Counter-Reformation

The Battle of Lepanto
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
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 14th, 15th and 16th centuries saw a spiritual revival in Europe, in which the question of salvation became central. This became known as the Catholic Reformation. Several theologians harked back to the early days of Christianity and questioned their spirituality. Their debates expanded across the whole of Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, whilst secular critics also examined religious practice, clerical behavior and the Church's positions. Several varied currents of thought were active, but the ideas of reform and renewal were led by the clergy. The reforms decreed at Lateran V (1512-1517) had only a small effect. Some positions got further and further from the church's official positions, leading to the break with Rome and the formation of Protestant churches. Even so, conservative and reforming parties still survived within the Catholic Church even as the Protestant Reformation spread. The Protestant Church decisively broke from the Catholic Church in the 1520s. The two distinct dogmatic positions within the Catholic Church solidified in the 1560s. The Catholic Reformation became known as the Counter-Reformation, defined as a reaction to Protestantism rather than as a reform movement.

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