CounterReformation Or Catholic Reformation Which Term Do

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