Michelangelo, Renaissance, Reformation and Counter Reformation. THE COUNTER REFORMATION. In the sixteenth century the Roman church undertook to reform itself. This reform movement, extending into the following century, raised the moral and educational standards of the clergy; inspired the church with a renewed zeal and morale, which enabled it to win back areas endangered by Protestantism; and contributed significantly to producing the Catholic church as we know it today. The chief agencies in carrying out this work were the papacy, which was much different from the papacy of the Renaissance; a group of religious orders, some reformed and some new, most notably the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits; and the Council of Trent. The Inquisition and the Roman Index of Prohibited Books also had a part in the work.
The spirit of the Catholic Reformation was a spirit of zeal and ardor for the faith, a recognition of abuses in the church and a dedication to the work of reform, and an attitude of intolerance toward heresy. Orders of women also were active in this movement. "Rome, the Renaissance and Counter Reformation" EtruscansAncient Rome Medieval Rome RenaissanceBaroqueModern Rome The reaction of Pope Paul III (1534 - 1549, Alessandro Farnese) to the Protestant reform was to summon the council of Trent (1545-1563) and the Counter-Reformation. The most vividly remembered result is the Holy Inquisition which had begun in Spain and which the church extended to other countries. The objective of the Counter-Reformation was to use moral persuasion and the Holy Inquisition to minimise the effects of the (northern) reformers in an attempt to maintain unity of faith and of the Catholic church. Nevertheless the Reformist movement gained the support of many national states of northern Europe which were keen to challenge the political strength and material wealth of the Roman church.
The church employed the newly founded Jesuit order as a tool to stem heresy through moral persuasion and teaching as well as a missionary vehicle aimed at Christianisation of the New World. Food for thought….. Counter Reformation. Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance . Renaissance . Counter Reformation. Throughout the middle ages the Catholic Church sunk deeper into a pit of scandal and corruption. By the 1520s, Martin Luther's ideas crystallized opposition to the Church, and Christian Europe was torn apart. In response, the Catholic Church set in motion the counter-reformation. An era of strict conformity and accompanying terror had begun. During the reign of Pope Leo X, discontent amongst Catholics in Europe was at an all-time high. The sale by the Pope of indulgences, a guarantee of salvation, was the last straw. Martin Luther became a figurehead for the discontented masses, and his “95 Theses” proposed dramatic reforms of the Catholic Church.
The challenge from Luther caught the Pope by surprise. In 1545, the leaders of the Catholic Church gathered in the Northern Italian city of Trent for an emergency conference. After 20-years of debate, the Council of Trent established the basis for a Catholic counter-attack. A new agency of obedience was created. Counter-Reformation. A copy of the Vulgate (the Latin edition of the Catholic Bible) printed in 1590, after many of the Council's reforms had begun to take place in Catholic worship. The Counter-Reformation (also the Catholic Revival[1] or Catholic Reformation) was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War (1648), and was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation.
The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort composed of four major elements: Ecclesiastical or structural reconfigurationReligious ordersSpiritual movementsPolitical dimensions Council of Trent[edit] A session of the Council of Trent, from an engraving. Pope Paul III (1534–1549) initiated the Council of Trent (1545–1563), a commission of cardinals tasked with institutional reform, addressing contentious issues such as corrupt bishops and priests, indulgences, and other financial abuses.
Religious orders[edit] Politics: The Netherlands[edit]