Counterreformation

The term "Counter-Reformation" was introduced by the German historian Leopold von Ranke (Die deutsche Geschichte im Zeitalter der Reformation, Lpz., 1894 ). Hegel in his Lectures on the Philosophy of History ( 1831 ) had not yet singled out the Counter-Reformation in a separate period, postulating the progressive movement of history from the Reformation to the Enlightenment . Bertrand Russell, in the History of Western Philosophy ( 1945 , Book 3, Part 1, Chap. 5), considers Counter-Reformation in the context of the New Age and perceives it as a Spanish “rebellion” against the Italian Renaissance , manifested in the activities of the Jesuit Order .

In modern historical science, it is customary to designate the actions of the Catholic Church to restore prestige and influence not as a Counter-Reformation, but as a Catholic restoration or Catholic reformation. This is due to the fact that in this process the idea of ​​renewal, of cleansing church institutions from the shortcomings in which contemporaries reproached it, was very important. These were not fundamental changes, on the contrary, at the Council of Trent , established positions regarding sacred texts, rites, and sacraments were confirmed. But the changes that took place inside the institution of the church, of course, indicate that one of the main ideas at that time was the transformation of faith and the clergy, the desire to conform to the spirit of the times. New conditions have given rise to new ideals, including in the religious sphere. So, A. G. Wulfius in his work “Problems of spiritual development. Humanism, Reformation, Catholic Reform "wrote:" The term "Catholic reaction", common in historical literature, is capable of misleading. The very word “reaction” emphasizes the opposition against the reformation and thereby pushes into the background that very deep and interesting internal degeneration of Catholicism in the 16th and 17th centuries, which took place along with the struggle against Protestantism ” ^[4] .

Reproaches about the decline of morals within the Catholic Church were heard already in the XII century. Moreover, the Pope ( Innocent III ) and the righteous canonized later ( St. Bernard ) were the accusers. Catholic reform actually began in Spain in the 15th century, when the Spanish Church acquired a powerful protector in the form of secular power in the person of King Ferdinand Catholic and Queen Isabella . Spain wanted to have a church not so dependent on Rome, because many believed that it had great services to the Catholic Church in protecting religion from non-Gentiles. Under Ferdinand and Isabella, the appointment to high church posts began to happen only with the coordination of candidates with the royal authority, the royal court was authorized to accept complaints of abuses of the ecclesiastical court. For such concessions, royal authority took upon itself the protection of the church from heretics (a new organization of the Inquisition , subordinate to the king, serves this purpose) and concern for church discipline. All these changes and reforms had nothing to do with the Protestant Reformation.

By the end of the 15th century, the Catholic Church, in spite of the undoubted and vivid manifestations of decline, still contained huge reserves of religious energy ^[4] . There were several controversial issues regarding the internal structure of the church and its life: the problem of the supremacy of power of cathedrals and popes, many were for restricting the power of the pope by the decisions of the cathedrals; the question of national churches, the protection of national episcopates and monasteries from the arbitrariness of the Papal Curia; the question of the attitude to the overly developed ritual side ( Erasmus of Rotterdam raised this question) and to the elements of the new humanistic education. The Catholic Church began to resolve these problems even before Luther appeared on the stage and achieved significant successes, in particular in Spain and then in Italy ^[4] . The Protestant movement was not the main cause of Catholic reforms; we can say that these reforms, like the Reformation, were fed from one source ^[1] . The problems that existed within the institution of the church were obvious even earlier, and measures to reorder were also taken earlier. But the Luther Reformation set “a new and main task: the salvation of church unity in the fight against heresy ” ^[4] .

The beginning of the Counter-Reformation can be considered the excommunication of Pope Leo X from the church of Martin Luther in the bull “Exurge Domini” on June 15, 1520. At first, the papacy did not consider the church schism serious. In Rome, the situation was seen as a temporary crisis, which can be resolved quickly enough. And therefore, they didn’t talk about any compromise then, reform options were not considered. Pope Adrian VI (1522-1523) at the Nuremberg Reichstag criticized the crimes and mistakes of the popes, believing that the recognition of church blunders would resolve the situation.

New Orders

During the Catholic reform, new monastic orders were created. In 1527, the Order of Theatines was founded. They wanted to restore the values ​​of the early Christian community, the apostolic life. In 1526 a new order of Capuchins emerged from the Franciscan order, which preached a return to the strict rules of the charter of St. Francis A reformatory wing appears in the Carmelite order; they saw the ideal of life in an ascetic lifestyle and poverty. In 1530, the Order of the Barnavites appeared, in 1537 - the Order of Bonifratra , whose monks took care of the sick. Then the order of St. Ursula , who was involved in the care and upbringing of young girls. So, in 1540 (created in 1536, but was approved as official two years later), the Jesuit Order was founded. It was an order of a new type.

Jesuits

The Jesuit Order was founded on August 15, 1534 by Ignacio Loyola . Initially, it was a "harmless student society, dreaming of a missionary activity among the Mohammedans" ^[5] . Among the founders of the order was the future general of the order Ignacio Loyola . Later, when 9 young master founders of the order visited the pope in an audience in 1535, it became clear that the pontiff praised their abilities, but their missionary work could not be carried out. The pope was about to enter into an alliance with the emperor and the Republic of Venice to arrange a new crusade against the Turks. Loyola transformed his congregation "1) into a permanent organization and 2) into a society of priests to carry out an internal mission or a kind of Catholic salvation army under the supreme command of the pope, for he saw its use in military service, and therefore, leaving at the beginning of 1537. in Rome, he gave his society the name under which it is fighting in our time - “Society of Jesus” ^[5] .

In 1540, the draft statutes of the Society of Jesus were approved by the papal curia, but until 1543 the number of its members should not exceed 60 people. This new order was directly subordinate to the pope, including in terms of military organization. “The slogan that the order placed at the beginning of its activity was the conversion of the masses who had left the church fence” ^[5] . Methods of such a return: education of children, stories about faith and its foundations, and among adults - activity as confessors. That is, special attention was paid to confession, the people were already largely unaccustomed to such practice. Missions in Italy were organized to convert Jews to Christianity. The number of Jesuit supporters grew. By the end of 1544, there were 9 Jesuit settlements in Europe: 2 in Italy , Spain and Portugal , 1 in France , Germany and the Netherlands . By 1554, the order had its settlements already from the Japanese islands to the Brazilian coast. In the 1550s there is a new change in the course of the order: "the Jesuit already was not only a law teacher, a preacher, confessor and missionary, but primarily a teacher of the middle and upper classes" ^[5] . The General of the Order Ignacio Loyola was in charge of all affairs and sovereignly led him. The main principle of the Jesuits was the slogan “perinde ac cadaver” - “a corpse in the hands of the owner”, that is, the pope. The Jesuit ministry to the Pope was unquestioning. They defended the principle of the supremacy of power of the pope in all spheres up to the deposition of monarchs. They developed their doctrine of tyranny, for which they later became suspected in connection with the murderers of Henry III and Henry IV .

The Jesuits never lived in monasteries, their main task was to work in the world.

Since 1524, the Roman Church systematically sent to all dioceses of Italy, especially to the north, severe instructions to combat heresy. In 1536, Paul III bull (1534-1549) came out, threatening to excommunicate for any appeal to the cathedral and putting the clergy in a privileged position if a clergyman was brought to trial.

In 1542, the bull Licet ab initio appeared. She established a central inquisition tribunal in Rome with wide rights. His power extended to all countries, he fought against heresy and sentenced such figures of the era as J. Bruno and J. C. Vanini .

Pope Paul III contributed to the renewal of the church, "laid the foundation for the ideological and theoretical preparation of the anti-reformation offensive" ^[6] . Under him, important posts in the curia and the archbishopric were held by such figures as Cardinal Gasparo Contarini , Jacopo Sadoleto and "Cardinal Caraffa, the father of the Neapolitan-Spanish Inquisition." In 1543, Caraffa banned the printing of any books without the permission of the Inquisition. Later, already in 1559, the Index of Prohibited Books was first published, which was distributed to all corners of the Catholic world. Those publications that were included in it could not be officially printed, it was forbidden to have them. Among these books were the works of Lorenzo Valla , Machiavelli , Ulrich von Gutten , Boccaccio , Erasmus of Rotterdam .

Cathedral of Trent

On March 15, 1545, the Ecumenical Council opened in Trento (Latin: Trent ), called the Council of Trent . In the pope’s bull, dedicated to the opening of the cathedral, its tasks were outlined: the definition of the Catholic faith and the reform of the church. The need for systematization and unification of Catholic teaching was also postulated.

The purpose of convening this council was to raise the profile of Catholicism and to strengthen it. The church representatives gathered there were divided into two parties: the irreconcilable papal and the imperial compromise. The papal party condemned dogma and erroneous, heretical teachings. They rejected any possibility of negotiating with the Protestants on equal terms. The imperial party wanted to consider the causes of heretical teachings, the reasons for the demoralization of the clergy. They wanted to be allowed to discuss many important issues of secular people, to negotiate with the Protestants. The imperial party was very weak, and Paul III managed to impose his program on the cathedral.

At the same time, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V won several victories in the war against the Protestant Electors. This could strengthen the position of the imperial party at the council, and force the papal party to make concessions. Paul III did not want such a turn of events. To prevent this situation, he decided to deprive Charles V of his military assistance and withdrew his troops from Germany and ceased financial support for the imperial troops. The meeting place of the cathedral was moved to Bologna . But not all of its participants agreed with this decision. A situation arose when part of the cathedral sat in Trento, and part was in Bologna. At the same time, both the one and the other part were inactive.

But in 1549, Pope Paul III died. The new pontiff was Julius III . The emperor demanded the resumption of the meetings of the cathedral. This was done in May 1551, and in April 1552 the cathedral ceased to function again. In January 1562, the Council of Trent again began to work. Now it was a question of restoring the papacy in the spirit of the “true principles of Catholicism” as a single religion. There was no question of any concessions to the Protestants.

In all Catholic countries, the Trent Confession of Faith was to be accepted: all clergy and university professors were required to take the oath. It was said that the one who brings it fully adheres to the Catholic religion, its interpretation of the Holy Scriptures and other sacred texts, its sacraments and rites are recognized in their entirety as the only true ones.

Decisions of the Council of Trent

The decisions of the council spoke of the function of the church as a mediator in achieving salvation. Faith, good deeds and the mediation of the church, this is the path to salvation was postulated at the Council of Trent. The firmness of the church hierarchy, sacraments and traditions was confirmed. The Council of Trent in the first period of its meetings confirmed the scholastic teaching of the Middle Ages on justification and, thus, finally broke the bridge between Catholics and Protestants. It was enshrined that Holy Tradition is also a source of faith, which the Protestants denied. All this meant that the break of Catholicism with Protestantism was final.

Because of the reform movement of the Catholic Church, it was necessary to unite. But at that time the national churches were already quite strong, wishing to limit the power of the papacy, to put decisions of councils above its decisions. But the cathedral considered that the only force capable of uniting the church was precisely the papacy. Therefore, the Council of Trent secured the supremacy of power of the pontiffs. “The criterion of fidelity to the church was fidelity to the papacy” ^[1] .

Among the decisions of the council were points important in terms of reforming the church. So, once a year in the dioceses and every three years in the provinces synods were to be held. Measures were put in place to curb abuses that undermined the authority of the church — trading in church posts, extortion, concentrating several beneficiaries in the same hands, and the presence on the church posts of people who were not ordained. The role of confession and other church sacraments was emphasized. The inadmissibility of trade in indulgences was recognized. Another important decision of the council was the decision to create, if possible, seminaries in each diocese, in which priests would study. Education was supposed to follow the reformist type. Thus, the basis was prepared for the renewal of morals both among the clergy and among the laity whom the Catholic Church would lead.

The decisions of the cathedral were not immediately implemented. National churches did not want to accept the pope's right to appoint and remove church ministers in all countries. Under Pope Gregory XIII, permanent nunciatures (diplomatic missions) were established at the courts of European monarchs.

The Jesuits created their own educational institutions with the aim of educating in the spirit of renewed Catholicism. Emperor Ferdinand I created universities in Vienna and Prague . If the Protestants provided the princes who converted to their faith, the opportunity to unite in their hands both secular and religious power, then the Counter-Reformation provided the same opportunity. “With the consent of the pope, even in alliance with him, they could retain their acquisitions, and their influence in the Catholic Church grew (with the formation of a close union of secular authorities and the pope)” ^[7] . This decision was due to the fact that the ruler in matters of faith in most cases was followed by the nobility. Thus, in order not to lose authority and increase influence, the church needed to give greater freedom to secular power.

The union of the spiritual and secular authorities also implied the strengthening of the influence of state interests on the election of popes. In the middle of the 16th century, the right of “state veto” appeared. The cardinals, representatives of one country or another, were the agents of the will of the state; they put forward, instead of the unwanted secular authority, a candidate for the papal throne, another one pleasing to them. Emperor Charles V first instructed the cardinals of the empire to vote for. The Habsburgs of both branches made the veto right their customary right. Later, other European monarchs also used it.

Strengthening Papal Authority

Pope Pius V (1566-1572) began to implement the reforms of the Council of Trent. He fought against nepotism, trade in posts. Under him, the Congregation of the Council was formed, which monitored the correct interpretation of the decisions of the Council of Trent. In 1566, the “Roman Catechism” was published for the clergy, and in 1568 the “Roman Psalter” was reformed. Such measures were designed to strengthen the unity of faith among the clergy and among the laity. The final formation of a single Roman prayer ritual was enshrined on July 14, 1570 by the bull “Quo primum”, which required the mandatory use of the then published “Roman prayer book” in the Catholic Church ^[7] .

During the years of pontificate Gregory XIII, a calendar reform was carried out. Even at the Council of Trent, the question arose of bringing the year of the Julian calendar into correspondence with the astronomical year. It was decided that October 4, 1582 will follow October 15. At first, this decision was approved in the Catholic states, the Protestant states adopted it 100 years later, and Greece and Russia , where Orthodoxy dominated, switched to this calendar only at the beginning of the 20th century.

In addition, several church universities were created under Gregory XIII. So, the Gregorian University was founded in Rome, in 1569 the German College ("Germanicum") was reorganized, the Greek College ("Grecoorum") was opened in 1577 for the Greeks and Armenians, in 1579 - the English College, later - Scottish, Irish and others. The priests who studied there had to not only become a pillar of the renewed church, but also be prepared to face the difficulties that would inevitably appear in countries where Catholicism and Protestantism coexisted. However, under Gregory XIII nepotism revived again, which they tried to fight against before.

Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) struggled with these phenomena. He also "was the creator of the administration of the Church state and the new, modern system of unified management of the church" ^[7] . The power of the pope increased, but the role of the college of cardinals did not become insignificant. Inside it, according to the bull “Immensa aerteni Dei” of January 22, 1588, various special congregations appeared. “They took over most of the functions of the former central papal institutions.” ^[7] Of the 15 congregations, 10 were part of a unified system of church administration, and 5 were governing bodies of the Papal state. Cardinals were equated in status and power with secular princes, they themselves became princes of the church. The reform carried out under Sixtus V strengthened the centralization of power in the church and made the popes themselves much more influential.

In the possessions of the Habsburgs, in the High German principalities, the Catholic restoration was one of the forces that strengthened the power of secular rulers. Also, the monarchies in Spain, Portugal, the principalities of southern Germany and Italy saw a positive force in the Counter-Reformation. In England, France - on the contrary, it supported the Catholic party opposed to the government.

The church supported the beginnings of European monarchs against the Protestants. So, Pope Pius V supported the Duke of Alba in the Netherlands , provided troops to the French King Charles IX , and also allowed him to sell part of the church property and put this money into the war with the Protestants. Pope Gregory XIII has long wanted to start a struggle with England , where there were many Protestants. To this end, he secured the support (including military) of the monarchs of Spain and France . It was decided that it was best to start the struggle with England in Ireland , which was under her control. The detachment was sent to Ireland, but was defeated by the superior British forces. Sixtus V excommunicated the Protestant heir to the French throne, Heinrich of Navarre, from the church. This excommunication was removed only in 1595 by another pontiff.

As a result of the Catholic reform, the Church underwent administrative changes that strengthened its position. The centralization of power in the hands of the pope, the emergence of seminaries and educational institutions of a new type and, as a result, the renewal of the clergy, the struggle against the obvious shortcomings that many have long been paying attention to, have helped the Catholic Church to correspond to the era.

• Reformation in Italy

• The Catholic Counter-Reformation in the 21st Century