Download The Counter Reformation

The Counter Reformation
I. Background
A. Genuine reform effort to fix century-old problems 
B. Direct response to the challenge of Protestants 
C. Political Problems & holdups
1. Church needs to…
2. French King Francis I WANTED the conflict of Protestants 
D. Eventually, party of reforming Cardinals convinced Pope Paul III need for council
II. Council of Trent 
A. Issues
1. Met irregularly over 20 years (1545-47; 51-51; 62-63)
2. Poorly attended- earlier councils had as many as 500 reps; this one as low as 20
B. Papal Authority
1. Group of bishops claimed that THEIR collective authority is greater than the pope’s
 failure of leadership, desire for change, power struggle
2. LONG discussion Papal supremacy won out in end
a. ensured a centralized….
b. Kept Catholic Church from….
c. Kept papal supreme authority
C. Defining Doctrine 
1. Salvation achieved by….
2. Reaffirmed the
3.
, transubstantiation,
official language of church
4. Church’s interpretation….
5. Veneration of saints, use of images, relics, & pilgrimages ALL OK!
D. Reforms 
1. Fixed….
2. Ruled that bishops should….
3. Outlawed pluralism 
4. In order to provide an educated, qualified clergy,…
E. Did NOT tone down the wealth & ceremony of the church
& celibacy of...
III. The Counter “Crusade”
A. Line of reforming popes attempted to restore moral authority of church (and pope)
B. Concentrated push to glorify the church- more splendor!
C. The Jesuits 
1. (St.) Ignatius Loyola 
Spiritual Exercises 
2. Strict, harsh training; absolute submission in matters of faith
3. KEY was education 
4. Jesuits were foot soldiers of Counter Crusade 
IV. Catholic v. Protestant
A. Both sides were struggling for control Whatever the religion of the area’s ruler, that
was only legal religion in region. Very political, top-down, but influenced by the masses.
1. Both had….
 Index of Prohibited Books (Cath; abandoned in 1960)
2. Both had “religious police” to enforce orthodoxy
B. The Inquisition 
 Spain (1480) 
The Inquisition was originally intended in large part to ensure the orthodoxy of those who converted from
Judaism and Islam. This regulation of the faith of the newly converted was intensified after the royal decrees issued
in 1492 and 1501 ordering Jews and Muslims to convert or leave.
 Forced conversions
Various motives have been proposed for the monarchs' decision to fund the Inquisition such as increasing political
authority, weakening opposition, suppressing conversos, profiting from confiscation of the property of convicted
heretics, reducing social tensions and protecting the kingdom from the danger of a fifth column.
C. If efforts of Catholic Europe were ever combined, they could have wiped out
Protestantism 
Strongest Powers in Euro
Significant Protestant States
Spain- Cath
Disunified, small states in Ger
France- Cath
Norway, Sweden, & Denmark
HRE-Cath
England (“Four million people with a hostile
Scotland to the north;” At the time, just
below Port and above Kingdom of Sicily)