The Counter-Reformation (Latin: Contrareformatio), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival or the Catholic Reformation, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to-, and as an alternative to-, or from similar insights as-, the Protestant Reformation. It was a comprehensive effort arising from the decrees of the Council of Trent.
As a political-historical period, it is frequently dated to have begun with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and to have ended with the political conclusion of the European wars of religion in 1648, though this is controversial.
The effort produced apologetic and polemical documents, anti-corruption efforts, internal reform, spiritual movements, the promotion of new religious orders, and the flourishing of new art and musical styles. War and discriminatory legislation caused large migrations of religious refugees. Such 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 by returning orders to their spiritual foundations, and new spiritual movements focusing on the devotional life and a personal relationship with Christ, including the Spanish mystics and the French school of spirituality. It also involved political activities and used the regional Inquisitions.
A primary emphasis of the Counter-Reformation was a mission to reach parts of the world that had been colonized as predominantly Catholic and an attempt to reconvert nations such as Sweden and England that once were Catholic from the time of the Christianisation of Europe, but had been lost to the Reformation. Various Counter-Reformation theologians focused only on defending doctrinal positions such as the sacraments and pious practices that were attacked by the Protestant reformers up to the Second Vatican Council.
Terminology
'Counter-Reformation’ is a translation of German: Gegenreformation. The term was coined in the late eighteenth century by German historians as a negative concept to describe Catholic repressions and was popularised through the mid-nineteenth century by those like Leopold von Ranke.
Protestant historians have tended to speak in terms of Catholic reform as part of the Counter-Reformation, itself a response to the Reformation.
In nineteenth-century Germany, the term became part of the German: Kulturkampf: ‘Counter-Reformation’ was used by Protestant historians as a negative and one-dimensional concept that stressed the aspect of reaction and resistance to Protestantism and neglected that of reform within Catholicism. The term was understandably shunned by Catholic historians. Even when the Protestant historian Wilhelm Maurenbrecher introduced the term ‘Catholic Reformation’ in 1880, German historiography remained confessionally divided on the subject. The term ‘Catholic Reformation’ appealed to Catholic historians because it offered them the possibility of avoiding the term ‘Counter-Reformation’, with its problematic connotation of a mere reaction to Protestantism. But it was rejected by Protestant historians – largely because they did not want the term ‘Reformation’ to be used for anything other than the Protestant Reformation.
Catholic historians tend to emphasize them as different. The French historian Henri Daniel-Rops wrote:
The term ('counter-reformation'), however, though common, is misleading: it cannot rightly be applied, logically or chronologically, to that sudden awakening as of a startled giant, that wonderful effort of rejuvenation and reorganization, which in a space of thirty years gave to the Church an altogether new appearance. … The so-called 'counter-reformation' did not begin with the Council of Trent, long after Luther; its origins and initial achievements were much anterior to the fame of Wittenberg. It was undertaken, not by way of answering the 'reformers,' but in obedience to demands and principles that are part of the unalterable tradition of the Church and proceed from her most fundamental loyalties.
The Italian historian Massimo Firpo has distinguished "Catholic Reformation" from "Counter-Reformation" by their issues. In his view, the general "Catholic Reformation" was "centered on the care of souls ..., episcopal residence, the renewal of the clergy, together with the charitable and educational roles of the new religious orders", whereas the specific "Counter-Reformation" was "founded upon the defence of orthodoxy, the repression of dissent, the reassertion of ecclesiastical authority".
Other relevant terms that may be encountered:
'Pre-Tridentine' - before, or the status quo ante of, the Council of Trent (such as "pre-Tridentine Mass")
'Tridentine' - initiated at, or as a result of, the Council of Trent (1545–1563) (such as "Tridentine Mass")
'Post-Tridentine' - sometimes synonym for Tridentine; alteratively some subsequent distinct reaction or development (such as "post-Tridentine Mass")
Darker colour approximates most intense period of unrest, change or impact
Green=Catholic; Red=Protestant; Blue=Other
Precursor Catholic Reformation
The Gregorian reforms of the late 11th century—intended to, e.g., reduce kingly and dynastic control of religious life and use of assets and to prevent parishes from becoming "family businesses"—flowed out from Rome, for example reaching Ireland around 35 years later with the Irish Synod of Ráth Breasail (1111); this established the episcopal system over the aristocracy-dominated monasteries in Ireland, resulting in the eventual dissolution of many monasteries in the 12th century, such as the Abbey of Kells. The reforms lead to the rise of the Canons Regular as alternatives to monks or friars. These were priests living, like monks, in perhaps-avowed communities but focused outwardly (e.g., serving parish or cathedral pastoral duties) rather than inwardly (e.g., cloistered or necessarily observing the full Liturgy of the Hours.) The reforms reached Germany in 1122 with the Concordat of Worms.
The 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries saw a spiritual revival in Europe incubated by the rise of preaching friars, the standardization of the Paris Bible, lay spiritual movements (such as the devotio moderna), the examples of nascent saints such as Catherine of Bologna, Antoninus of Florence, Rita of Cascia and Catherine of Genoa, printing, Christian humanism, an urbanized laity who could not flee the towns for monasteries, and other reasons.
A series of ecumenical councils were held with reformist agendas:
Council of Constance (1415)
Council of Basel (1431)-Ferrara (1438)-Florence (1449)
Fifth Council of the Lateran (1512–1517)
The kinds of positive reforms considered were not necessarily the ones that preoccupied the Hussites (e.g., communion under both kinds and married priests) and later Protestants (e.g., indulgences and justification). Ending schism and war (especially papal war) was regarded by some prelates as the precondition for reformation.
At times, the reform talk in the councils tended to lack enough specificity to result in an effective program—except for a tendency to follow the Observantist faction of the monastic orders (that less slackness regarding external observances would aid fervour in internal piety) or to promote a top-down ("head and body") institution-centric focus which held that reform needed to start at and from the Pope, bishops, councils, princes, or canon law. There was considerable support for the evangelical counsels' ideal of poverty as a way to short-circuit careerism, though John Wycliffe's doctrine of mandatory apostolic poverty was decisively rejected at the Council of Constance.
Issues such as papal nepotism and the wealth, diocese-absenteeism, and pre-occupation with secular power of important bishops were recognized as perennial and scandalous problems. These resisted serious reform (by successive popes and councils with those bishops, unable to compromise their own interests) for centuries, causing friction as radical reformers periodically arose in response, as with Savonarola.
In the half-century before the reformation, the phenomenon of bishops closing down decadent monasteries or convents had become more common, as had programs to educate parish priests. In the half-century before the Council of Trent, various evangelical Catholic leaders had experimented with reforms that came to be associated with Protestants: for example, Guillaume Briçonnet (bishop of Meaux) in Paris, with his former teacher Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples, had statues other than Christ removed from his churches (though not destroyed), replaced the Hail Mary with the Pater Noster prayer, and made available vernacular French versions of the Gospels and Epistles.
Conservative and reforming parties still survived within the Catholic Church even as the Protestant Reformations spread. Protestants decisively broke from the Catholic Church in the 1520s. The two distinct dogmatic positions within the Catholic Church solidified in the 1560s.
Priests and religious orders
The regular orders made their first attempts at reform in the 14th century. The 'Benedictine Bull' of 1336 reformed the Benedictines and Cistercians. In 1523, the Camaldolese Hermits of Monte Corona were recognized as a separate congregation of monks.
In 1435, Francis of Paola founded the Poor Hermits of Saint Francis of Assisi, who became the Minim Friars. In 1526, Matteo de Bascio suggested reforming the Franciscan rule of life to its original purity, giving birth to the Capuchins, recognized by the pope in 1619. This order was well known to the laity and played an important role in public preaching.
To respond to the new needs of evangelism, clergy formed into religious congregations, taking special vows but with no obligation to assist in a monastery's religious offices. These regular clergy taught, preached and took confession but were under a bishop's direct authority and not linked to a specific parish or area like a vicar or canon. In Italy, the first congregation of regular clergy was the Theatines founded in 1524 by Gaetano and Cardinal Gian Caraffa. This was followed by the Somaschi Fathers in 1528, the Barnabites in 1530, the Ursulines in 1535, the Jesuits, canonically recognised in 1540, the Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca in 1583, the Camillians in 1584, the Adorno Fathers in 1588, and finally the Piarists in 1621.
At the end of the 1400s, a reform movement inspired by St Catherine of Genoa's hospital ministry started spreading: in Rome, starting 1514, the Oratory of Divine Love attracted an aristocratic membership of priests and laymen to perform anonymous acts of charity and to discuss reform; the members subsequently became the key players in the church handling the Reformation.
In 1548, then-layman Philip Neri founded a Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity of Pilgrims and Convalescents: this developed into the relatively-free religious community the Oratorians, who were given their constitutions in 1564 and recognized as a religious order by the pope in 1575. They used music and singing to attract the faithful.
Councils and documents
Confutatio Augustana
The 1530 Confutatio Augustana was the Catholic response to the Lutheran Augsburg Confession.
Council of Trent
Pope Paul III (1534–1549) is considered the first pope of the Counter-Reformation, and he also initiated the Council of Trent (1545–1563), tasked with institutional reform, addressing contentious issues such as corrupt bishops and priests, the sale of indulgences, and other financial abuses.
The council upheld the basic structure of the medieval church, its sacramental system, religious orders, and doctrine. It recommended that the form of Mass should be standardised, and this took place in 1570, when Pope Pius V made the Tridentine Mass obligatory.
It rejected all compromise with Protestants, restating basic tenets of the Catholic Faith. The council upheld salvation appropriated by grace through faith and works of that faith (not just by faith, as the Protestants insisted) because "faith without works is dead", as the Epistle of James states (2:22–26).
Transubstantiation, according to which the consecrated bread and wine are held to have been transformed really and substantially into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ, was also reaffirmed, as were the traditional seven sacraments of the Catholic Church. Other practices that drew the ire of Protestant reformers, such as pilgrimages, the veneration of saints and relics, the use of venerable images and statuary, and the veneration of the Virgin Mary were strongly reaffirmed as spiritually commendable practices.
The council, in the Canon of Trent, officially accepted the Vulgate listing of the Old Testament Bible, which included the deuterocanonical works (called apocrypha by Protestants) on a par with the 39 books found in the Masoretic Text. This reaffirmed the previous Council of Rome (382), Synod of Carthage (397), and the Council of Basel/Ferrara/Florence (1442), which had each affirmed the Deuterocanon as scripture. The council also commissioned the Roman Catechism, which served as authoritative Church teaching until the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992).
While the traditional fundamentals of the Church were reaffirmed, there were noticeable changes to answer complaints that the Counter-Reformers were, tacitly, willing to admit were legitimate. Among the conditions to be corrected by Catholic reformers was the growing divide between the clerics and the laity; many members of the clergy in the rural parishes had been poorly educated. Often, these rural priests did not know Latin and lacked opportunities for proper theological training. Addressing the education of priests had been a fundamental focus of the humanist reformers in the past.
Parish priests were to be better educated in matters of theology and apologetics, while Papal authorities sought to educate the faithful about the meaning, nature and value of art and liturgy, particularly in monastic churches (Protestants had criticised them as "distracting"). Handbooks became more common, describing how to be good priests and confessors, and confessees.
Thus, the Council of Trent attempted to improve the discipline and administration of the Church. The worldly excesses of the secular Renaissance Church, epitomized by the era of Alexander VI (1492–1503), intensified during the Reformation under Pope Leo X (1513–1521), whose campaign to raise funds for the construction of Saint Peter's Basilica by supporting use of indulgences served as a key impetus for Martin Luther's 95 Theses. The Catholic Church responded to these problems by a vigorous campaign of reform, inspired by earlier Catholic reform movements: humanism, devotionalism, and observantism.
The council, by virtue of its actions, repudiated the pluralism of the secular Renaissance that had previously plagued the Church: the organization of religious institutions was tightened, discipline was improved, and the parish was emphasized. The appointment of bishops for political reasons was no longer tolerated. In the past, the large landholdings forced many bishops to be "absent bishops" who at times were property managers trained in administration. Thus, the Council of Trent combated "absenteeism", which was the practice of bishops living in Rome or on landed estates rather than in their dioceses. The Council of Trent gave bishops greater power to supervise all aspects of religious life. Zealous prelates, such as Milan's Archbishop Carlo Borromeo (1538–1584), later canonized as a saint, set an example by visiting the remotest parishes and instilling high standards.
Index Librorum Prohibitorum
The 1559–1967 Index Librorum Prohibitorum was a directory of prohibited books which was updated twenty times during the next four centuries as books were added or removed from the list by the Sacred Congregation of the Index. It was divided into three classes. The first class listed heretical writers, the second class listed heretical works, and the third class listed forbidden writings which were published without the name of the author. The Index was finally suspended on 29 March 1967.
Roman Catechism
The 1566 Roman Catechism provided material in Latin to help the clergy catechize in the vernacular.
Nova ordinantia ecclesiastica
The 1575 Nova ordinantia ecclesiastica was an addendum to the Liturgia Svecanæ Ecclesiæ catholicæ & orthodoxæ conformia, also called the "Red Book". This launched the Liturgical Struggle, which pitted John III of Sweden against his younger brother Charles. During this time, Jesuit Laurentius Nicolai came to lead the Collegium regium Stockholmense. This theatre of the Counter-Reformation was called the Missio Suetica.
Defensio Tridentinæ fidei
The 1578 Defensio Tridentinæ fidei was the Catholic response to the Examination of the Council of Trent.
Unigenitus
The 1713 papal bull Unigenitus condemned 101 propositions of the French Jansenist theologian Pasquier Quesnel (1634–1719). Jansenism was a movement within Catholicism in France and the Spanish Netherlands that was criticized for being crypto-Calvinist, denying that Christ died for all, promoting that Holy Communion should be received very infrequently, and more. After Jansenist propositions were condemned it led to the development of the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands.
Politics and wars
British Isles
The Netherlands
When the Calvinists took control of various parts of the Netherlands in the Dutch Revolt, the Catholics led by Philip II of Spain fought back. The king sent in Alexander Farnese as Governor-General of the Spanish Netherlands from 1578 to 1592.