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Counter Reformation Research Paper

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The beginning of the 16th century brought with it the Reformation. The Catholic Church became challenged by Martin Luther and John Calvin. With nailing of the 95 theses on the Church doors, Luther began the Protestant Reformation. The counter-reformation was introduced in Europe to weaken the Protestant Reformation and rebuild the power of the Catholic Church through education, clergy reform, and spreading of the Catholic faith. In order for the Roman Catholic Church to regain its power, the R.C.C. had created laws for priests with the help of the Council of Trent and Loyola. Additionally, Catholic Priests had to be educated in theology. With the Jesuits traveling throughout Europe and foreign lands, they were spreading the ideas of the Catholic …show more content…

Luther states in his 95 theses #21 , “Therefore those preachers of indulgences are in error, who say that by the pope's indulgences a man is freed from every penalty, and saved;” and #27 “They preach man who say that so soon as the penny jingles into the money-box, the soul flies out [of purgatory].” Here, Luther asserts that the Church has no real power over the souls of the dead in purgatory. Indulgences were highly criticized by many, since they served no real purpose, other than making more profit for the church. (s: i cleaned up this sentence jsyk) According to Document #5 “In granting them, however, moderation must be observed; The abuses which have caused Indulgences to be the target of blaspheming heretics must be amended and corrected, and all evil gains for the obtaining thereof,-be wholly abolished.” The excerpt depicts how the church acknowledges Luther through the creation of new laws by the Council of Trent that made selling indulgences for personal gain illegal. With Ignatius Loyola, the R.C.C. made new rules that corrupt priests had to follow. According to Document #2 it states, “We must praise highly religious life,virginity, and contingency.” Catholic priests were accused of gambling, drinking, and having sex. Priests that broke these rules risked punishment by excommunication, or even death. After addressing the internal problems of the Catholic Church, the Counter Reformation began to build back the power of the

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The Counter-Reformation was a movement set by the Catholic Church in order to remove Protestance, in turn hoping to stop the Protestant movement from continuing forth and allowing the strength of the Catholic Church to be restored to it natural state. This lead to many religious groups in Europe conflicting with one another as well as a rise of anti-semitic groups uproaring. Religious art played into this due to a reinforcement of ideological claims, many Protestant artists would show destruction of religious imagery within their artwork. Pope Julius ll affect the course of art in the 16th century due to several things he did.

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The beginning of the 16th century brought with it the Reformation. The Catholic Church became challenged by Martin Luther and John Calvin. With nailing of the 95 theses on the Church doors, Luther began the Protestant Reformation. The counter-reformation was introduced in Europe to weaken the Protestant Reformation and rebuild the power of the Catholic Church through education, clergy reform, and spreading of the Catholic faith. The counter-reformation can be additionally seen as a political movement because of the loss in revenue in the Baltic provinces.

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The sale of indulgences was the Church saying that if the people paid the Church the pope and God would forgive their sins and they would be able to go to heaven. John Tetzel was the main man who was in charge of the sales. In document 2 Excerpt from Sermon, John Tetzel said that people are sinners and the only way they could get into heaven was if they bought these indulgences and salvation. This was an investment for the Church and used as persuasion to get the people to pay them more money. Martin Luther on the other hand did not agree with the sale of indulgences, so he protested the Church and spread his ideas of what the Church should be.

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These ideas prompted many Catholics into finally correcting the church themselves and seeking Reformation. Martin Luther became the leading figure of the Reformation because he had openly challenged the authority of the Pope and attacked the practice of indulgences in his “Ninety-Five Theses” letter. Several other prominent Theologians such as John Calvin and Huldrych Zwingli seized upon Luther’s beliefs and Reformation swept across 16th century Europe, leading eventually to

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