The Counter Reformation In Europe

Modern scholarship has effectively demonstrated that, far from being a knee-jerk reaction to the challenges of Protestantism, the Catholic Reformation of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was fuelled primarily by a desire within the Church to reform its medieval legacy and to re-enthuse its institutions with a sense of religious zeal. In many ways, both the Protestant and Catholic Reformations were inspired by the same humanist ideals and though ultimately expressed in different ways, the origins of both movements can be traced back to the patristic revival of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that many contemporaries, and subsequent historians, came to view the Catholic Reformation as an attempt to challenge the Protestants and to cut the ground from beneath their feet. In this new revised edition of Dr Wright's groundbreaking study of the Counter-Reformation, the wide panoply of the Catholic Reformation is spread out and analysed within the political, religious, philosophical, scientific and cultural context of late medieval and early modern Europe. In so doing, this book provides a fascinating guide to the many doctrinal and interrelated social issues involved in the wholesale restructuring of religion that took place both within Western Europe and overseas.

A competent Catholic scholar carries on an objective study of the determined efforts of the Catholic Church to reform itself, to stem the advances of Protestantism, and if possible to recover the lands lost to heresy in the earlier 16th century.

The role of religion was of paramount importance in the change of attitudes and approaches to health care and charity which took place in the centuries following the Council of Trent. Health Care and Poor Relief in Counter-Reformation Europe, examines the effects of the Counter-Reformation on health care and poor relief in Southern Catholic Europe in the period between 1540 and 1700. As well as a comprehensive introduction discussing issues of the nature of the Catholic or Counter-Reformation and the welfare provisions of the period, Health Care and Poor Relief sets the period in its social, economic, religious and ideological context. The book draws on the practices in different localities in Southern Europe, ranging from the Republic of Venice and the Kingdom of Naples to Germany and Austria. These examples establish how and why a revitalised and strenghtened post-Tridentine Catholic church managed to reshape and reinvigorate welfare provisions in Southern Europe.

The reform of the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century was historically as important as the contemporary Protestant Reformation. Though never committed solely to fighting Protestantism, it inevitably also became a Counter Reformation, since it soon faced the threat created by Luther and his successors. The century between the career of Ignatius Loyola and that of Vincent de Paul became a classic age of Catholicism. The lives of its saints, popes and secular champions could hardly be made more fascinating by any novelist. While paying due attention to the great characters, the author also considers the broader political, social and cultural features of the Counter Reformation. A.G. Dickens is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of London.

This examines the effects of the Counter- Reformation on health care and poor relief in Southern Catholic Europe in the period between 1540 and 1700.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VII. THE COUNTER-REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. The Bull of Deposition of Elizabeth issued by Pius V.--The truce between Protestants and Romanists not broken for some time after its publication--The celebrated Cardinal Allen the breaker of the truce--A description of his career, including an account of his seminary at Douai--The object of that seminary the training of priests for the conversion of England--Description of the training-- Severe Act caused by the Bull of Deposition--A description of the spy system for the discovery of the agents of Rome--The means employed to elude the vigilance of the spies--The Jesuits afterwards engaged to assist the seminary priests--The Jesuits not at first numerous--Description of Parsons and Campian, and of their work in England--Severe measures of government--Description of the torture system--Severe Act against Romanists--The capture and death of Campian--Inquiry into the justice of the punishments inflicted--The raid on England a failure, and injurious to Romanism --Allen's political designs--Gregory XIII., Sixtus V. and Cardinal Allen at length successful in inducing Philip to undertake the invasion of England--Their original letters to him--Preparations for the Armada, and the sailing of it--Enthusiasm excited amcng the Spaniards and English--The country long warned of it--False economy of Elizabeth--Defeat of the Armada, and subsequ* dispersion by the storm--Reflections upon it PIUS V. had, as we have seen, carried on with great energy his war against the Reformers. In 1569 the triumph of the Counter-Reformation seemed to be near at hand. Pius saw at this time only one Power in Europe--England--which stood in the way of the complete success of the Papacy. He determined to strike a blow at her...