A History of Modern Europe - From the Renaissance to the Present

116 Ch. 3 • The Two Reformations

Loyola’s military-style leadership, the Jesuits, as the orders members
became known, grew rapidly in number and influence as aggressive cru­
saders for the Catholic Reformation.

The Jesuit order provided a model for Church organization, orthodoxy,
and discipline. Jesuits underwent a program of rigorous training and took a
special oath of allegiance to the pope. They combined the study of Thomas
a Kempis’s mystical Imitation of Christ (1418) and Loyola’s own intense
devotional reflections.
When Loyola died in 1556, there were more than a thousand Jesuits.
Counselors to kings and princes and educators of the Catholic elite, the
Jesuit religious order contributed greatly to the success of the Catholic
Reformation in Austria, Bavaria, and the Rhineland. Jesuits also contributed
to the Church’s reconquest of Poland, where religious toleration had been
proclaimed in 1573 and some landowners had converted to Calvinism. In
the service of the Catholic Reformation, Jesuits began to travel to North
America, Latin America, and Asia, eventually establishing a presence even in
the court of the Chinese emperors. They led “missions,” delivering fire-and­
brimstone sermons, which were aimed at rekindling loyalty to the Church.

The Council of Trent

In 1545, at the insistence of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Pope Paul

III convoked the Council of Trent (1545—1563) to assess the condition of

the Catholic Church and to define its doctrines. While such an internal

reckoning had seemed inevitable for some time, the papacy had long

viewed conciliarism as a potential threat to its authority and invoked every

possible reason for delay. Once convened, the Council of Trent, which met

off and on for eighteen years, made the split within Western Christendom

irreparable. Most of the prelates who came to the Alpine town of Trent

believed the central goal of the council was a blanket condemnation of

what the Church viewed as heresy, as well as the reaffirmation of theologi­

cal doctrine. Although the pope himself never went to Trent, the Italian

delegates dominated the proceedings, coughing and sneezing during

speeches with which they disagreed.

The council rejected point after point of reformed doctrine, declaring

such positions “to be anathema.” It reaffirmed the authority of the pope

and of the bishops, the seven sacraments, and the presence of Christ in the

Eucharist. It also unequivocally opposed the marriage of clerics and reaf­

firmed belief in Purgatory and in the redeeming power of indulgences,

although the practice of selling them was abolished.

In 1562, Pope Pius IV (pope 1559-1565) convoked the last session of

the Council of Trent. The council ordained the creation of seminaries in

each diocese to increase the number and quality of priests. The priests

were henceforth to keep parish registers listing the births, baptisms, and