THE REFORMATION

I. The Protestant Reformation (1517 A. D.)

a. MARTIN LUTHER – He nailed his 95 theses to the doors of the Castle Church, beginning of the Protestant
Reformation
i. Luther’s Ninety-Five Thesis were more than just an attack on the selling of indulgences. Luther
sought instead a full reform of the Church. His teachings rested on three main ideas:
1. People could win salvation only by faith in God’s gift of forgiveness. (The Church taught
that faith and “good works” – your behavior, practicing the sacraments of the Church, etc.
- were needed for salvation).
2. All Church teachings should be clearly based on the words of the Bible. The Pope and
church traditions were false authorities – Bible as the final authority.
3. All people with faith were equal. Therefore, people did not need priests to interpret the
Bible for them.
ii. The reformers became known as Protestants, and many German princes adopted Protestantism.
Eventually, the term Protestant was applied to Christians who belonged to non-Catholic churches.
iii. Instead of continuing to seek reforms within the Catholic Church, Luther and his followers become
a separate religious group and established the Lutheran Church, the first of the Protestant
churches that would eventually be established.
iv. Today there are thousands of Protestant denominations the biggest of which are Baptist,
Methodist, Lutheran, and Presbyterian.
b. THE ANGLICAN CHURCH BEGINS (1534 A.D.) – King Henry VIII of England demands an annulment of his
marriage and, when the pope refuses, he begins the Anglican Church.
i. King Henry VIII sought to dissolve his first marriage to Catherine Aragon so that he could marry
Ann Boleyn.
ii. When the pope refused to grant an annulment (the previously been married to Henry’s bother),
Henry separated the Church in England from the Pope in Rome and declared himself to be the
leader of the Church of England, known as the Anglican Church (also known as Episcopalian in
other places like the US)
II. The Catholic Counter Reformation
a. The Reformation challenged many of the core teachings of the Catholic Church, including ideas about how
to reach salvation, how to form a religious community, and how to access spiritual texts. The Catholic
Church formulated a response in light of these challenges through the Council of Trent.
b. During the Catholic Reformation, some Catholics chose to counteract the challenges of the Reformation
by increasing their allegiance to the Catholic Church and the Pope. This approach is exemplified by Ignatius
of Loyola, a Spanish Catholic priest who founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in 1541.
c. ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA –
i. Ignatius of Loyola was born in Spain in 1491 and came of age during the Reformation. Having
grown up reading stories about knights, he decided on a military career, which was successful
until his right leg was shattered by a cannonball. While he was recovering, Ignatius read religious
texts in the hospital and experienced a conversion. He went on a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land,
where he left his sword and dagger on an altar to the Virgin Mary, pledging himself to serve Christ
and the Church.
ii. In 1539, Ignatius of Loyola founded the Jesuit Order with his friend, Francis Xavier. The Jesuit
Order was dedicated to serving the Pope, combatting Protestantism through education and
spiritual warfare, and the observation of strict spiritual practices. Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises, a
book of his personal meditations and prayers, has become a classic of Catholic spirituality.
iii. Under his leadership, the Jesuits vowed extreme obedience to the Roman Catholic pope and
enforced strict discipline through a military inspired religious hierarchy. The Jesuits stressed the
principle “preinde ac cadaver” (“as if a dead body”) in their early works to demonstrate that a
Jesuit should be as well-disciplined as a corpse, although they later adopted the phrase “ad
maioren dei gloriam” (“for the greater glory of God”) as their official motto.
d. ST. TERESA OF AVILA –
i. While Ignatius of Loyola was founding a new religious order, Teresa of Avila was reforming the
existing Carmelite Order. During the Late Middle Ages, monastic discipline had become lax. Teresa
of Avila restored monastic discipline and became revered as a mystic.
ii. The experiences recorded in The Life of Teresa of Jesus are some of the strongest examples of
mystical thought that emerged from the Catholic Reformation. In them, St. Teresa of Ávila
articulates a sense of one-on-one experience with God and angels that is passionately
uncontrollable and completely distinct from the ritualized practices of the Roman Catholic mass
and religious hierarchy.
e. THE COUNCIL OF TRENT (1545 – 1563 A.D.)
 i. The Council of Trent promotes reform in the Church. Responding to the crisis of the Protestant
Reformation, the Church set out to reform itself and did so at the Council of Trent.
ii. Continuity & Change
1. The Council of Trent resulted in CONTINUITY because it represented an affirmation of
Catholic doctrine, reaffirming the primacy of the pope and traditional Catholic beliefs
about the role of faith and good works in attaining salvation.
2. The Council of Trent resulted in CHANGE because it represented a reformation of Church
practices, creating new religious orders, establishing seminaries to train and educate
priests, and banning the sale of indulgences.
f. BAROQUE ART
i. Gothic and Baroque are two distinct art styles that emerged in different historical periods. Gothic
art, prevalent from the 12th to the 16th century, is known for its pointed arches, ribbed vaults,
and flying buttresses in architecture, while in art, it often features religious themes with elongated
figures, intricate details, stained glass and a focus on spirituality.
ii. Baroque art, flourishing from the late 16th to the late 18th century, is characterized by its ornate,
dramatic, and dynamic style. It includes exaggerated motion, intense emotions, rich colors, and
elaborate ornamentation, often conveying grandeur and theatricality, commonly associated with
religious themes and the patronage of the Catholic Church and absolute monarchs.
iii. In essence, Gothic art leans toward verticality, luminosity, and a sense of spirituality, while
Baroque art is characterized by its dynamism, emotionality, and magnificence.

GOTHIC

BAROQUE