History of the Church II:Week Five

The Counter-Reformation Ignatius Loyola was a young Spanish nobleman in 1521 when during a

battle with the French a cannonball shattered one of his legs

During his rehab, he started to read about the saints of the church and the life of Christ – when he recovered, he exchanged his sword for the priesthood

Loyola wrote a treatise for spiritual discipline which became the storm-trooper manual for the Pope’s war against Protestants.

The result was the Society of Jesus or Jesuits.

The Counter-Reformation At first, the Catholic church did very little to counter-act Protestantism.

This is where the Jesuits can in. They became the Crusaders of the 15th-17th centuries.

When Pope Clement VII was captured by Spanish troops in 1533, the church finally started to see it needed internal reform.

Pope Paul III appointed nine new members to the College of Cardinals and called for a commission to look into how to reform the church

The commission’s report called for less secular attention and more attention to spiritual matters by the Pope.

The Counter-Reformation The First Council of Trent became the most important council for the

Catholic Church in 500 years.

Out of this council, the Church started the Inquisition, the Index of prohibited books and approved the warriors of the faith – the Jesuits.

The Jesuits promised to go anywhere the Pope sent them from the Turks, the Protestants, the Americas and even eventually Asia.

Their tactics were simple: convert to Catholicism or suffer the consequences. The Church had declared war against anyone who did not accept its’ tenants. What followed were the religious wars in Europe.

The Inquisition The inquisitions permanently divided the Church and its repercussions

are felt even today.

The Spanish Inquisition was started before the Jesuits were formed but it continued all the way up to the 18th century.

There is a controversy about the Inquisition from both Protestants and Catholics.

Thousands were tortured and killed.

Most of the colonists had a built-in prejudice against Catholics likely from some of the experiences of the Inquisition.

A divided church The Reformation, Inquisition, Council of Trent and the wars that followed

split the unity of the true body of Christ.

The religious wars of this time period made it easier to accept the secularization of Europe.

This secularization came in part because the church had no moral ground to stand on.

Spreading the Gospel When Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, the church went with him.

What followed over the next three centuries completely changed the world.

The Jesuits were the first to expand beyond Europe into all areas of the world including Latin and South America, India, China and Japan.

The Protestants tended to be less evangelical until the 19th century although there were some exceptions.

Read p. 280 to understand Columbus’ plight in regards to natives.

Spain vs. Portugal The New World developed the way it did because of the two main

kingdoms that helped to shape it: Spain and Portugal.

Portuguese expansion overseas revolved around two points: Eastern trade routes and the Treaty of Tordesillas.

Spanish colonization revolved around these main points: The rise of Islam in the 7th century Occupation of Spain Evangelism and conquest became one and the same Racism towards Native peoples The discovery of gold The encomienda system