The Counter Reformation

Counter Reformation Actions taken by Catholic Church to counteract the Protestant Reformation “Counter-Reformation” invented by German Protestant historians. Not liked by Catholic historians, but now generally accepted.

Ingredients of the Counter Reformation Humanism Secularism Religious Warfare New versions of the Bible Vernacular Science Renewed religious emotionalism Baroque Art

Pope Paul III (1534 – 1539) The first “Counter-Reformation” pope Viewed the church “as a fortress to be guarded, defended, and kept on the alert”

Council of Trent (1545 – 1563) Debated the legitimacy of Protestant theology. Most attendees were Italian bishops.

Council of Trent (1545- 1563) Defined Catholicism for the next 400 years All medieval church law was valid Latin would remain official language Re-emphasized the importance of “good works” and “faith” No change to sacraments No more money for indulgences Priests must be educated

Roman Inquisition What is an Inquisition? A tribunal designed to find heretics and bring them to justice How does it work? Accusation Anyone could testify against you No attorney No appeals Torture allowed

Inquisition Punishments Go to church Take a pilgrimage Wear a “cross of infamy” Imprisonment (if you confessed) Burned at the stake (if you didn’t) What if you begged for mercy? They’d strangle and then burn you What if you died before the trial ended? They dug up your body and burned you

Results of the Inquisitions? About 5,000 people burned Land and property of all heretics seized by Church Persecution of scientists Witch hunts

Scientists Copernicus Bruno Sun is center of universe Excommunicated (posthumously) Banned his books Bruno Believed in aliens and that Bible was not divine Burned at the stake

Galileo Warned by Church to stop Wrote books in Italian “Scriptures teach us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go.” Threatened with torture Galileo backed down Galileo was acquitted in 1992

Roman Index of Prohibited Books Process of reviewing and censoring books Galileo’s books on list until 1835 All Protestant works Any Bible not in Latin Some books on the list until 1960s

Roman Missal A uniform liturgy for the Mass that would be used in every Catholic church throughout the world.

Jesuits New religious order devoted to teaching Catholicism Extremely militant, well-educated men focused on revival of Catholicism Loyola was their first leader

Jesuits and Education Jesuits established excellent schools across Europe Many famous Europeans educated by Jesuits Descartes Voltaire Even Protestants attended Ratio studiorum became the model for modern universities The Ratio studiorum “turned out to be the most significant single document in Jesuit educational history. It became the instrument that made the Jesuits, even in the eyes of their opponents, ‘the schoolmasters of Europe.’ They used the document in such a way that it lifted the mediocre to the level of the good, and the good to the level of the excellent. For four centuries, the Ratio impacted not just the Church, but the world. Never before or since have we seen such a comprehensive and effective universal educational program.“This success was even longer in the making than at first appears. It emerged from half a century of continuous experience and collaboration, but it was rooted in a far older, far wider web of evolving educational techniques and enterprises: the teaching style that Ignatius had found at the University of Paris, the Renaissance humanist movement, high medieval scholasticism, and earlier medieval training in manners at cathedral schools. There was also a definite classical background, namely, that ancient rhetorical training of Greco-Roman culture, especially as it had been systematized by the Latin-Spanish author Quintilian. But the Ratio did not, for all its pedigree, stand far from a rather large fund of contemporary common-sense and experience and practical wisdom. When the Society of Jesus added to this mixture a powerful evangelical orientation to final ends and a rapidly expanding international corporate effort, it transformed the entire pedagogical universe of early modernity.” (Claude Pavur, St. Louis University, The Great Ratio). [JESUITS]. Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum. Per sex patres ad idiussu R. P. Prapositi Generalis deputatos conscripta. Rome: Francisco Zanetti for Collegium Societatis Jesu, 1586.Cum Facultate Superiorum. Small octavo, nineteenth-century three-quarter morocco. $16,000. Extremely scarce 1586 first edition of the famous Ratio studiorum, outlining the educational system of the Jesuits. One of the foundational documents of modern thought: through its influence, the Ratio studiorum shaped and defined the system of higher education for the entire Western world.