The Counter-Reformation (Latin: Contrareformatio), also called the Catholic Reformation (Latin: Reformatio Catholica) or the Catholic Revival,[1] was the period of Catholic resurgence initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation, beginning with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War (1648). Initiated to preserve the power, influence and material wealth enjoyed by the Catholic Church and to present a theological and material challenge to Reformation, the Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort composed of five major elements:
Reactionary defense of Catholic sacramental practice
Ecclesiastical or structural reconfiguration
Religious orders
Spiritual movements
Political dimensions
Such reforms included the foundation of seminaries for the proper training of priests in the spiritual life and the theological traditions of the church, the reform of religious life by returning orders to their spiritual foundations, and new spiritual movements focusing on the devotional life and a personal relationship with Christ, including the Spanish mystics and the French school of spirituality.[2]
It also involved political activities that included the Roman Inquisition. One primary emphasis of the Counter-Reformation was a mission to reach parts of the world that had been colonized as predominantly Catholic and also try to reconvert areas such as Sweden and England that were at one time Catholic, but had been Protestantized during the Reformation.[2]
Various Counter-Reformation theologians focused only on defending doctrinal positions such as the sacraments and pious practices that were attacked by the Protestant reformers,[3] up to the Second Vatican Councilin 1962–1965. One of the "most dramatic moments" at that council was the intervention of Belgian Bishop Emiel-Jozef de Smedt (fr; it;nl; pl) when, during the debate on the nature of the church, he called for an end to the "triumphalism, clericalism, and juridicism" that had typified the church in the previous centuries.[4]
Key events of the period include: the Council of Trent (1545–1563); the excommunication of Elizabeth I (1570) and the Battle of Lepanto(1571), both occurring during the pontificate of Pius V; the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar and the Jesuit China mission of Matteo Ricci under Pope Gregory XIII; the French Wars of Religion; the Long Turkish Warand the execution of Giordano Bruno in 1600, under Pope Clement VIII; the trial against Galileo Galilei; the final phases of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) during the pontificates of Urban VIII and Innocent X; and the formation of the last Holy League by Innocent XI during the Great Turkish War.
