campaign to raise funds in the German states to rebuild St. Peter's Basilica by supporting high-pressure sale of indulgences was a key impetus for Martin Luther's 95 Theses. But the Catholic Church would respond to these problems by a vigorous campaign of reform, inspired by earlier Catholic reform movements that predated the Council of Constance (1414-1417): humanism, devotionalism, legalist and the observatine tradition.
The Council, by virtue of its actions, repudiated the pluralism of the Secular Renaissance Church: the organization of religious institutions was tightened, discipline was improved, and the parish was emphasized. In the past, the large landholdings and institutional rigidity of the Church - a rigidity to which the excessively large ranks of the clergy contributed - forced many bishops to study law not theology, relegating many "absent bishops" to the role of property managers trained in administration. Secular practices were combated while the Papacy clearly moved away from its Renaissance posture as a political church tantamount to one of the Italian city-states. At the parish level, the seminary-trained clergy who took over in most places during the course of the seventeenth century were generally faithful to the church's rule of celibacy.
Reform
The reign of Pope Paul IV (1555-1559), who is sometimes deemed the first of the Counter-Reformation popes for his resolute determination to eliminate Protestantism - and the ineffectual institutional practices of the Church that contributed to its appeal - marks these efforts of Catholic renewal. In this sense, his aggressive and autocratic efforts of renewal greatly reflected the strategies of earlier reform movements, especially the legalist and observantine sides: burning heretics and strict emphasis on Canon law.
While the aggressive authoritarian approach was arguably destructive of personal religious experience, a new wave of reforms and orders conveyed a strong devotional side. For one, the emphasis of God as an unknowable absolute ruler - a God to be feared - coincided well with the aggressive absolutism of the Church of Paul IV.
The Papacy of St. Pius V (1566-1572), in this sense, represented a strong effort not only to crack down against heretics and world abuses within the Church, but also improve popular piety in effort to firmly stem the appeal of Protestantism. Known for consoling the poor and sick, St. Pius V sought to improve the public morality of the Church, promote the Jesuits, support the Inquisition.
The pontificate of Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) opened up the final stage of the Catholic Reformation characteristic of the Baroque age of the early seventeenth century, shifting away from compelling to attracting. His reign focused on rebuilding Rome as a great European capital and Baroque city, a visual symbol for the Catholic Church.
The orders
New religious orders were a fundamental part of this trend. Orders such as the Capuchins, Ursulines, Theatines, the Barnabites, and especially the Jesuits strengthened rural parishes, improved popular piety, helped to curb corruption within the church, and set examples that would be a strong impetus for Catholic renewal. Not only did they make the Church more effective, they reaffirmed fundamental premises of the Medieval Church.
However, the Jesuits, founded by the Spanish nobleman and ex-soldier Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), were the most effective of the new Catholic orders. Characterized by careful selection, rigorous training, and iron discipline, the worldliness of the Renaissance Church had no part in the new order. Loyola's masterwork Spiritual Exercises reflected the emphasis of handbooks characteristic of the earlier generation of Catholic reformers before the Reformation. However, the Jesuits are really the heirs to the observantine reform tradition, taking strong monastic vows of chastity, obedience, and poverty and setting an example that improved the effectiveness of the entire Church. 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. 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 Counter-Reformation Church.
Spiritual Movements
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. This movement was strong and significant era in the Church.
Church music
The demand by the Council of Trent for simplicity in music in order that the words might be heard clearly placed a serious stumbling block in the path of the development of polyphony in the mid 16th Century.
The Council, in their Canon on Music to be used for the Mass, stated: All things should indeed be so ordered that the masses, whether they be celebrated with or without singing, may reach tranquilly into the ears and hearts of those who hear them, when everything is executed clearly and at the correct speed. They shall also banish from church all music that contains whether in the singing or in the organ playing things that are lascivious or impure.
While this was worded fairly vaguely, the intent was clear.
Palestrina's musical mastery and his skill at word setting greatly affected the outcome of this difficult situation, by composing a six part polyphonic mass, called the Pope Marcellus Mass, of 1555, to prove that Counterpoint, that polyphony is indeed compatible with the doctrines of the Counter-Reformation. The Counter-Reformation, in looking at Palestrina's mass, says: 'Yes, all the words are clear, Polyphony is Okay after all' and Palestrina is hailed as the savior of Church Music.
The Netherlandish composer Jacob de Kerle (1531/32-1591) demonstrated to Council delegates that polyphony was capable of projecting the words in a coherent manner.
The Council of Trent brought about other changes in music: most notably developing the Missa Brevis, Lauda and "Spiritual Madrigal" (Madrigali Spirituali).
The inadvertent start of the scientific revolution
Some historians such as James Burke have noted some of the directives initiated in the Counter-Reformation had consequences that would ironically create even more formidable challenges to the 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.
The need to have these events followed closely throughout the dioceses raised the problem with the accuracy of the calendar.
At the time of its publication, De revolutionibus passed with relatively little comment in the Catholic Church itself who treated the conception as little more than a mathematical convenience. This examination of the Copernican theory was a factor in starting the scientific revolution outside the Catholic Church who banned the study of these works until the mid nineteenth century.
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