Catholic/Counter-Reformation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Scully
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Religious Orders ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Early Modern Era

The traditional terms for the religious changes and upheavals centered in the 16th century were the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, the first referring to the Protestant Reformation in its various subdivisions, and the second referencing the Catholic Counter-Reformation. The later term emphasized the reactive nature of the Catholic Church’s response to the burgeoning Protestant movement and its spread, especially across much of northern and central Europe. The historiography of the Reformation has been transformed since the late 20th century, including the use of the term “Reformations,” stressing the equally dramatic impact of developments in both Protestantism and Catholicism in early modern Europe, as well as diversity and divisions within each of these religious denominations. The historiography on the Catholic side has particularly shifted, including the current consensus that, despite some serious problems, the late medieval church was generally vibrant and largely popular with the majority of the people of Western Christendom. At the same time, there was a wide range of individuals and movements engaged in reforms of religious life and practice, from the Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life to the Observant movements in many religious orders. Thus, there was an active Catholic Reform or Reformation underway well before Luther and the onset of Protestantism. It is also true that once Lutheran, Calvinist, and other Protestant churches began to take hold by the mid-16th century, the Catholic Church launched various measures to counteract the Protestant tide via a Counter Reformation. In light of this intermixture of proactive and reactive, traditional and progressive developments, it is now common to use a more encompassing term: Early Modern Catholicism. This has the advantage of placing Catholicism at the heart of the myriad developments of the Early Modern era: the Renaissance, the Reformation, major economic and social changes, the emergence of nation-states, and overseas expansion. With regard to the current historiography, in addition to continuing interest in the Catholic heartlands of Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France, much attention has shifted to central and eastern Europe, as well as to Catholic minorities in northern Europe. Related to these topics are studies on networks, religious exiles and refugees, and religious identity. Besides the importance of Trent and the Catholic hierarchy as continuing topics of research, the new and renewed religious orders of men and women, as well as the crucial role of the laity, have moved to center stage. Our framework has also considerably broadened, across both time (into the 17th and 18th centuries) and space (the expansive Catholic overseas missions).

scholarly journals Zur Frage der Toleranz in der Epoche zwischen Reformation und Aufklärung

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hein Retter
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Mutual Recognition ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Early Modern Era ◽  
Modern Era

This article deals with the origins of religious tolerance in the modern era. It goes back to the early modern era, when intolerance by the Roman-Catholic church towards new reformative movements showed itself to be particularly pervasive. At the same time, the Roman-Catholic church faced opposition from regional princes and free imperial cities who had become powerful and frequently tended to lean towards the new faith. They demanded the acknowledgment of the reformative faith by the pope and the emperor. However, they could hardly be called tolerant towards other faiths in their own territories, especially in the case of minorities seeking public recognition of their alternative beliefs and religious practices. Stark intolerance eased off only when tolerance functioned as an inherent political necessity, in hopes of gaining large economic benefits, especially under secular rule yet hardly ever under that of the church. The results from an international conference presented here show that tolerance in the age of the Reformation cannot be confused with the mutual recognition of religious and cultural idiosyncracies, in the way these are often claimed nowadays when advocating for a peaceful coexistence of different groups in a pluralistic society. In the historical context of the early modern era, tolerance was a one-sided act –in hopes of political and economic advantages – towards gaining a kind of freedom which, in its overall effect, definitely involved risks of conflict. In this context, differing political structures such as the personal beliefs of the ruling prince influenced the different climates regarding tolerance in 16th- to 19th-century Europe.

scholarly journals Lay Female Devotional Lives in the Counter Reformation

2017 ◽  
Vol 97 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 369-380
Author(s):  
Jennifer Hillman
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Council Of Trent ◽  
Early Modern Women ◽  
Lay Women ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
New Directions ◽  
The World

In 1563, the Catholic Church responded to the Protestant challenge to the religious life as the most holy feminine state with the maxim aut maritus aut murus (wife or wall). The navigation of that dictum by early modern women across Catholic Europe has arguably been one of the dominant themes in the scholarship over the last thirty years. Certainly, there had always been the opportunity for women to lead a religious life outside of marriage and the cloister as beatas, tertiaries and beguines. Yet it was after the Council of Trent (1545–1563) that women had to renegotiate a space in the world in which they could lead spiritually-fulfilling devotional lives. If this was one unintended legacy of 1517, then the quincentenary of the Reformation seems a timely moment to reflect on new directions in the now burgeoning historiography on lay women in Counter-Reformation Europe.

scholarly journals Co się stało z konfessyjonistą? Dzieje leksemu w polszczyźnie

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-219
Author(s):  
Paulina Michalska-Górecka
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
History Of

The history of the lexeme konfessyjonista shows that the word is a neologism that functioned in the literature of the sixteenth century in connection with religious documents/books, such as the Protestant confessions. Formally and semantically, it refers to Confessio Augustana, also to her Polish translations, and to the Konfesja sandomierska, as well as konfessyja as a kind of genre. In the Reformation and Counter-Reformation period, the word konfessyja was needed by the Protestants; the word konfessyjonista was derived from him by the Catholics for their needs. The lexeme had an offensive tone and referred to a confessional supporter as a supporter of the Reformation. Perhaps the oldest of his certifications comes from an anonymous text from 1561, the year in which two Polish translations of Augustana were announced. The demand for a konfessyjonista noun probably did not go beyond the 16th century, its notations come only from the 60s, 70s and 80s of this century.

scholarly journals The Fall of the Chorupnik Parish. A Contribution to the History of the Reformation in Poland

2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (2 SELECTED PAPERS IN ENGLISH) ◽  
pp. 31-42
Author(s):  
Bogumił Szady
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Local Dimension ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Parish Church ◽  
Parish Priest ◽  
The Social ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Polish Version ◽  
History Of

The Polish version of the article was published in “Roczniki Humanistyczne,” vol. 61 (2013), issue 2. The article addresses the question of the fall of the Latin parish in Chorupnik that belonged to the former diocese of Chełm. The parish church in Chorupnik was taken over by Protestants in the second half of the 16th century. Unsuccessful attempts at recovering its property were made by incorporating it into the neighbouring parish in Gorzków. The actions taken by the Gorzków parish priest and the bishop together with his chapter failed, too. A detailed study of such attempts to recover the property of one of the parishes that ceased to exist during the Reformation falls within the context of the relations between the nobility and the clergy in the period of Counter-Reformation. Studying the social, legal and economic relations in a local dimension is important for understanding the mechanisms of the mass transition of the nobility to reformed denominations, and then of their return to the Catholic Church.

Visual Arts: Reformation and Counter-Reformation (Reforms of Trent and Catholic Art)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Viladesau
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Sacred Art ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
Devotional Practices ◽  
Fitting In

The reformers of the 16th century brought to the fore questions regarding sacred images that had arisen in the context of changes in society, religion, and art in the late Middle Ages. Late medieval Catholicism already produced warnings against idolatry in the cult of images, superstition, and the misuse of popular devotional practices for monetary gain. Reformation-era re-evaluations of sacred images arose primarily from three overlapping impulses: (1) the humanistic enlightenment and critique of external religion; (2) concern for the Scriptures, including the Old Testament prohibition against idolatrous images; and (3) the ethical complaint against ecclesiastical luxury and neglect of the poor. Some of the Reformers fostered a more or less complete iconoclasm (e.g., Karlstadt, Bucer, and Hätzer). Others had positive attitudes toward art in general, but had reservations about religious representations (Calvin). Yet others had more ambiguous attitudes. Zwingli thought that images are inherently dangerous because of the temptation to idolatry, but his position softened toward the end of his life. Luther’s ideas on sacred representations changed through his career from a somewhat negative to a fairly positive evaluation. He held that the Old Testament prohibition pertained only to idols, not to images themselves. His primary concern was that images and devotion to them could foster a spirituality of external works as the means to salvation. This problem could be met by uniting images with texts and stressing their didactic function. The Council of Trent dealt with sacred art in 1568. The Council agreed with the reformers that abuses were possible in the cult of the saints and in the use of art, and also that much of the art itself was “inappropriate” for sacred use because of its worldliness. However, its decree insisted on the validity and usefulness of images and their veneration. The decree of Trent did not give specific guidelines for sacred art, but only general principles, leaving implementation in the hands of bishops. The vagueness of Trent’s decree made room for a wide range of practical judgments about what was “appropriate” or “fitting” in sacred art. But in the second half of the 16th century, several bishops and theologians wrote treatises on painting to guide artists. The Tridentine reforms, although put into practice in varied ways, included several general characteristics: (1) elimination of “sensual” and secular elements from sacred art; (2) faithfulness to Scripture and tradition; (3) concern for doctrine and devotion above artistry; (4) use of art as a means of education, indoctrination, and propaganda; (5) the valuing of visual naturalism; (6) polemical concentration on contested dogmatic themes in content; and (7) the sensual as a means of entry into the spiritual. With the advent of the Baroque in the later stages of the Counter-Reformation, a spirit of triumph prevailed. Art that was pleasing to the senses brought an atmosphere of spiritual exaltation. Baroque art was purposefully theatrical, artful, and dramatic. An unintended result of the image controversies was the separation of sacred and secular art and the formulation of separate criteria for each.

A Tridentine Response

2020 ◽  
pp. 104-131
Author(s):  
Kenneth Austin
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Council Of Trent ◽  
Catholic Reformation ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
The Catholic Church

This chapter analyzes “Counter Reformation,” a terminology that implies the developments within the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century and beyond of reactions to the Protestant challenge. It explains how historians generally prefer the term “Catholic Reformation” over Counter Reformation as it is more neutral and better able to accommodate the range of initiatives witnessed in the period. It also points out reform efforts that predate the Protestant challenge, in which a new ethos developed within the Catholic Church in the middle of the sixteenth century. The chapter talks about the fathers of the Council of Trent, who sought to address a wide range of issues relating to belief and practice. It looks at the “Tridentine” decrees that were implemented alongside various papal initiatives and efforts at the local level.

Lord Deputy Chichester and the English Government’s ‘Mandates Policy’ in Ireland, 1605–1607

1991 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 320-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
John McCavitt
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Protestant Clergy ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
Church Of Ireland ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

One of the liveliest debates in recent early modern Irish historiography has concerned the ‘failure’ of the Reformation in Ireland and when this occurred. Originally Professor Canny took issue with Dr. Brendan Bradshaw on this topic. Canny rejected Bradshaw’s thesis that the Reformation had failed in Ireland by 1558 and argued that counter-reformation catholicism only triumphed in the nineteenth century. Other contributions were then made to the debate by Dr. Alan Ford and later Karl Bottigheimer. Ford considered the 1590–1641 period as crucial, while Bottigheimer favoured the early seventeenth century as the key era. In the light of the work of Ford and Bottigheimer, Canny reconsidered the issue in an article published in 1986. He rejected what he believed to be Ford’s overly-pessimistic assessment that the Church of Ireland clergy soon despaired of the Reformation’s success in the seventeenth century. Instead, it is contended, Protestant clergy and laymen alike were optimistic that penal prosecution might still pave the way for considerable advances at this time. Moreover, Canny further argued that Ford was ‘mistaken in treating the clergy as an autonomous group and mistaken also in allowing excessive influence to ideology as the determinant of policy’.

Confessionalism and Mobility in Early Modern Ireland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadhg Ó hAnnracháin
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
Church Of Ireland ◽  
Confessional Identity ◽  
Migratory Experience

This is a book about the intersection between processes of mobility and religious identity and practice in Early Modern Ireland. The period between c.1580 and c.1685 was one of momentous importance in terms of the establishment of different confessional identities in the island, and various typesof mobility played a key role in the development, articulation, and maintenance of separate religious communities. Part I examines the dialectic between migration and religious adherence, paying particular attention to the transnational dimension of clerical formation which played a vital role in shaping the competing Catholic, Church of Ireland, and non-conformist clergies. Part II investigates how more quotidian practices of mobility such as pilgrimage and interparochial communions helped to elaborate religious identities and the central role of figurative images of movement in structuring Christians’ understanding of their lives. The final chapters of the book analyze the extraordinary importance of migratory experience in shaping the lives and writings of the authors of key confessional identity texts. Hitherto underestimated or taken for granted, the book argues that migrants and exiles were of crucial significance in forging the self-understanding of the different religious communities of the island.

The Moresca Dance in Counter-Reformation Rome: Court Medicine and the Moderation of Exceptional Bodies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Kavvadia
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Medical Discourse ◽  
Religious Discourse ◽  
Court Culture ◽  
Dance Culture ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
Body And Soul ◽  
Spiritual Reform ◽  
The Catholic Church

In the early modern elite court culture, dance held a prominent sociopolitical position. Nevertheless, in the Counter-Reformation era, the Catholic Church put dance culture under scrutiny. The moresca, one of the most popular dance spectacles that expressed the elite’s taste in exceptional and wondrous bodies, was criticized as deviant by Catholic reformers. In this criticism, the religious discourse often overlapped with contemporary medical discourse, which considered aspects of dance culture as unhealthy for both body and soul. In Counter-Reformation Rome, Girolamo Mercuriale, the court physician of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, following the aspirations of the Counter-Reformation papacy for spiritual reform, moderates in his medical treatise De arte gymnastica the controversial moresca: by modifying it into a medical exercise, he regulates the moresca in both medical and religious terms, making it an appropriate body practice for the elite.

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