Counter-Reformation Flashcards
Cardinal Ximenes
primate of Spain 1495-1517
Cardinal Ximenes
primate of Spain 1495-1517
enforced poverty
dissolved dissatisfactory houses
Incumbents must remain residents in the right place
Founded university of Alaca, encouraged teaching of Latin and Greek
Ximenes et al.’s Polygot Bible available by 1522
What did the conflict with Protestantism do for reform, according to Chadwick?
‘The conflict with Protestantism gave to reform a new edge, to cut through the vested interests and administrative conservatism which everywhere frustrated reform’
Reform was given a new vitality
Persecution by Spanish Inquisition
Erasmians and the Inquisition
Reading Castilian Bible prohibited in 1537 (Spanish language of Castile)
Lutherans hunted and persecuted, burned 1558-60
Why form new orders?
Forming new orders for the sake of reform was an old practice
Easier to make new than reform old
Reforms would divide existing institutions
Too many vested secular interests
Old orders reformed
Some old orders reformed
Matteo de Bascio (d. 1552)
Wanted to revive Franciscan style
Order of Capuchins recognised in 1528
New Religious Orders
Some new orders Theatines (1524) Somaschi (1532) Barnabites (1533) The Jesuits Ursulines (1535) Oratories The Oratory of Divine Love (1516)
What was new about new religious orders
What was new? Active, not withdrawn ‘Life of charity and social endeavour’ Better clergy - the most important end of the Counter- Reformation Residing in their benefice Uncorrupted Celibate Educated
St Philip Neri
u
Gaetano da Thiene
u
Ignatius Loyola 1491-1556
Ignatius Loyola
After injury to leg, bed bound, vision of the Madonna and Jesus —> Wants to be Saint
Resolves on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, stops at Manresa
Religious practice
austerity, self-flagellation and prayer - found regime unfulfilling
Focus on obedience to his church
‘if faith was the ground of all Luther’s work, obedience was the key to Loyola’s.’
‘The Spiritual Exercises’ (published 1848)
Aimed at mastering one’s will
Solitary reflection followed by submitting to God’s mercy
Obedience to superior, and thus to the Church
To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black, if the Hierarchical Church so decides it - Loyola
Submitted to the Pope, and were directed at the betterment of Italian churches
Formed a ‘Company of Jesus’ which became official in 1540
Demographic growth of Jesuits
Rapid growth 1540-55
From very few to 1000+ and governing body of nearly 50
Jesuit ideas
Ideas
Became educators, missionaries, preachers
Looser structure than before to allow them to be active in the world
Lived out in the world, no need to recite the divine office together
Allowed them to focus on charitable acts more effectively
‘The success of the Jesuits sprang largely from this readiness to adjust the old ideals of the monks for the needs of the new generation.’
Jesuits Missionary action (see ‘Expansion’ deck for thorough treatment)
Missionary action in Americas
Went under Francis Xavier in April 1541
Jesuit impact on education
Education First Jesuit school at Messina in 1548 Colleges at Padua and Rome in 1542/1551 Education of the upper classes Became associated with leading classes and the Court
Jesuits in Germany
Jesuits in Germany
Summoned to work in Germany in 1542
Since they thought obedience to the Pope and the Catholic Church in universities - places of radical thinking - they were a good means of reisting antithetical protestant views
First teaching at Ingolstadt in 1549
Peter Canisius’ Catechism (1555)
Peter Canisius’ Catechism (1555)
Uncontroversial but influential statement on Catholic beliefs
But should remember statements such as this constitute ‘the least important parts of the battle against the Protestants’
Corruption and abuses invited Protestantism; to tackle Protestantism, tackle the causes at the root. (Chadwick)
