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] Martin Luther. Martin Luther OSA (German: [ˈmaɐ̯tiːn ˈlʊtɐ] ( ); 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German monk, Catholic priest, professor of theology and seminal figure of the 16th-century movement in Christianity known later as the Protestant Reformation.[1] He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with monetary values.
He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel, a Dominican friar, with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. His refusal to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the Pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the Emperor. Luther taught that salvation and subsequently eternity in heaven is not earned by good deeds but is received only as a free gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin and subsequently eternity in Hell.
Early life Birth and education Monastic and academic life. Council of Trent. The Council in Santa Maria Maggiore church; Museo Diocesano Tridentino, Trento. The Council of Trent (Latin: Concilium Tridentinum) was an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils.[1] It convened in Trento, Italy, then the capital of the Prince-Bishopric of Trent of the Holy Roman Empire, between 13 December 1545, and 4 December 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods.
During the pontificate of Pope Paul III, the Council fathers met for the first eight sessions in Trento (1545–47), and for the ninth to eleventh sessions in Bologna (1547).[2] Under Pope Julius III, the Council met in Trento (1551–52) for the twelfth to sixteenth sessions, and under Pope Pius IV, the seventeenth to twenty-fifth sessions took place in Trento (1559–63). Background[edit] Obstacles and events before the Council[edit] Pope Paul III convoked the Council of Trent A General, Free Council in Germany[edit] Objects and general results[edit] Protestantism.
In the 16th century, the followers of Martin Luther established the Lutheran churches of Germany and Scandinavia. Reformed churches in Hungary, Scotland, Switzerland and France were established by other reformers such as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, and John Knox. The Church of England declared independence from papal authority in 1534, and was influenced by some Reformation principles, notably during the reign of Edward VI.
There were also reformation movements throughout continental Europe known as the Radical Reformation which gave rise to the Anabaptist, Moravian, and other pietistic movements. Protestants generally may be divided among four basic groups: The "mainline" churches with direct roots in the Protestant reformers; the Radical Reform movement emphasizing adult baptism; nontrinitarian churches; and the Restorationist movements of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. There are over 33,000 Protestant denominations, and not every one fits neatly into these categories. Pope Paul III. Early life and career[edit] Born in 1468 at Canino, Latium (then part of the Papal States), Alessandro Farnese was the oldest son of Pier Luigi I Farnese, Signore di Montalto (1435–1487) and his wife Giovanna Caetani, a member of the Caetani family which had also produced Pope Boniface VIII.
The Farnese family had prospered over the centuries but it was Alessandro’s ascendency to the papacy and his dedication to family interests which saw the vastly significant increase in the family’s wealth and power. A patron of the arts and family interests[edit] Cardinal Ascanio Sforza One of the most significant artistic works of his reign was the depiction of the Last Judgement by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican Palace. Although the work was commissioned by Paul’s predecessor, it was finished in 1541. As a cardinal, Alessandro had begun construction of a palace, the Palazzo Farnese, in central Rome.
Paul III's artistic and architectural commissions were numerous and varied. Protestant Reformation. Although the core motivation behind these changes was theological, many other factors played a part, including the rise of nationalism, the Western Schism which eroded people's faith in the Papacy, the corruption of the Curia, and the new learning of the Renaissance which questioned much traditional thought. On a technological level the invention of the printing press proved extremely significant in that it provided the means for the rapid dissemination of new ideas. The Roman Catholic Church responded with a Counter-Reformation initiated by the Council of Trent and spearheaded by the new order of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) specifically organized to counter the Protestant movement. In general, Northern Europe, with the exception of most of Ireland, turned Protestant.
Southern Europe remained Roman Catholic, while Central Europe was a site of fierce conflict, escalating to full-scale war. Religious situation in Europe[edit] History and origins[edit] Earlier schisms[edit] Literacy[edit]