Counter-Reformation

Counter-Reformation. The revival of the RC Church in Europe, usually considered as extending from the middle of the 16th cent. to the period of the Thirty Years' War (1618–48). Though stimulated by Protestant opposition, reform movements within the RC Church had begun almost simultaneously with the Lutheran schism. The new religious orders of the 1520s (Capuchins, Theatines, Barnabites) preceded the foundation of the Jesuits, who soon became the spearhead of the movement both within Europe and as a missionary force in America and the East. The definitions of doctrine and various internal reforms accomplished in the last session of the Council of Trent (1562–3) sealed the triumph of the Papacy both over those Catholics who wished for conciliation with the Protestants and over those French and Spanish bishops who had opposed Papal claims. The Popes of the later 16th cent. took advantage of the peace in Italy to improve discipline within the Curia and among the episcopate. Spain under Philip II constituted itself the secular arm of the Counter-Reformation, while the spiritual qualities of the Spanish mystics, the skilful manipulation of the machinery of the Empire, and the conversion of several important princes were among the factors making for success in the late 16th and early 17th cents. Within Europe the greatest triumph of the movement was the reconquest to the Roman obedience of S. Germany and Poland.