The Catholic Church During The Early 16th Century
The Catholic Church during the early 16th Century was rooted throughout Europe. The Church influenced every country and its respective monarchs through the Church’s wealth and power. The Catholic Church placed a tight hold on the general populace with individuals who went against the Church being branded as heretics and excommunicated. The wealth and power of the Church eventually caused the quality of the clergy to deteriorate. Priests became corrupt and subjected to their physical desires. They frequented taverns, gambled and kept mistresses. The reputation of the clergy were horrid as the general populace was relieved that “their priest [kept] a mistress” because it “[secured] their wives from seduction” The knowledge of the clergy degenerated
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as well as they were no longer required to learn and teach the Holy Scriptures because the Church dictated their actions. The pinnacle of the Church’s corruption was the sale of indulgences. An indulgence was the “extra-sacramental remission of the temporal punishment” sold by priests as a temporary relief from sins. The indulgences were then sold to the general populace for money as the monetization of a priest’s services. Johannes Tetzel was a prominent preacher of indulgences who relied on the money from the sales to subsidize the rebuilding of St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. The corrupt sales did not go unnoticed as Martin Luther, in an effort to stop the corruption of the Church, posted the 95 Theses on the door of a Castle Church in Wittenberg which started the Protestant Reformation. The Roman Catholic Church attempts to counter act the growth of the Protestant Reformation by initiating the Counter Reformation. The goals of the Counter Reformation were to reverse the Protestant Reformation and to remove Protestant ideas. The Council of Trent and the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, were organized attempts from the Church to achieve these goals. The two bodies differed in methods of operations and achieved different results. Even though the Council of Trent was able to initiate the Counter Reformation, the Jesuits were the core to the success of the Reformation. The essay answered the following research question: To what extent were the reforms made by the Council of Trent effective compared to the movements made by the Jesuits during the Counter Reformation?
The Council of Trent and the Jesuits were formed by the Roman Catholic Church because the Church recognized the threat that the Protestant Reformation posed on Catholicism. The spread of Protestant ideas from Germany to Europe was so great that it warranted a strong response from the Roman Catholic Church.
Martin Luther, who was ordained as a priest, published the 95 Theses in Wittenberg, Germany. The document was directed towards the sale of indulgences and the position of the Pope in the Catholic Church. Specifically Clause 32 stated that “all those who believe themselves certain of their own salvation by means of letters of indulgence, will be eternally dammed.” Martin Luther also wished to limit the power of the pope when he stated that the “pope himself cannot remit guilt, but only declare and confirm that it has been remitted by God.” The spread of Martin Luther’s document warranted an early response from the Church. Pope Leo X (1513-1521) issued a papal bull “Condemning the Errors of Martin Luther” on June 15, 1520. The bull accused Martin of “adding evil to evil,” and promised to “banish all heresies from the lands of the faithful.” However, Martin Luther “[,] in the presence of a crowd of students and teachers from the university [,] committed to the flames both the bull itself and the canon law.” With this stunt, Martin Luther demonstrated his complete detraction from the Roman Catholic Church. His next …show more content…
action was to translate the New Testament and the Old Testament into German in 1522 and 1534. With Martin Luther’s translations, every German Christian were able to interpret the Bible for themselves. Therefore, Martin Luther’s teachings were able to spread from Germany. Huldyrch Zwingli was a reformer in Switzerland who combated the Catholic Church mainly in Zurich. Similar to Martin Luther, he removed the barrier between God and priests by “[preaching the Gospel] directly and in terms [the general populace] could understand.” With Zwingli’s efforts, the mass was abolished on April 12th 1525 and the city council of Zurich was able to remove Catholic influence. Along with Switzerland and German’s detachment from the Catholic Church, Denmark and Norway also embraced ideas contrary to the Church. Christian II (1513-1523), Denmark’s monarchy, had control over the state’s religion and “intended to control and reform the church.” Denmark had a foul relationship with Spain and thus wished to reduce Spain’s influence by protecting the spread of Lutheranism in the area and strip away the Catholic Church. The spread of Lutheranism in the area was encouraged and Frederick I (1523-1533) adopted a policy of “protecting Lutheran preacher and reformers.” The Protestant Reformation was also present in Scotland due to Christian II’s influence in the region. In England, Catholicism was being forced out due to political reasons as well. King Henry VIII (1509-1547) was unable to obtain a male heir from his wife Catherine of Aragon and thus appealed to Pope Clement VII (1523-1534) for a divorce. Pope Clement VII refused and excommunicated Henry VIII. However, in an act to gain political power, Henry VIII removed the Catholic Church, set up the Anglican Church and became the “Protector and Only Supreme Head of the Church and Clergy of England.” Henry’s ploy for power paved the way for Protestant ideas to seep in England. Henry’s influence extended from Englan d towards Scotland and Ireland where Catholicism was being pushed out. The Protestant Reformation was widely successful as it was able to take control of the most of Northern Europe. Although Protestant ideas were unable to take root in Southern Europe, the Church and Spain’s monarch, Charles V, recognized the threat that the Protestant Reformation posed on Catholicism. The Church’s slow initial response against the Protestant Reformation caused it to take root in numerous parts of Northern Europe. Catholicism was still able to maintain a strong foothold in Spain and France but lost most of its ground in Northern Europe. The Protestant Reformation was on the Church’s doorsteps and the Church was pressured to put forth a response to combat the threat. Therefore, the Church initiated the Counter Reformation to regain the Church’s power in Europe and extend its influence beyond Europe. The Jesuits and the Council of Trent were formed to achieve the goal of the Counter Reformation.
During the Counter Reformation, a glaring problem arose in the Council of Trent that was not present in the Jesuits. Pope Paul III (1534-1549) was faced with numerous difficulties in his attempts to open the council of Trent which delayed the first session by many years. The Church was demoralized at the success of the Protestant Reformation and many “believed that the chances of its accomplishing a reconciliation were virtually nil.” Paul III also had to deal with political factors that threatened the existence of the Council of Trent. Paul III’s goal to “effect peace among Christian princes” failed as the animosity between Charles V, the King of Spain, and Francis I, the King of France broke out into war. Charles V was unwilling to send Bishops from the Empire to the Council due to the war. The Council of Trent, at the Church’s direst moment, was delayed time and time again. It proved to be unreliable due to numerous factors delaying its opening. Paul III was forced to rely on other organization free from politics to start the Counter Reformation. The Jesuits, was one such organization. On September 27th 1540, Paul III issued a bull that “approve, confirm, bless and fortify with a bulwark of everlasting power the whole and every part of the [Jesuits]” on. This single act from the Pope allowed the Jesuits to gain power and permission to carry out its goal. Whereas the first session of the Council of Trent began on 1545, the Jesuits were able to spring forth the Counter Reformation 5 years before the Council. Unlike the Council of Trent, the Jesuits were free from political influence and acted only under the Catholic Church. The swiftness of the Jesuits played a major role in the Counter Reformation as they were able to spread themselves throughout Europe and outside it as well. The Jesuits became the cornerstone of the Counter Reformation which was later taken advantage of by the Council of Trent. The weakness of the Council of Trent was shown through its delays to act compared to the swift and decisive actions by the Jesuits.
The Council of Trent was formed by Pope Paul III after numerous years of struggle to form it. The Council of Trent was be one of the Church’s strongest front with most of the Bishops of the Catholic Church congregating in the city. The entire Council started with its first session on December 13th 1545 to the 25th session on December 4th 1563 with two long breaks. Therefore the Council of Trent could be split into three periods. The first period lasting from 1545 to 1547, the second period starting from 1551 to 1552 and the last period starting from 1562 and 1563. Each three periods resulted in a significant change in the Catholic Church and had a lasting impact on the future developments of the Catholic Church.
The first period (1545-1547) composed of seven sessions and focused on establishing the Church’s interpretation of the Bible. The Council of Trent’s first order of business was not to address the concerns put forth by Martin Luther but to focus on previously established systems. The Council of Trent put forth a decree on the concept of the Original Sin, which describes Adam and Eve, and established new beliefs that Christians must follow or be deemed heretical. One such statement of the declaration was as follows “If anyone asserts that the transgression of Adam injured him alone, but not sin also, which is the death of the soul, let him be anathema.” The declaration was already made eons ago in the Bible verse Roman 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” The Church’s actions was puzzling as the Decree Concerning Original Sin was based on previously established knowledge, the Bible. Instead of addressing the corruption of the clergy, the Council of Trent placed its emphasis on the Bible. Therefore, it could be said that the Church wished to establish its own position and threaten the Protestant Church by branding them as heretical. Session Four (April 8th 1546) was one of the most sessions of the Council of Trent. From the session came forth the “Decree Concerning The Canonical Scriptures”. The decree’s goal was to declare numerous texts as Canonical or “being officially sanctioned in the Bible”. However, the sanctioned texts were considered as “Apocrypha”, texts which were not part of the Bible and hidden away. By doing so, the Catholic Church wished to cause a distinction between Protestant ideas which did not include Apocryphal texts. The texts, which were originally rejected when the “Bible was translated into Latin in 450CE” were accepted by the Council of Trent as Canonical through the Holy Ghost’s dictation and “transmitted [from the Holy Ghost] as it were from hand to hand.” Protestant beliefs was based on the Bible, and the Church’s decision to combat it was to add texts rejected by original translator and the Protestant church. It seemed evident that the Council do not wish to reconcile with the Protestant Church in any way but be as distinct as possible. The initial efforts of the Council of Trent did not serve the purpose of the Counter Reformation as it did not serve to achieve the Church’s goal of eliminating the growth and threat of Protestant Reformation. The Council of Trent, with these decrees, focused on long term efforts but placed itself in a vulnerable spot. Had there not been other organizations slowing down the Protestant Reformation, the Council of Trent would be useless. The Council of Trent’s actions were decisive but slow and required others to implement. With the first period coming to an end, the second period commenced on October 11th 1551.
The second period of the Council of Trent (1551-1552) began with the first session with the first session under Supreme Pontiff Julius III (1550-1555) on October 15th 1551. The Council followed up from the first Period by publishing a decree called “Concerning the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist." The Eucharist was a Christian tradition of feasting as a memoir of the Last Supper where “under the appearances of bread and wine, the Lord Christ is contained, offered and received.” Again the Council focused on addressing existing traditions and placed strict guidelines on its followers. The Council was placing a rigid rule set for Catholics to follow and used God as an excuse for doing so. The Council of Trent used God to increase its credibility to alter traditional practices. One such Canon states that whomsoever “says that faith alone is a sufficient preparation for receiving the sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist, let him be anathema.” The Canon was directed at many Protestant movements at Europe where Protestant priests preferred to have the general populace to interpret the Bible on their own. The Council wished to continue having their clergy as a barrier between the general populace and God so as to control the flow of information. The Council of Trent was still unable to make a lasting impact in countering the Protestant Reformation and served as a measure to prevent further Catholics being converted. The first two periods of the Council of Trent was largely unsuccessful in dealing with the Protestant threat immediately but was focused on long term prospects. So far, the efforts by the Council of Trent failed to slow down the Protestant Reformation and placed its efforts on changing the Church instead. The Council of Trent continued on 1562 to 1563.
Under Pius IV (1559-1565), the last period of the Council of Trent began on May 14th 1562. The last Council was extremely crucial to the Counter Reformation as due to the list of banned books. “Ten Rules Concerning Prohibited Books [were] Drawn Up By The Fathers Chosen By The Council of Trent and Approved By Pope Pius” were the Catholic Church’s attempt of censorship and the control of the flow of information in the general populace. “Books of those who have been the heads or leaders of heretics are absolutely forbidden”. The rule obviously prevent the populace from possessing books belonging to factions opposed to the church thus limiting the scope of the Protestant reformation. The Council of Trent decreed that the translations of the Old Testaments be only available to “learned and pious men”. Booksellers were unable to sell the translated Bibles for profit and were penalized for doing so. The goal was to disallow the general populace to form their own interpretations of the Bible and potentially break away from the Catholic Church. In addition, the Church wished to preach the Bible through the clergy as the Church was be able control the flow of information. The Council of Trent was so adamant to limit the flow of information that it banned the translations of the Bible even though the Council’s previous decrees were based on the teachings of the Bible. The ten rules showed the emphasis placed on censorship by the Council of Trent. The Council never intended to drastically reform in response to the Protestant Reformation, they intended to gain as much control and stop the spread of the Protestant Reformation through censorship. The rules ties in with previous efforts by the Council of Trent as the decrees prevent any flexibility in beliefs or be deemed as heretic. The acceptance of the Apocryphal texts was the Church’s attempt to distinguish itself from other teachings and a way to prevent further conversion by forcing Catholics to accept the texts. The Council of Trent’s contribution to the Counter Reformation was crucial as it aimed for the Catholic Church remaining as a dominant force after stabilizing the Protestant Reformation. However, the Council by itself were unable to stop the Protestant Reformation as it focused on long term efforts. The Council of Trent would have been a failure if not for other organizations, particularly the Jesuits, to spearhead the Counter Reformation. Therefore, the Council of Trent was not be able to be a success if not for the existence of the Jesuits.
The Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, were an organization created by Ignatius Loyola.
Ignatius Loyola was initially trained to be a soldier but had his right leg destroyed. He then focused on studies to find the “precise form of his service” to God. His studies lead him to find like-minded individuals which later caused him to create a new religious organizations. The Jesuits were formed to protect the Catholic Church and recover the ground lost to the Protestant Reformation. Subsequently, Pope Paul III, in a papal bull, officially recognized the Jesuits on September 27th 1540 which allowed the Jesuits to act formally with the blessing of the Catholic Church. The members of the Jesuits were accepted from “very high requirements for admission and the rigorous training” thus they were competent individuals to carry out the Jesuits’ goal. The purpose of the Jesuits was to “reach and convert the masses of people who had strayed from the church” which later evolved into spreading Catholicism as much as possible. The success of the Jesuits could be seen in the conversion of non-Christians in new countries discovered by Europe. One such individual, Francis Xavier, was sent to Goa to begin his work of conversion. He then traveled “over sixty-two thousand miles”, from India, Japan but stopped short in China. His focused on mass conversions, “on occasion baptizing hundreds of people at a time or giving the sacrament to whole villages.” Other Jesuits carried on his work on China,
eventually causing the region to have “about twenty-five hundred Christians.” The Jesuits then set their sights on the New World under the Spanish monarchy, where they were highly successful in converting the Indians into Christendom. The Jesuits acted similarly as they did in other counties where they “studied the native languages, observed the local customs and adapt their methods to the character and needs of the people among whom they labored.” The Jesuits’ conversion spanned a significant portion of the globe which allowed the Church to become not only a dominant force in Europe in the future but also the world. Their actions allowed the Counter Reformation to make serious headway.
If the Council of Trent was the shield of the Counter Reformation, then the Jesuits was be its sword. The decrees and canons put forth by the Council of Trent was spread and put into practice by the Jesuit order. The Catholic Church itself “entrusted the defence of their own challenged authority and the undiminished preservation of their ancient faith” which gave the Jesuits enormous power. The censorship of the Catholic Church in its most significant form was the “Index Librorum Prohibitorum” , a list of texts deemed heretical by the Catholic Church. It was published in 1559 by Pope Paul VI where “numerous editions of the Bible and various other texts” were prohibited. The result was “in Rome, Bologna, Naples, Melon, Florence and Venice thousands of books were burned, ten thousand in Venice a single day.” The censorship of information could not have been done without the efforts of the Jesuits and the Roman Inquisition. The Roman Inquisition is an organization established by Pope Paul III in an effort to quell heretics. Suspects of heretics were immediately jailed and killed. With the help of the Jesuits, the Inquisition “acquired such reputation that from no other such judgement seat on Earth, were more horrible and fearful sentences to be expected.” The power of the Jesuits and the Inquisition escalated and was displayed in the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre on August 24th 1572 where “almost 100,100 Protestants were killed.” The Jesuits’ power fueled the goal of the Council of Trent: to eliminate Protestantism. Without the Jesuits, the Catholic Church would never contain Protestant ideas and the Counter Reformation would be deemed a failure. The efforts of the Jesuits forcibly dealt a huge blow on the Protestant Reformation and thus were the core of the Catholic Church’s success in the Counter Reformation.
The Council of Trent and the Jesuit Order were two distinct organizations with the same zealous drive to stop the spread of the Protestant Reformation. Both organizations had their own means to accomplish this goal and achieved different results. However, the two organizations depend on each other as the Jesuits depended on the Council of Trent for power while the Council of Trent needed the manpower of the Jesuits to accomplish its goals. Throughout the Counter Reformation the Jesuits played a crucial role as they were able to spread Catholicism far and wide on Earth and forcefully control the Protestants in Europe. The Council of Trent stayed in the background to establish pre-existing knowledge but its efforts would amount to nothing if not for the efforts of the Jesuits to spread the decrees and Canons. Although the Council of Trent played a crucial role, the Jesuits had an immediate impact in the Counter Reformation and was able cement the Catholic Church’s position well into future. The Catholic Church was saved by the Jesuits and without them, the Church would have been substantially less powerful.
as well as they were no longer required to learn and teach the Holy Scriptures because the Church dictated their actions. The pinnacle of the Church’s corruption was the sale of indulgences. An indulgence was the “extra-sacramental remission of the temporal punishment” sold by priests as a temporary relief from sins. The indulgences were then sold to the general populace for money as the monetization of a priest’s services. Johannes Tetzel was a prominent preacher of indulgences who relied on the money from the sales to subsidize the rebuilding of St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. The corrupt sales did not go unnoticed as Martin Luther, in an effort to stop the corruption of the Church, posted the 95 Theses on the door of a Castle Church in Wittenberg which started the Protestant Reformation. The Roman Catholic Church attempts to counter act the growth of the Protestant Reformation by initiating the Counter Reformation. The goals of the Counter Reformation were to reverse the Protestant Reformation and to remove Protestant ideas. The Council of Trent and the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, were organized attempts from the Church to achieve these goals. The two bodies differed in methods of operations and achieved different results. Even though the Council of Trent was able to initiate the Counter Reformation, the Jesuits were the core to the success of the Reformation. The essay answered the following research question: To what extent were the reforms made by the Council of Trent effective compared to the movements made by the Jesuits during the Counter Reformation?
The Council of Trent and the Jesuits were formed by the Roman Catholic Church because the Church recognized the threat that the Protestant Reformation posed on Catholicism. The spread of Protestant ideas from Germany to Europe was so great that it warranted a strong response from the Roman Catholic Church.
Martin Luther, who was ordained as a priest, published the 95 Theses in Wittenberg, Germany. The document was directed towards the sale of indulgences and the position of the Pope in the Catholic Church. Specifically Clause 32 stated that “all those who believe themselves certain of their own salvation by means of letters of indulgence, will be eternally dammed.” Martin Luther also wished to limit the power of the pope when he stated that the “pope himself cannot remit guilt, but only declare and confirm that it has been remitted by God.” The spread of Martin Luther’s document warranted an early response from the Church. Pope Leo X (1513-1521) issued a papal bull “Condemning the Errors of Martin Luther” on June 15, 1520. The bull accused Martin of “adding evil to evil,” and promised to “banish all heresies from the lands of the faithful.” However, Martin Luther “[,] in the presence of a crowd of students and teachers from the university [,] committed to the flames both the bull itself and the canon law.” With this stunt, Martin Luther demonstrated his complete detraction from the Roman Catholic Church. His next …show more content…
action was to translate the New Testament and the Old Testament into German in 1522 and 1534. With Martin Luther’s translations, every German Christian were able to interpret the Bible for themselves. Therefore, Martin Luther’s teachings were able to spread from Germany. Huldyrch Zwingli was a reformer in Switzerland who combated the Catholic Church mainly in Zurich. Similar to Martin Luther, he removed the barrier between God and priests by “[preaching the Gospel] directly and in terms [the general populace] could understand.” With Zwingli’s efforts, the mass was abolished on April 12th 1525 and the city council of Zurich was able to remove Catholic influence. Along with Switzerland and German’s detachment from the Catholic Church, Denmark and Norway also embraced ideas contrary to the Church. Christian II (1513-1523), Denmark’s monarchy, had control over the state’s religion and “intended to control and reform the church.” Denmark had a foul relationship with Spain and thus wished to reduce Spain’s influence by protecting the spread of Lutheranism in the area and strip away the Catholic Church. The spread of Lutheranism in the area was encouraged and Frederick I (1523-1533) adopted a policy of “protecting Lutheran preacher and reformers.” The Protestant Reformation was also present in Scotland due to Christian II’s influence in the region. In England, Catholicism was being forced out due to political reasons as well. King Henry VIII (1509-1547) was unable to obtain a male heir from his wife Catherine of Aragon and thus appealed to Pope Clement VII (1523-1534) for a divorce. Pope Clement VII refused and excommunicated Henry VIII. However, in an act to gain political power, Henry VIII removed the Catholic Church, set up the Anglican Church and became the “Protector and Only Supreme Head of the Church and Clergy of England.” Henry’s ploy for power paved the way for Protestant ideas to seep in England. Henry’s influence extended from Englan d towards Scotland and Ireland where Catholicism was being pushed out. The Protestant Reformation was widely successful as it was able to take control of the most of Northern Europe. Although Protestant ideas were unable to take root in Southern Europe, the Church and Spain’s monarch, Charles V, recognized the threat that the Protestant Reformation posed on Catholicism. The Church’s slow initial response against the Protestant Reformation caused it to take root in numerous parts of Northern Europe. Catholicism was still able to maintain a strong foothold in Spain and France but lost most of its ground in Northern Europe. The Protestant Reformation was on the Church’s doorsteps and the Church was pressured to put forth a response to combat the threat. Therefore, the Church initiated the Counter Reformation to regain the Church’s power in Europe and extend its influence beyond Europe. The Jesuits and the Council of Trent were formed to achieve the goal of the Counter Reformation.
During the Counter Reformation, a glaring problem arose in the Council of Trent that was not present in the Jesuits. Pope Paul III (1534-1549) was faced with numerous difficulties in his attempts to open the council of Trent which delayed the first session by many years. The Church was demoralized at the success of the Protestant Reformation and many “believed that the chances of its accomplishing a reconciliation were virtually nil.” Paul III also had to deal with political factors that threatened the existence of the Council of Trent. Paul III’s goal to “effect peace among Christian princes” failed as the animosity between Charles V, the King of Spain, and Francis I, the King of France broke out into war. Charles V was unwilling to send Bishops from the Empire to the Council due to the war. The Council of Trent, at the Church’s direst moment, was delayed time and time again. It proved to be unreliable due to numerous factors delaying its opening. Paul III was forced to rely on other organization free from politics to start the Counter Reformation. The Jesuits, was one such organization. On September 27th 1540, Paul III issued a bull that “approve, confirm, bless and fortify with a bulwark of everlasting power the whole and every part of the [Jesuits]” on. This single act from the Pope allowed the Jesuits to gain power and permission to carry out its goal. Whereas the first session of the Council of Trent began on 1545, the Jesuits were able to spring forth the Counter Reformation 5 years before the Council. Unlike the Council of Trent, the Jesuits were free from political influence and acted only under the Catholic Church. The swiftness of the Jesuits played a major role in the Counter Reformation as they were able to spread themselves throughout Europe and outside it as well. The Jesuits became the cornerstone of the Counter Reformation which was later taken advantage of by the Council of Trent. The weakness of the Council of Trent was shown through its delays to act compared to the swift and decisive actions by the Jesuits.
The Council of Trent was formed by Pope Paul III after numerous years of struggle to form it. The Council of Trent was be one of the Church’s strongest front with most of the Bishops of the Catholic Church congregating in the city. The entire Council started with its first session on December 13th 1545 to the 25th session on December 4th 1563 with two long breaks. Therefore the Council of Trent could be split into three periods. The first period lasting from 1545 to 1547, the second period starting from 1551 to 1552 and the last period starting from 1562 and 1563. Each three periods resulted in a significant change in the Catholic Church and had a lasting impact on the future developments of the Catholic Church.
The first period (1545-1547) composed of seven sessions and focused on establishing the Church’s interpretation of the Bible. The Council of Trent’s first order of business was not to address the concerns put forth by Martin Luther but to focus on previously established systems. The Council of Trent put forth a decree on the concept of the Original Sin, which describes Adam and Eve, and established new beliefs that Christians must follow or be deemed heretical. One such statement of the declaration was as follows “If anyone asserts that the transgression of Adam injured him alone, but not sin also, which is the death of the soul, let him be anathema.” The declaration was already made eons ago in the Bible verse Roman 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” The Church’s actions was puzzling as the Decree Concerning Original Sin was based on previously established knowledge, the Bible. Instead of addressing the corruption of the clergy, the Council of Trent placed its emphasis on the Bible. Therefore, it could be said that the Church wished to establish its own position and threaten the Protestant Church by branding them as heretical. Session Four (April 8th 1546) was one of the most sessions of the Council of Trent. From the session came forth the “Decree Concerning The Canonical Scriptures”. The decree’s goal was to declare numerous texts as Canonical or “being officially sanctioned in the Bible”. However, the sanctioned texts were considered as “Apocrypha”, texts which were not part of the Bible and hidden away. By doing so, the Catholic Church wished to cause a distinction between Protestant ideas which did not include Apocryphal texts. The texts, which were originally rejected when the “Bible was translated into Latin in 450CE” were accepted by the Council of Trent as Canonical through the Holy Ghost’s dictation and “transmitted [from the Holy Ghost] as it were from hand to hand.” Protestant beliefs was based on the Bible, and the Church’s decision to combat it was to add texts rejected by original translator and the Protestant church. It seemed evident that the Council do not wish to reconcile with the Protestant Church in any way but be as distinct as possible. The initial efforts of the Council of Trent did not serve the purpose of the Counter Reformation as it did not serve to achieve the Church’s goal of eliminating the growth and threat of Protestant Reformation. The Council of Trent, with these decrees, focused on long term efforts but placed itself in a vulnerable spot. Had there not been other organizations slowing down the Protestant Reformation, the Council of Trent would be useless. The Council of Trent’s actions were decisive but slow and required others to implement. With the first period coming to an end, the second period commenced on October 11th 1551.
The second period of the Council of Trent (1551-1552) began with the first session with the first session under Supreme Pontiff Julius III (1550-1555) on October 15th 1551. The Council followed up from the first Period by publishing a decree called “Concerning the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist." The Eucharist was a Christian tradition of feasting as a memoir of the Last Supper where “under the appearances of bread and wine, the Lord Christ is contained, offered and received.” Again the Council focused on addressing existing traditions and placed strict guidelines on its followers. The Council was placing a rigid rule set for Catholics to follow and used God as an excuse for doing so. The Council of Trent used God to increase its credibility to alter traditional practices. One such Canon states that whomsoever “says that faith alone is a sufficient preparation for receiving the sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist, let him be anathema.” The Canon was directed at many Protestant movements at Europe where Protestant priests preferred to have the general populace to interpret the Bible on their own. The Council wished to continue having their clergy as a barrier between the general populace and God so as to control the flow of information. The Council of Trent was still unable to make a lasting impact in countering the Protestant Reformation and served as a measure to prevent further Catholics being converted. The first two periods of the Council of Trent was largely unsuccessful in dealing with the Protestant threat immediately but was focused on long term prospects. So far, the efforts by the Council of Trent failed to slow down the Protestant Reformation and placed its efforts on changing the Church instead. The Council of Trent continued on 1562 to 1563.
Under Pius IV (1559-1565), the last period of the Council of Trent began on May 14th 1562. The last Council was extremely crucial to the Counter Reformation as due to the list of banned books. “Ten Rules Concerning Prohibited Books [were] Drawn Up By The Fathers Chosen By The Council of Trent and Approved By Pope Pius” were the Catholic Church’s attempt of censorship and the control of the flow of information in the general populace. “Books of those who have been the heads or leaders of heretics are absolutely forbidden”. The rule obviously prevent the populace from possessing books belonging to factions opposed to the church thus limiting the scope of the Protestant reformation. The Council of Trent decreed that the translations of the Old Testaments be only available to “learned and pious men”. Booksellers were unable to sell the translated Bibles for profit and were penalized for doing so. The goal was to disallow the general populace to form their own interpretations of the Bible and potentially break away from the Catholic Church. In addition, the Church wished to preach the Bible through the clergy as the Church was be able control the flow of information. The Council of Trent was so adamant to limit the flow of information that it banned the translations of the Bible even though the Council’s previous decrees were based on the teachings of the Bible. The ten rules showed the emphasis placed on censorship by the Council of Trent. The Council never intended to drastically reform in response to the Protestant Reformation, they intended to gain as much control and stop the spread of the Protestant Reformation through censorship. The rules ties in with previous efforts by the Council of Trent as the decrees prevent any flexibility in beliefs or be deemed as heretic. The acceptance of the Apocryphal texts was the Church’s attempt to distinguish itself from other teachings and a way to prevent further conversion by forcing Catholics to accept the texts. The Council of Trent’s contribution to the Counter Reformation was crucial as it aimed for the Catholic Church remaining as a dominant force after stabilizing the Protestant Reformation. However, the Council by itself were unable to stop the Protestant Reformation as it focused on long term efforts. The Council of Trent would have been a failure if not for other organizations, particularly the Jesuits, to spearhead the Counter Reformation. Therefore, the Council of Trent was not be able to be a success if not for the existence of the Jesuits.
The Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, were an organization created by Ignatius Loyola.
Ignatius Loyola was initially trained to be a soldier but had his right leg destroyed. He then focused on studies to find the “precise form of his service” to God. His studies lead him to find like-minded individuals which later caused him to create a new religious organizations. The Jesuits were formed to protect the Catholic Church and recover the ground lost to the Protestant Reformation. Subsequently, Pope Paul III, in a papal bull, officially recognized the Jesuits on September 27th 1540 which allowed the Jesuits to act formally with the blessing of the Catholic Church. The members of the Jesuits were accepted from “very high requirements for admission and the rigorous training” thus they were competent individuals to carry out the Jesuits’ goal. The purpose of the Jesuits was to “reach and convert the masses of people who had strayed from the church” which later evolved into spreading Catholicism as much as possible. The success of the Jesuits could be seen in the conversion of non-Christians in new countries discovered by Europe. One such individual, Francis Xavier, was sent to Goa to begin his work of conversion. He then traveled “over sixty-two thousand miles”, from India, Japan but stopped short in China. His focused on mass conversions, “on occasion baptizing hundreds of people at a time or giving the sacrament to whole villages.” Other Jesuits carried on his work on China,
eventually causing the region to have “about twenty-five hundred Christians.” The Jesuits then set their sights on the New World under the Spanish monarchy, where they were highly successful in converting the Indians into Christendom. The Jesuits acted similarly as they did in other counties where they “studied the native languages, observed the local customs and adapt their methods to the character and needs of the people among whom they labored.” The Jesuits’ conversion spanned a significant portion of the globe which allowed the Church to become not only a dominant force in Europe in the future but also the world. Their actions allowed the Counter Reformation to make serious headway.
If the Council of Trent was the shield of the Counter Reformation, then the Jesuits was be its sword. The decrees and canons put forth by the Council of Trent was spread and put into practice by the Jesuit order. The Catholic Church itself “entrusted the defence of their own challenged authority and the undiminished preservation of their ancient faith” which gave the Jesuits enormous power. The censorship of the Catholic Church in its most significant form was the “Index Librorum Prohibitorum” , a list of texts deemed heretical by the Catholic Church. It was published in 1559 by Pope Paul VI where “numerous editions of the Bible and various other texts” were prohibited. The result was “in Rome, Bologna, Naples, Melon, Florence and Venice thousands of books were burned, ten thousand in Venice a single day.” The censorship of information could not have been done without the efforts of the Jesuits and the Roman Inquisition. The Roman Inquisition is an organization established by Pope Paul III in an effort to quell heretics. Suspects of heretics were immediately jailed and killed. With the help of the Jesuits, the Inquisition “acquired such reputation that from no other such judgement seat on Earth, were more horrible and fearful sentences to be expected.” The power of the Jesuits and the Inquisition escalated and was displayed in the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre on August 24th 1572 where “almost 100,100 Protestants were killed.” The Jesuits’ power fueled the goal of the Council of Trent: to eliminate Protestantism. Without the Jesuits, the Catholic Church would never contain Protestant ideas and the Counter Reformation would be deemed a failure. The efforts of the Jesuits forcibly dealt a huge blow on the Protestant Reformation and thus were the core of the Catholic Church’s success in the Counter Reformation.
The Council of Trent and the Jesuit Order were two distinct organizations with the same zealous drive to stop the spread of the Protestant Reformation. Both organizations had their own means to accomplish this goal and achieved different results. However, the two organizations depend on each other as the Jesuits depended on the Council of Trent for power while the Council of Trent needed the manpower of the Jesuits to accomplish its goals. Throughout the Counter Reformation the Jesuits played a crucial role as they were able to spread Catholicism far and wide on Earth and forcefully control the Protestants in Europe. The Council of Trent stayed in the background to establish pre-existing knowledge but its efforts would amount to nothing if not for the efforts of the Jesuits to spread the decrees and Canons. Although the Council of Trent played a crucial role, the Jesuits had an immediate impact in the Counter Reformation and was able cement the Catholic Church’s position well into future. The Catholic Church was saved by the Jesuits and without them, the Church would have been substantially less powerful.