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The Refashioning of Catholicism, 1450-1700: A Reassessment of the Counter Reformation

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This is an interesting introduction to an era that traditionally bears the name "Counter Reformation." Bireley, a Jesuit Professor of History at Loyola University of Chicago, argues persuasively in his opening remarks that the term "Counter Reformation" has outlived its usefulness in the study of Catholic history. In fact, he observes, nearly all of what we would call today post-Tridentine reform not only has roots in the fifteenth century but in many cases was in full bloom and inspired the council to do what it did. Trent, in his view of things, was the institutional crest of a wave that had been building for a century. Moreover, Bireley's global view-geographic, political, scientific, theological-invites the reader to view the Church against the backdrop of forces it could not control and critique the many accommodations made by the Church to the world of the seventeenth century.

Why 1450? One reason was geographic exploration. The exploits of DeGama and Columbus reflected a growing sense of the cosmos, later amplified by Galileo and others; a new economic world order, so to speak; and the increasing sense of nationalism and centralization of governments, later abetted by formalized "confessions" of religious doctrine and worship after Luther. Another reason for this new delineation of Catholic epochs was the Renaissance and the humanistic philosophy it nurtured, which the author maintains had significant impact upon many major Catholic leaders of the time, including Ignatius Loyola and Francis de Sales. At the other end of the chronological spectrum, Bireley designates 1700 as a marker because of the impact of Cartesian rationalism upon official Catholic thought in the bigger context of the Enlightenment itself.

Without ignoring the contemporary problems of the "Catholic confession"-papal excesses, poor training of priests, etc.-Bireley is remarkably upbeat about the condition of the Catholic Church at the time of the Reformation and the Council of Trent in the sense that the need for reform was widely recognized and in many places being addressed already. Popular piety throughout Europe was strong in pockets, and the printing press, so often termed a tool of Protestant reformers, was cranking out thousands of copies of "The Imitation of Christ." The author notes that in the late fifteenth century the existing religious orders, or at least many of them, were distinguishing themselves by excellent preaching, pastoral practice, and adaptation.

After 1500, however, the combined challenges of Protestant confessions, humanist demands of higher education, and missionary work, not to mention ecclesiastical reform itself, led to a veritable explosion of new religious orders. Not surprisingly, the Jesuit phenomenon is extensively chronicled. But to his credit, Bireley gives significant attention to Francis de Sales and the Salesian efforts to address the spiritual needs of the new humanized Catholic. Joined with the efforts of the new Capuchins, Ursulines, Oratorians, Hospitalers, Theatines, Oratorians, Visitandines, Piarists, Barnabites, Sulpicians, and the Christian Brothers, to cite several, these movements addressed the above cited needs in ways that have sculpted the Catholic experience to the present day.

It is probably obvious that none of the above named orders is, strictly speaking, contemplative. Bireley contends that the paradigmatic shift in Catholic thinking in this era was toward the world, not away from it. Educators, confessors, and spiritual directors and writers consciously or subconsciously picked up the gauntlet set down by Machiavelli, whose thesis broadly read argues that the marketplace is the arena of practicality, not faith. It is no accident that the curriculum of Catholic schools at every level broadened to include the best of classical thought, that Aquinas and the idea of synthesis came back into style, and the Jesuits added drama and the fine arts to their standard cursus studiorum. Theologically speaking, it was an age of "doing." Loyola himself did not impose choir upon his men to free them for mission. The case study or manualist method of moral theology was born.

Certainly no collective group was doing more than the missionaries. The work of the Church in the new worlds is complex and not without controversy on many levels. Bireley is somewhat limited by this complexity in his attempt to give an overview of the missionary situation, but in general no one can deny that it was not large scale and heroic. The argument is often made that Catholic missionary efforts were part of a larger colonization effort. Bireley implies in his overview that this accusation is probably more appropriate to those missionaries whose monarchs exercised state control of the Church in their kingdoms, such as Spain and Portugal. By contrast, missionaries working more directly with the papacy and the newly formed Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, such as the Jesuits in the East, worked with remarkably less baggage, the Malabar Rites Controversy notwithstanding.

Although only two hundred pages, this is a thought provoking work that on the whole depicts a Roman Catholicism of considerably more vigor and spirituality than is generally attributed to the Reformation era. Certainly the author's thoughts on the importance of the new religious orders, humanism, and ecclesiastical globalization call for further reading and reflection. Curiously, this work, published by The Catholic University of America, was printed in China. One way or another, Francis Xavier was going to get there. It was only a matter of time.

Jesuit professor Robert Bireley's work "The Refashioning of Catholicism, 1450-1700: A Reassessment of the Counter Reformation" is without a doubt one of the best texts I've read about the subject of the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Despite its relatively small size when compared to Euan Cameron's large volume on the Protestant Reformation in Europe, "The European Reformation," it contains a great deal of information that enabled me to gain a better understanding of the Catholic "Counter-Reformation" as it is traditionally called (although Bireley makes a good case that such a term is in fact outdated). It explores the Counter-Reformation as both caused by and, in some ways, a cause of emerging historical changes in the 15th-18th centuries, such as the growth in state power, socioeconomic changes in European society (especially colonialism) and the changes in education and learning due to the Renaissance. Although the role of the Protestant Reformation cannot be dismissed, Bireley's work was especially helpful since it helped me become aware of the fact that the Protestant Reformation was not the only factor that contributed to the Counter-Reformation (which is precisely what I had been taught in Catholic high school). Bireley's work also explored some of the consequences of the Counter-Reformation, such as the emergence of various new religious orders and new forms of education.

Bireley begins by making his position regarding terminology clear to the reader. He prefers the term "Early Modern Catholicism" to the traditional terms of "Counter-Reformation" and "Catholic Reform" since, in his opinion, the latter two terms make are parts of a whole picture of changes in the Catholic Church, and such terms link said changes too closely with the Protestant Reformation (p. 8). His point is a valid one. One of the most salient points of the book is, in my own estimation, that the reality of Early Modern Catholicism was more than just a knee-jerk reaction to the Protestant Reformation. Indeed, such an assumption is far too simplistic. Bireley breaks down the causes of the changes in Catholicism into five general categories.

First, he discusses the role of the centralization of state authority in Europe, devoting Chapter 4 to an intensive study of the conflicts between Church and state. Although he is careful to note that there were always clashes between Church and state throughout European history in one form or another, it was during the time period of Early Modern Catholicism that the state was gradually winning more of these conflicts. It was increasingly beneficial for rulers to intervene in the religious affairs of their subjects, as it gave them increased power, a more unified religious population and of course financial benefits. One factor in particular that facilitated the growth of separate, powerful European states was the fact that the sense of unified "Christendom" felt during the Crusades had weakened significantly. The state was becoming more important in peoples' lives.

Second, he discusses the various socioeconomic changes, especially the demographic resurgence in the late 15th century that spurred economic expansion, which in turn caused a wide gap between rich and poor, something which attracted the attention of both church and state alike. The economic expansion probably helped lead into the third factor that Bireley discusses, namely colonial expansion.

Colonial expansion into South America, Africa and other areas posed a new challenge for the Catholic Church, namely how it would bring its message to these potential Christians. Bireley devotes Chapter 7 to a detailed discussion of the various challenges that the Church faced in these regions, but he also brings up a conflict that resulted from the increasing power of the European states. The Church and the European powers tended to clash when it came to treatment of the natives, especially in Mexico and South America. This is where the roles of the new religious orders, such as Bireley's own Jesuit order, became particularly important in spreading the faith.

The fourth factor was, simply put, the Renaissance, and especially its intellectual offspring known as humanism. For our class, this is a particularly salient factor. Renaissance humanism encouraged the study of the classics, and had a large base of support in both courts and towns, among both the clergy and the laity. Humanism eventually became identified with religious reform, even amongst the clergy, especially with Erasmus of Rotterdam. The Renaissance also enabled humanist ideas to be spread more effectively thanks to the development of the printing press, and it set the stage for conflicts with the Church as the Scientific Revolution developed in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Of course, the fifth and final factor, the Protestant Reformation, cannot be ignored. While Bireley is careful to note that it is difficult to establish the state of the Church on the eve of the Reformation since local realities varied (Euan Cameron did a good job at discussing these various local realities), he points out something interesting that contributed to the desire for reform: "the desire for a more profound religious experience and practice on the part of a significant number of laity (p. 19)." This desire helped contribute to the development of new religious orders, discussed in Chapter 2. Catholics in general wanted a deeper experience with their faith, especially in light of the vast changes that were reshaping the world that they knew. The issue with most laity was not so much doctrinal. Indeed, the Council of Trent did not change much, if anything, in terms of doctrine but rather clarified and defended that which was attacked by the Protestants.

The results of Early Modern Catholicism included a radically reshaped religious map of Europe, new religious orders and a renewed emphasis on education from the Council of Trent, which recognized the importance of religious literacy in the face of Protestant challenges. Catholicism was no longer the only faith in Europe, and the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 essentially split Europe up into various Protestant and Catholic states. Whatever else it did, Early Modern Catholicism ensured one thing: Europe would never be the same again.

While the Protestant Reformation certainly contributed a great deal to the development of Early Modern Catholicism, this was only one of several factors that influenced the changes in the Catholic Church that became popularly known as the Counter-Reformation. Political, economic and social changes also contributed greatly to the upheaval that influenced not only the Council of Trent and subsequent developments in the European church, but also to the history of Catholicism in general. Robert Bireley did a fine job with this book, and I highly recommend it to students of Catholic history (just beware that it's probably something best read at the graduate student level).

Actually, I cannot bear to read it. I would like all scholarly books to be witty in the best sense of the word, or "Chestertonesque" if you prefer.The Refashioning of Catholicism, 1450-1700: A Reassessment of the Counter ReformationI was attracted by the fine English Catholic name independently from the obvious high quality of the scholarship.