Counter-Reformation
The Catholic response to Protestantism: Trent, the Jesuits and the Inquisition.
Category: Culture
- August 15, 1534Ignatius of Loyola and six companions take vows at Montmartre
On 15 August 1534 Ignatius of Loyola and six fellow students of the University of Paris, among them Francis Xavier, Diego Laínez and Peter Faber, take vows together at Montmartre. The group grows into the Society of Jesus.
- March 9, 1537Cardinals present Paul III with the Consilium de emendanda ecclesia
A commission of cardinals under Gasparo Contarini reads its report on Church abuses to Paul III on 9 March 1537, criticising papal fiscal abuses and simony. It is never implemented; it leaks in 1538, and Luther publishes it with sarcastic notes.
- September 27, 1540Paul III approves the Society of Jesus
Paul III confirms the Society of Jesus on 27 September 1540 with the bull Regimini militantis ecclesiae. Ignatius of Loyola and his six companions found an order devoted to missions and teaching, with a special obedience to the pope.
- 1542Paul III founds the Roman Inquisition
In 1542 Paul III founds the Roman Inquisition to prosecute heresy, at the urging of Giovanni Pietro Carafa, later Paul IV, after the failed Regensburg Colloquy of 1541. It targets Protestantism in Italy and later tries Giordano Bruno and Galileo.
- May 6, 1542Francis Xavier reaches Goa to begin the Jesuit mission in Asia
Francis Xavier, who left Lisbon on 7 April 1541, arrives at Goa, the capital of Portuguese India, on 6 May 1542. The Jesuit begins missionary work in Asia that takes him to Japan in 1549.
- December 13, 1545The Council of Trent opens to answer the Protestant Reformation
The Council of Trent opens on 13 December 1545 in northern Italy. It meets in three periods until 1563 and issues decrees on scripture, tradition, justification and the sacraments, while most Protestants stay away.
- April 8, 1546The Council of Trent defines the canon of Scripture
On 8 April 1546, in its fourth session, the Council of Trent lists the sacred books as found in the Vulgate, including the deuterocanonical books that Protestants reject, and treats tradition as a source beside Scripture.
- August 15, 1549Francis Xavier lands at Kagoshima, beginning the Christian mission to Japan
Francis Xavier goes ashore at Kagoshima on 15 August 1549, beginning the first Christian mission to Japan. His ship had reached Japan on 27 July, but he was not allowed into port until 15 August.
- 1551Palestrina becomes choirmaster of the Cappella Giulia, St Peter's
Pope Julius III appointed Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina maestro di cappella of the Cappella Giulia in Rome in 1551. In 1554 he dedicated to the pope his first book of Masses.
- May 23, 1555Giovanni Pietro Carafa is elected Pope Paul IV
Giovanni Pietro Carafa is elected pope on 23 May 1555, taking the name Paul IV. A founding Inquisitor, he strengthens the Roman Inquisition, issues the Index of forbidden books and restricts the Jews of Rome.
- July 1555Paul IV's bull Cum nimis absurdum creates the Roman Ghetto
In July 1555 Paul IV's bull Cum nimis absurdum requires Rome's roughly 2,000 Jews to live in a walled ghetto locked at night, wear yellow hats and accept limits on trades and property. Sources date it 14 or 17 July.
- 1559Paul IV's Index bans the complete works of about 550 authors
The 1559 Index issued under Paul IV bans the entire works of about 550 authors, including Erasmus, Machiavelli, Aretino and Rabelais, and unapproved Bible editions. An earlier Roman list of 1557 had been withdrawn; Trent's revised Index followed in 1564.
- 1562Teresa of Ávila founds the reformed Carmelite convent of St Joseph
Teresa of Ávila founds the reformed Carmelite convent of St Joseph in Ávila in 1562, starting the Discalced Carmelite reform. The older order opposes her, and Inquisition cases against her and her associates are dropped in 1579.
- December 4, 1563The Council of Trent closes and Pius IV confirms its decrees
The Council of Trent ends on 4 December 1563 after 25 sessions in three periods, and Pius IV confirms its decrees on 26 January 1564. It issued 17 dogmatic decrees that shaped Catholic doctrine, liturgy and censorship.
- 1568 – 1573Plantin prints the Antwerp Polyglot for Philip II
From 1568 to 1573 Christophe Plantin prints the eight-volume Biblia Regia in Antwerp, with Benito Arias Montano overseeing the texts and Philip II paying. It proves Plantin's Catholic loyalty and nearly ruins him.
- 1582 – 1610English Catholics publish the Douay–Rheims Bible
The English College's Catholic translation from the Vulgate appears with the New Testament at Rheims in 1582, mainly by Gregory Martin, and the Old Testament at Douai in 1609–1610. It is a Counter-Reformation answer to Protestant Bibles.
- December 19, 1582 – 1588The Cologne War begins when Elector Gebhard Truchsess turns Protestant
On 19 December 1582 the Elector of Cologne, Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, announces his conversion and then marries without resigning. Pope and chapter depose him in 1583, and war lasts to 1588, with Bavaria's Ernst winning.
- 1590 – 1592Sixtus V and Clement VIII issue an official Vulgate
Pope Sixtus V's 1590 Vulgate, the first papally authorized edition, is halted after his death and recalled in 1592 for errors. Clement VIII's revision replaces it and stays the Catholic standard text.
- February 2, 1594Death of Palestrina in Rome
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, whose smooth polyphony became a model of Catholic church music, died in Rome on 2 February 1594. The tale that his Missa Papae Marcelli saved polyphony at Trent is not accepted by historians.
- 1598Ferdinand of Styria begins a strict Counter-Reformation in Inner Austria
From 1598 Archduke Ferdinand, later Emperor Ferdinand II and a Jesuit-educated Catholic, expels Protestant pastors and teachers from Inner Austria, with Graz as his base, and installs Catholic priests.
- 1599The Jesuit Ratio Studiorum prescribes Aristotle
The Jesuits issue their final Ratio Studiorum in 1599 (the text is dated 1598). It prescribes Aristotle as the standard author for philosophy, physics and mathematics, and Aquinas for theology, in a school network that reaches 444 schools within a century.
- November 5, 1605The Gunpowder Plot against James I is foiled in London
On the night of 4–5 November 1605 Guy Fawkes is caught guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder under the House of Lords. English Catholics led by Robert Catesby had plotted to kill James I, and harsher anti-Catholic laws follow.
- 1606 – 1607Religious riot at Donauwörth leads to Catholic Bavaria occupying the Protestant town
In 1606 the Lutheran majority of Donauwörth bars a Catholic procession and a riot follows. In 1607 an imperial law lets the Duke of Bavaria punish the town, which Bavaria then occupies and re-Catholicises.
- April 1606 – April 1607Paul V places Venice under interdict
In April 1606 Pope Paul V lays an interdict on Venice after it asserts control over its clergy and church property. Venice, backed by Paolo Sarpi, resists, and French mediation ends the quarrel in April 1607.
- March 25, 1609 – November 12, 1614The Jülich-Cleves succession crisis begins and draws in Europe's powers
Duke John William of Jülich-Cleves dies childless on 25 March 1609, and Brandenburg and Palatinate-Neuburg claim his duchies. Union, League, France and Spain take sides. The Treaty of Xanten divides them on 12 November 1614.
- July 10, 1609Catholic princes form the Catholic League under Maximilian of Bavaria
On 10 July 1609 Catholic princes and prince-bishops meet at Munich and form a League under Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria. It is a defensive alliance meant to counter the Protestant Union, and it lasts as a military force in the war.
- June 29, 1617Ferdinand of Styria is crowned King of Bohemia
On 29 June 1617 the Catholic Archduke Ferdinand, known for his Counter-Reformation in Inner Austria, is crowned King of Bohemia as Matthias's heir. Bohemian Protestants fear for the Letter of Majesty.
- November 8, 1620Imperial and League forces crush the Bohemian army at White Mountain
On 8 November 1620 Tilly and Bucquoy rout Christian of Anhalt's Bohemian army near Prague in about an hour. Frederick V flees, and the Bohemian Revolt collapses.
- June 21, 1621Twenty-seven Bohemian rebel leaders are executed in Prague's Old Town Square
On 21 June 1621 twenty-seven leaders of the Bohemian Revolt, nobles, knights and burghers, are executed in Old Town Square. Twelve heads hang from the Old Town Bridge Tower until the Saxon invasion of 1631.
- February 1623Ferdinand II transfers the Palatine electoral dignity to Maximilian of Bavaria
In February 1623 Ferdinand II strips Frederick V of his electorate and gives it to Maximilian I of Bavaria, leader of the Catholic League. Maximilian also gains the Upper Palatinate, and Catholics now hold a majority among the electors.
- 1627Ferdinand II issues the Renewed Land Ordinance, making Catholicism Bohemia's only religion
In 1627 Ferdinand II's Renewed Land Ordinance makes the Bohemian lands hereditary Habsburg possessions, strips the Estates of their powers and allows only Catholicism, except for Jews. It stays in force, modified, until 1848.
- March 6, 1629Ferdinand II issues the Edict of Restitution
On 6 March 1629 Ferdinand II orders Protestants to return church lands secularised after 1555, which would change rulers in two archbishoprics, twelve bishoprics and over 100 religious houses. Protestant electors protest, and the Peace of Prague later revokes it.
- February 1632Galileo publishes the Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems
Printed at Florence in February 1632, Galileo's Dialogue pits Simplicio's Aristotelian and Ptolemaic views against Salviati, who cites the novae of 1572 and 1604 and sunspots against unchanging heavens. In 1633 he is found "vehemently suspect of heresy" and the book banned.
- 1648Pope Innocent X declares the Westphalian settlement void
Innocent X condemns the peace as "null, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane" and without effect for all time. The page gives no date for the brief, so only the year is shown.