Counter-Reformation Or Catholic Reformation?? Which Term Do You Think Is Most Appropriate? Essay, Research Paper
This essay is
a response to the question of whether the Catholic reform movement that
predated Lutheran reforms and had its roots in the mid-fourteenth century was of
greater importance for the recovery of the Catholic Church in the wake of the
Reformation than direct reaction to the Protestant Reformation itself. Clerical
absenteeism, nepotism, clerical ignorance and immorality abounded within the
clergy at all levels of the Church, but they had not been suddenly
introduced.? Gregory VII (1078-85),
Innocent III (1198-1216) and Boniface VIII (1294-1303) had made claims about
Papal Infallibility that effectively gave them mastery over all of Christendom,
and it was with some success that Innocent III in particular pursued this
claim.? However, the Great Schism
destroyed the Church?s image and some claims of the Popes were discredited by
the appearance of multiple claimants to the Papal throne.? The move to Avignon was as a result of an
inability to hold onto Rome as a safe haven.?
Thus, the Papacy turned its head to the fundraising necessary for the
return.? Under Clement V, the Papacy in
Avignon took in three times more money than the French Crown.? The resentment generated by the greed of the
Papacy made the return to Rome unnecessarily messy, as Martin V, elected at the
Council of Constance in 1417, was forced to cede much control over national
churches to national governments.? The
role of councils in the solving of the Schism led to an increased level of
prestige for councils and the growth of Conciliarism at a time when the Pope
was being reduced to the level of being just another principality in Europe, as
opposed to the supreme leader of the continent.? Attempts to not only reimpose this leadership but also to
maintain the Papal income for projects such as the new St. Peters? basilica led
to great unpopularity.? This need for
income also caused problems at a local level, as income in England for example
dropped to around ?5 p.a. for some priests, simply because money was being
spirited away to Rome as the Papacy continued to try to draw back Martin V?s
concessions. The
Conciliarists at Constance passed a decree in 1415 claiming that the Councils
were ?a General Council? with ?authority immediately from Christ? and the whole
church including ?the Pope himself? was obliged to heed their demands.? The councillors decided in 1418 that
decennial councils should be called.?
The failure of the concilliar movement can be ascribed not a lack of
support, as the Schism had weakened the Papacy, but interestingly for the
period, to an overly comprehensive representation of competing interest
groups.? Eugenius IV was able to kill
the movement, as it was in the interest of the Papacy to do so, as the Papacy
was generally more worldly than the councillors who wished to debate issues of
faith and church structure.? Just as
fear of another Schism promoted the councilliary movement, fear of the Schism
prevented the Concilliary movement from posing an effective challenge to the
Papacy and thus of posing an effective challenge to the entrenched corruption
of the Church. The problem
for local society was the differing levels of education, wealth and position
amongst the clergy.? This dichotomy was
more obvious in the fifteenth century, as the growth of the universities led to
a greater proportion of extremely well educated clergy emerging, and thus
setting off greater contrast across parishes, or from generation?s priest to
another generation?s priest.? Few
priests understood the Latin of the Mass and few preached sermons.? The sixteenth century was in fact better in
terms of education of the clergy and of the bishopry than previously, but the
laity were in a better position to observe their failings, and it is for this
reason that reformers begun to emerge, as a greater number of people within the
church were educated better, and consequently saw and decided to try to resolve
problems within the Church.? The claim
that the coincidence of the Catholic and Protestant Reformations proves one to
be a reaction to the other is thus unsustainable.? Such a conclusion overlooks the fact that Luther intended his
reformation to be a Catholic reformation, and also goes so far as to claim that
he was the first reformer.? The Catholic
reform movement can be traced to 150 years prior to Luther?s initial
demands.? William of Occam (died 1349)
and Marsilia of Padua (died 1342) were important early reform writers.? Although they had little impact with their
writing at a popular level, Occam was important for his influence on Luther and
Marsilio was used by Thomas Cromwell as justification for the English
Reformation and to prove the long-seated nature of the Church?s problems and
its failure to confront them.? Occam?s Via
Moderna was one of the great texts of the fourteenth century. Such
contemporaries as John Wyclif were more popularly supported, even if Wyclif was
effectively just a bargaining chip between the English Crown and the Papacy. Jan Hus was
next in the line of great pre-Lutheran reformers.? There was no suddenness in Hus?s outbursts as many of the demands
he made, such as for a more pastoral church had been echoed across Europe for
centuries.? The denial of Papal
Supremacy, as with Wyclif, was the thing to which the Church took exception,
leaving Hus?s complaints about abuses of the church to one side.? The mishandling of the affair, notably Hus?s
death at Constance, led the Hussites to survive with some autonomy from the
church thanks to the Compactata drawn up with the Papacy.? Along with even earlier reformers such as
Peter Waldo, whose Waldensians survived from the twelfth century to be absorbed
into the Calvinist fold in Savoy and Piedmont. Other
reformers to note were the mysticists who shared Hussite contempt for church
hierarchy but also for the accumulation of wealth that chartacterised so much
of the contemporary church.? The
Conciliar movement, the medieval mysticists, the Platonic humanists and
revivalists (such as Savonarola of Florence) all demanded reforms. Leo X?s
Lateran Council produced pre-Lutheran suggestions for reform from inside the
Vatican. Many tried to
lead reform by obvious example of holy lives.?
Ostentatious piety is derided in the Bible, but such orders as the Order
of Divine Love, which consisted initially of 50 Roman clergymen, tried to drag
the lay and clerical society into a better shape by example alone.? The Order?s most celebrated member,
Contarini, was an unordained member of the Order from an aristocratic Venetian
family and actually became Venetian ambassador to Rome, the Imperial Court and
elsewhere from 1518.? Despite a direct
revelation, he remained unordained and remained within the laity from where he
tried to bring about reform by the example of decency and reason. These lines of
reformers within the old framework predated Luther, but were by no means
unaffected by Luther?s appearance.? The
movement became noticibly more purposeful and more intolerant.? Giberti, another member of the Oratory, was
the chief adviser to Clement VII, and the protagonist of his anti-Spanish
policy and his policy of using France to liberate Italy from foreign
domination.? It was not until Luther?s
advances on one hand and the Sack of Rome on another that he found his way to
the bishopric of Verona.? Placed in such
a position of such influence and given his background at the Oratory, it is
perhaps unsurprising that he became a model bishop, reforming his clergy and
restoring the spirituality of his laity.?
Sadoleto, Carafa and Morone, other Oratory members, took similar roles
in other seats in the absence of Papal leadership.? Reformer bishops were not, however, confined to Italy. Briconnet?s
work at Meaux took on board Luther?s criticisms and worked with them to reform
his diocese whilst remaining orthodox.?
Gropper?s reforms in Cologne under the eye of the archbishop von Wied
were famous, as were the reforms of de la Marque at Liege, who combined
suppression and reform in equal measure.?
Although of similar lineage, attitude and action to Ximenes in Spain,
these reforms were carried out with such ferocity because of the imperative
need to battle Luther. The revival of
religious orders is another aspect of the revival of the Church.? The health of the regular members of the
Church had been seen as an indicator of the health of the whole Church, and by
such a measure, the fifteenth century came off very badly.? As Chaucer said ?a good friar is as rare as
the phoenix?.? Worldliness,
indifference, corruption and declining numbers were motifs of the era.? The reaction to the fall of standards within
the general religious life had led to the Oratory of Divine Love, just as the
fall of the orders led to the growth of reforming movements within the
mendicant orders.? Offshoot movements
professing a more rigid following of the rules imposed on their parent orders
are an indicator of the ill-health of the monastic movement, although their
foundation does show a core of reforming, conscientious, devout and persuasive
members of the movements.? These ?observant?
orders were standing up against the laxity of the orders? attitude to their
intended austerity, apparently diluted by contact with the laity.? As a result, by the early sixteenth century,
the least austere of the ordained were the friars, who having contact with the
laity, were not only corrupted but also seen to be corrupt.? It is no coincidence that Luther was an
ex-friar and that so many of his early colleagues were people fallen from holy
orders. ? Within the community of Camaldoli under the
leadership of such people as Giustiniani, the Camaldolese set up small
settlements across Italy bringing Christianity to the people.? The Capuchins were also set up as an
offshoot of the Franciscan movement with the aim of restoring the movement to
the ideals of their founder.? Confirmed
in 1536 by Paul III, they gained individual recognition and became very popular
advocates of Catholicism as they laboured amongst the poor, sick and destitute.? They attracted friends in high places, such
as Vittoria Colonna, but also excited distrust amongst both the unashamedly
worldly and the overly cool and rational, for they were blunt, direct and
immodest about their devotion.? They
were lucky to survive the defection of their superior, Bernardino Ochino, to
the Lutherans, but they convinced Paul III of their orthodoxy and were allowed
to continue. ??????????? The
influence of the Oratory of Divine Love was also felt in the monastic world.
New orders of ?clerks regular?, were formed.?
Ordinary clergy and laity, as in the Oratory, lived together, took some
monastic vows but formed no houses and lived within the world proper, either as
parish priests or lay community members.?
The Theatines (1524) were founded by Oratarians.? St. Cajetan and Carafa were Neapolitan
aristocrats who moved their order from Rome to Venice, and soon inspired
similar houses.? The Sommaschi (1532)
and the Barbarites (1533) preceded the Ursulites (1535) who were a similar
movement, but for women.? Whereas, the
friars were known for their holiness and piety, these orders became known for
the primacy in their lives of the needy: an aspect still prevalent in the lives
of the monks and friars, but viewed as less important than the offices, prayer
and masses that dominated their lives.?
The idea of preaching, nursing and teaching the masses as an offering to
God over a life of prayer were not pre-Reformation ideas, and although based on
older foundations, were acted upon, accelerated and altered because of the need
for Counter-Reformation changes. ??????????? The
influence of humanists such as Pole, Morone and Contarini is also vital.? Pole was a cousin of Henry VIII whose temper
was conciliatory and whose guide was reason. Eager to sign treaties and discuss
differences, these humanists were a world apart from such holy fools as Carafa
and Giustiniani who saw differences and unorthodoxy as heresy.? Although all were agreed that the Church
needed reform, the lack of worldliness of Pole compared with the political life
of Giberti and diplomatic experience of Contarini meant that ultimately the
effectiveness of reformers was often based on factors outside theology,
personality and motivation.? Carafa was
very embittered, but along with Contarini and Giberti, was a great reformer,
thanks to his realism and his understanding of the world ?assets, skills lacked
by Clement VII. ??????????? The
Catholic Reformation?s first champion and final supporter was Paul III.? Appreciating the need for reform, he
appointed Contarini.? Although he did
also appoint two of his adolescent grandsons at the same time, the appointment
was a big step.? He would add Pole,
Carafa and Sadoleto amongst others to the College in 1536, another gesture of
his commitment to Reform, and all of these people in 1537 would join a council
of nine to reccoment reforms.? Their
1537 report ?Consilium de emendenda ecclesia? ?had a firm preface about the role of the Papacy in the problems of
the Church, and criticises the self-interest of the Popes and their ?false
councillors.?? The sale of Venal Offices
was specifically criticised.? The failure
to recognise such obvious abuses as the appointment of children, sale of
benefices, pluralism, non-residence, dishonesty and idleness in the Curia,
monastic corruption, dispensions bought and sold, simony and the paucity of the
diocese of Rome itself.? The book was
not really a part of the Counter-Reformation however, eventually finding its
way onto the Index of Prohibited Books.?
Having said that, Paul did try to reform the Datary and the
Penitentiary.? The Sack of Rome however,
had wiped out papal income.? With two
fifths of his predecessor?s income, Paul struggled to make ends meet, and as
such was in no position to reform.? This
attempt by Paul III marked the end of the old Catholic Reform movement as an
independent entity, and its absorption into an assault on Luther and his
colleagues.? This last generation of
pre-reformation theologians were the last hope for genuinely altruistic and
spiritual reformation of the church without the bitter catalyst of the split of
the Church.? ??????????? The
banning of heterodoxical works was just one side to the Counter-Reforms.? The Orthodox was also ratified, clarified
and reasserted.? The four schools of
thought at the time, the pure Thomists (confined to the Dominicans by this
time) who followed Aquinas, the Duns Scotus Thomists, (the via antiqua), the
Nominalists and the Augustinian school.?
.? The high level subtleties
between the four were not as obvious as the differences allowed to continue
between pure orthodoxy and popular Catholicism.? Mariolatry, the worship of Mary and the downgrading of the role
of Christ and the Trinity, genuinely pagan festivals incorporated into
Christianisty and other superstitions were also in need of clarification.? Such clarification was vital for Paul III,
but for Charles V, the issue of repairing the Church by means of repairing the
hierarchies was more important.? The Church
Council, which met from 1545 onward, reflected the desire of Paul III to
clarify doctrine as a means to securing the independence of the Curia to govern
the hierarchy.? Although the Council of
Trent did discuss problems like pluralism and non-residency, its enormous
output was almost entirely concerned with doctrine.? Its composition (Papal Legates) ensured that the attacks on the
Papacy of earlier councils did not occur, and the Council endowed a much
clearer corpus of doctrine to the church.?
The need to clarify the doctrine established the Church?s view of itself
no longer as the Church, but as the Roman Catholic Church ? one of several such
established churches.? It is perhaps
thanks to Carafa and his colleagues that the Council allowed no concessions to
the Protestants.? Paul III hurried the
Council in 1546-7 onto the subjects raised by Luther and the
Counter-Reformation bloc in the Curia got the result they desired.? The Regensburg compromise (?Double
Justification?) was dropped entirely by 1546 and Thomism came into conflict
with the Council.? The Augustinian
compromises to Luther were dropped as the Council?s attitude was that Luther
had taken a step too far and to pander to the Lutherans would be to denigrate
the sanctity of their own religion for the benefits of? heretics to whom their compromises meant
nothing.? The hijacking of the General
Council of the Church ? so long a weapon on the conciliatory parties ? fell
into the hands of Carafa?s hardened group of anti-Protestants. However, one
of the most important aspects of the Catholic fightback was the Society of
Jesus.? Founded by St. Ignatius Loyola,
a Basque ex-soldier, who had met Lutheranism and discovered that he hated it,
the Order?s founders (Loyola, Lefevre, Lainez, Salmeron, Bobadilla, Rodriguez
and Xavier) were gathered by Loyola and made into Loyola?s own disciples.? Loyola?s Spiritual Exercises was a
book of some power and believed in neither mystic retreat, nor in crazed
devotion, but instead in a ?indifference? to the world backed up by knowledge
of God and controlled mystic experience. The vow the
seven took in 1534 to serve the Pope as he wished, or to perform missionary
work in the Holy Land led them to Venice where they intended to go to the
Levant but diplomatic issues prevented their travel.? As a result, they ended up in 1538 in Rome where they formed an
order.? The Society was arranged in
?total obedience? to the ?provost? of the Society and was set up with the aim
of ?teaching Christianity to children and the uneducated.?? Loyola?s assertion that the Society would
?serve as soldiers in faithful obedience to the most holy lord Paul III and his
successors? was what swung Paul III to approve the Society and as such, the
Society, described by Bonney as ?shock troops of the Counter Reformation? was
founded in 1540 by the Bull ?Regimini militantis ecclesiae?. Ignatius
took the first generalship despite gallstones that went undiagnosed for twenty
years, and led the order with great strength for fifteen years.? Short, slight, ill, lame from his wounding
as a soldier at Pamplona, of limited intelligence and never a great preacher,
scholar or theologian, Ignatius was still a great leader, and his mysticism
which increased as he grew older and his coolness and practicality, results of
his untheological attitude to theology resulted in a clear, obvious and
instructive understanding of the soul.?
Trappings of the other orders such as dress, food and daily orders were
abandoned as Loyola wanted his priests to live within the world, not just near
it, and to act accordingly.? The Jesuits
were educated to a very high degree and in modern thought, not just in one
inflexible doctrine. As such, the order was radically different from older
orders. Loyola founded
an order of missionaries at the service of the Pope with the aim of moving east
to the Levant, or west to the New World.?
Loyola did not envisage Christian Germany as being his goal, but the
Pope?s aim was Loyola?s aim, and the Jesuits waded into Germany. So modern and
successful was their programme that the fathers were inundated with requests
from families asking them to teach boys with no intention of becoming
Jesuits.? Germany saw a rash of new
schools founded. Vienna, Cologne, Prague and Ingolstadt all saw large Jesuit
centres established.? Paul came to
welcome the Jesuits and so great was the change in opinion concerning the need
for reform that the humanist Pole was favourite for election to the Papacy.? Alas, they were wrong and by 1542 Giberti
and Contarini were dead. The conciliatory humanist reformers were gone and in
their place, such bitter critics of Luther as Carafa rose.? Although Paul III?s immediate successor
Julius III was a reformer in the mould of Paul III and reconvened the Council
of Trent, he was to be the last of the line of old reformers, as he was
replaced by Carafa. Carafa, even before his appointment as Paul IV, squeezed
the bull ?Licet ab initio? from Paul III revitalising the Italian
inquisition, in a move that set the tone for his papacy.? Modelled on the Spanish Inquisition, the
Italian model, headed by Carafa had the power to confiscate, imprison and
punish throughout the peninsular.? The
Inquisition controlled the growth not only of Protestant, Anabaptist,
Antitrinitarian ideas, but also of some orthodox reform, especially under Paul
IV?s leadership.? Morone was imprisoned
on charges of heresy and Pole was saved only by a timely return to
England.? Under Paul IV, Italy lapsed into
intellectual stagnation.? The Index
Librorum Prohibitorum (1559) was just one aspect of the repression of
Paul?s inquisition. Paul?s
personal dislike of Ignatius almost caused him to dissolve the Society.? Paul IV?s brutality and aggression in such
actions as cleansing the Curia and makes him the first Counter-Reformation
pope, but in his politics (alienating Spain) he almost set the Counter-Reforms
back some time. The period of
1540-1560 saw a move from the humanist reformers who were built in the mould of
Ximenes and Pole and whose basis for reform was a longstanding distain for the
iniquities of the Church to a move to specifically counter the advances of
Luther. As the people who could remember united Christendom died off, the
permanence of the split came to be realised and accepted.? It was in the battle to win back Germany
that the Counter-Reformation was forged as it became to be known and in the
battle against Luther that its weapons: the Inquisition, the Jesuits,
repression and renewed Papal Supremacy ? were forged, ready for the fight with
the less compromising Calvinists.? To
answer, until the election of Paul IV I would use the term Catholic Reformation
and thereafter, I would use the term Counter-Reformation.? Elements of the Catholic Reformation were
concerned specifically with Luther and their development was accelerated by the
need to heal the split, but their principles, literature, aims objectives and
ideology predated Luther as they were in a long line of reformers who,
including the early Luther, punctuated the previous centuries.