The Battle of Lepanto | |
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Artist | Paolo Veronese |
Year | 1571 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 169 cm × 137 cm (67 in × 54 in) |
Location | Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, Italy |
The Last Judgment | |
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Artist | Michelangelo |
Year | 1537–1541 |
Type | Fresco |
Dimensions | 1370 cm × 1200 cm (539.3 in × 472.4 in) |
Location | Sistine Chapel, Vatican City |
The Counter-Reformation (Latin: Contrareformatio), also called the Catholic Reformation (Latin: Reformatio Catholica) or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation, beginning with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War (1648). The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort composed of four major elements:
Such reforms included the foundation of seminaries for the proper training of priests in the spiritual life and the theological traditions of the Church, the reform of religious life by returning orders to their spiritual foundations, and new spiritual movements focusing on the devotional life and a personal relationship with Christ, including the Spanish mystics and the French school of spirituality.
It also involved political activities that included the Roman Inquisition. One primary emphasis of the Counter-Reformation was a mission to reach parts of the world that had been colonized as predominantly Catholic and also try to reconvert areas such as Sweden and England that were at one time Catholic, but had been Protestantized during the Reformation.
The impact of the Counter-Reformation may be seen as continuing in the Catholic Church right up to the Second Vatican Council of Bishops in 1962. One of the "most dramatic moments" at that Council was the intervention of when, during the debate on the nature of the Church, he called for an end to the "triumphalism, clericalism, and legalism" that had typified the Church in the previous centuries.