Lay-Sisters and Good Mothers: Working-class Women in English Convents, 1840-1910

1990 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 453-465
Author(s):  
Susan O’brien
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Catholic Reformation ◽  
Church Workers ◽  
Working Class Women

When convents were re-established in mid-nineteenrh-cenrury England, after a break of over two hundred years, they mirrored the developments in religious life pioneered on the Continent during the Catholic reformation and in response to the French Revolution. By 1850 new forms of active and apostolic vocation co-existed with the traditional enclosed and contemplative vocation. Yet even the most traditional convent was novel in early nineteenth-century England, and it is only with benefit of hindsight that we assume the willing response of Irish and English women to the call of a religious vocation. The reestablished Church might promote the virtue of vocation, particularly to the new apostolic congregations which were so useful to hard-pressed priests. But it was not inevitable that the religious life would take root in a culture deeply suspicious of conventual ‘secretiveness’ and, moreover, at a time when the ideology of hearth and home had such vitality. In the event, the active congregations multiplied rapidly and attracted women of all classes. As a result, by the end of the century the Roman Catholic Church in England had found employment for thousands of women as full-time, professional church workers. More than one-third and perhaps as many as half of these women were from working-class families, and it is with the working-class members that this paper is concerned.

scholarly journals The Reformation as a Turning Point for the Roman Catholic Church (16th and 17th Centuries)

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Charles Henriques
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Protestant Reformation ◽  
Catholic Reformation ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Christian Churches ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
Christian Thought

In this article the effects of the Protestant Reformation on the Roman Catholic Church are investigated. The event of 1517, when Luther posted 95 theses on the castle church door in Wittenberg, had a profound effect on society in Europe and the Roman Catholic Church in particular. The Council of Trent (1545–1563) was the official response of the Roman Catholic Church to the Protestant Reformation and issued in the Catholic Reformation (Counter-Reformation). Christian thought went from a uniform approach to one of diversity. The Catholics of the day responded by focusing on strategies such as printing, the liturgy, the inquisition and finally excommunication. The wound to the unity of the Christian community was finally healed at the Second Vatican Council when the Roman Catholic Church joined the ecumenical movement of all Christian Churches. The Roman Catholic Church learnt tremendous lessons from the Protestant Reformation. In certain parts of Europe there was friction and in other parts cooperation between Protestants and Catholics. Through the course of time cooperation and dialogue won the battle eventually, as Protestants and Catholics grappled with both their common beliefs and their many differences.

The Council of Trent and the Residence of Bishops in the Diocese of Cape Verde (1553–1705)

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jairzinho Lopes Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Cape Verde ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Council Of Trent ◽  
Catholic Reformation

AbstractThe Council of Trent (1545–1563) regarded the reform of the episcopate as the cornerstone of the Catholic Reformation. Hence the Conciliar Fathers put emphasis on the much neglected duty of residence of bishops. To ensure compliance, the Roman Catholic Church relied heavily on Christian monarchs, patrons of the Churches in the territories under their jurisdiction. The present study analyses to what extent the Tridentine decree on the residence of bishops was enforced in the diocese of Cape Verde (under Portuguese control) between 1553 and 1705. The hypothesis of this study can be stated simply: despite the efforts to enforce the residence of bishops in Cape Verde, the socio-economic limitations of the diocese as well as political and administrative constraints in Portugal significantly hampered the authorities in their effort to enforce long-term residence in that overseas diocese.

scholarly journals PROTESTANTISM – THE ORIGIN AND ESSENCE OF ITS TEACHINGS

2019 ◽  
pp. 179
Author(s):  
Dragan Todorović
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Printing Press ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Century Thought

The paper presents the following: 1) The factors which preceded the break of the unique Western Church (spiritual movements within the Roman Catholic Church, which requested a new kind of piety, a New-Century thought by most influential European humanists which was inspired by individualism, a changed political climate under the influence of the Humanism and Renaissance, the rise of the civil class and the invention of the printing press), 2) the founders of Protestant teachings (Martin Luther, Thomas Mincer, Philip Spener, Jean Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli) and 3) the rules of religious life among the newly converted (principles: Ecclesia reformata sed semper reformanda, Soli Deo Gloria, Solo Christo, Sola scriptura, Sola gratia, Sola fide, etc.). 

“To Promote More Effectually the Grand Interests of Society”

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Dorn
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Tolerance ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Common ◽  
Jesuit Order ◽  
Civic Mindedness

This chapter focuses on Georgetown College, the founding of which seems characterized by a collection of inconsistencies. The most intriguing incongruity associated with Georgetown's establishment is that although the Jesuit order of the Roman Catholic Church founded the institution to educate young men to enter religious life—in essence, to prepare them for seminary—the college practiced religious tolerance and admitted students from a variety of Christian denominations. Consequently, few graduates entered the priesthood. As for the institution's educational purpose, the first prospectus declared a dedication to advancing the common good. The most compelling aspect of Georgetown's prospectus is the way it asserted the institution's commitment to advancing the public good through promoting “the grand interests of society.” Manifesting the same social ethos of civic-mindedness, its officials aimed to educate graduates who would better society through their life pursuits.

African Materials in Vincentian Archives

1979 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 335-340
Author(s):  
C.M. Stafford Poole
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Religious Orders ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
Congregation Of The Mission

Of all the communities and religious orders in the Roman Catholic church that are involved in missionary activity, the Congregation of the Mission, while one of the more extensive, is undoubtedly the least known. Founded in 1625 by Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660), its original purpose was the giving of parish missions in the de-Christianized rural areas of France. The rural missions remained a special concern of Saint Vincent's community and it was in this sense that the term “mission” was originally used. Prior to the French Revolution the term missionary was used almost exclusively of members of Saint Vincent's group. In the mid-eighteenth century they also came to be known as Lazarists, a name derived from their motherhouse, the famous Saint-Lazare. Though this name has been used in other countries, the Congregation of the Mission has come to be known by different names in different localities: for instance, Vincentians in the English-speaking world, Padres Paúles in the Spanish-speaking world, and Saint Vincent's Fathers in Nigeria.Reacting against the excessive esprit de corps of numerous religious groups of his time, Vincent de Paul decreed that the work of his missionaries should be without fanfare or publicity. He even forbade some of them from writing histories of the community lest this should lead to corporate pride. It was an unfortunate precedent. This tendency, plus a general lack of historical consciousness, has caused the work of the Congregation of the Mission to be unpublicized and unknown, even by the members themselves.

The Reformation

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Hillerbrand ◽  
Wladyslaw Roczniak
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Protestant Reformation ◽  
Catholic Reformation ◽  
Protestant Churches ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Christian Society ◽  
The Catholic Church

The Reformation of the 16th century, sometimes known as “Protestant Reformation” in order to distinguish it from a Catholic “Reformation,” was a pan-European movement that called for reform of the Roman Catholic Church as well as the entirety of Christian society. For many of the reformers, however, more was at issue than mere reform; they called for a fundamental re-conceptualization of theology. The Reformation failed in influencing the Catholic Church. Martin Luther, the early leader of the movement, was excommunicated by the Catholic Church, but defiantly pursued his understanding of the Christian faith. As a result of the Reformation new Protestant churches with distinct theological profiles emerged. Several features have characterized scholarship on the Reformation. For one, the historiography of the Reformation has traditionally tended to followed confessional lines, with Protestant scholars painting a negative picture of the state of the Catholic Church on the eve of the Reformation, and an exuberant picture of the achievements of the reformers. Catholic scholars saw things the other way around. More recently a more judicious treatment, less confessionally oriented, of the religious turbulence of the 16th century has emerged. Also, historians of the Reformation have employed different conceptual frames of reference, particularly regarding the question of the primary factor (religion, politics, personal ambition, economics) of the turbulence. This bibliography considers the broad outlines of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. Other entries consider the Reformation in England, France, and the German lands; the Catholic Reformation; the Radical Sects; and key Reformation individuals.

In the Absence of Priests: Young Women as Apostles to the Poor, Chile 1922–1932

2007 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gertrude M. Yeager
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Urgent Problem ◽  
The Poor

The Roman Catholic Church in Chile first acknowledged its inability to pastor its flock in the 1920s because of an acute shortage of priests. Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga, SJ addressed the clerical crisis in a 1936 article,La Crisis Sacerdotal en Chile. When critics found his analysis “exaggerated,” he conducted a survey of Chilean religious practices and published the findings in a controversial essay entitledEs Chile un país católico?which is said to have earned him the wrath of the hierarchy because it called attention to the woeful neglect of pastoral duties especially among the rural and working class populations. This empirical data demonstrated that the Catholic Church in Chile had 1615 priests, of whom 780 were secular and 835 regular clergy; of the same 1615 priests 915 were Chilean and 700 were foreigners. There were 451 parishes, some of which contained several towns and villages scattered over a thousand square kilometers with 10,000 parishioners to be ministered to by a single priest. Hurtado's solution—a larger and better-educated clergy—was a long-term solution to an urgent problem that would never be achieved. Something had to be done immediately to keep the faith alive. In the gendered world of Chilean Catholicism, the task of preserving the faith fell to young laywomen.

scholarly journals CATHOLIC COUNTER-REFORMATION: A HISTORY OF THE JESUITS’ MISSION TO ETHIOPIA 1557-1635

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-116
Author(s):  
Elias Kiptoo Ngetich
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Church History ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Catholic Reformation ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of

The Jesuits or ‘The Society of Jesus’ holds a significant place in the wide area of church history. Mark Noll cites John Olin notes that the founding of the Jesuits was ‘the most powerful instrument of Catholic revival and resurgence in this era of religious crisis’.[1] In histories of Europe to the Reformation of the sixteenth century, the Jesuits appear with notable frequency. The Jesuits were the finest expression of the Catholic Reformation shortly after the Protestant reform began. The Society is attributed to its founder, Ignatius of Loyola. As a layman, Ignatius viewed Christendom in his context as a society under siege. It was Christian duty to therefore defend it. The Society was formed at a time that nationalism was growing and papal prestige was falling. As Christopher Hollis observed: ‘Long before the outbreak of the great Reformation there were signs that the unity of the Catholic Christendom was breaking up.’[2] The Jesuits, as a missionary movement at a critical period in the Roman Catholic Church, used creative strategies that later symbolised the strength of what would become the traditional Roman Catholic Church for a long time in history. The strategies involved included, but were not limited to: reviving and nurturing faith among Catholics, winning back those who had become Protestants, converting those who had not been baptised, training of the members for social service and missionary work and also establishing educational institutions.[1]       Mark A. Noll. Turning points: Decisive moments in the history of Christianity. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1997), 201.[2]       Christopher Hollis. The Jesuits: A history. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1968), 6.

Friedrich Von Hügel's Spirituality of Empowerment

Horizons ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen M. Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Difficult Time ◽  
Creative Tension ◽  
Spiritual Director ◽  
History Of

AbstractAs a Catholic lay person Friedrich von Hügel developed a spirituality which sought to integrate scholarship, including the critical study of religion, with a full religious life, one which holds the institutional, the intellectual, and the mystical elements in a creative tension. He did this during and after the period known as “Roman Catholic Modernism,” a difficult time in the history of the Roman Catholic Church as it responded to perceived threats with severe restrictions. This essay explores how von Hiigel's spirituality was one of empowerment by considering him as advocate and networker, writer, and spiritual director. He not only developed a lay approach to spirituality but a spirituality of scholarship which can still inspire contemporary Christians.

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