COUNTER-REFORMATION
410
COUNTER-REFORMATION
considerable progress. The number of gre:it men
among the cardinals, and the foundation of the Capu-
chins, Theatines, and other orders, have already been
mentioned as symptomatic of the improvement. Then
there appeared Ignatius and the Jesuits, so conspicuous
in the new movement. And here it may be well to
notice how very different the evolution of the Protes-
tant Reformers (even of those who were most conscien-
tious) was from that of the vocation of this Catholic
leader. The monk Luther and many like him began
by denouncing abuses. The abuses were serious, no
doubt, but from the nature of the case abuses in
matters or of matters themselves holy and laudable.
Yet so violent did the accusers become that they grad-
ually forgot any good there was connected with the
object decried, though the good perhaps in reality far
outweighed the evil. Then came attacks upon the
persons who maintained or defended the thing im-
pugned, or who failed to make the changes demanded,
and they were almost always declared to have vir-
tually or actually betrayed or deserted the Church it-
self. Finally the reformer, setting himself up as the
true standard of orthodoxy, fell to self-exaltation,
and at last rebelled and separated from the Church,
which he had originally intended to serve.
The soldier, Ignatius, in the enforced leisure after his wound at Pampeluna (1521) bethought himself of serving Christ as a captain. The idea slowly took possession of him and aroused a lofty spiritual ambi- tion. The imitation and service of Christ were to be most thorough. He would first educate himself as well as his age would allow, become a priest, induce the best of his companions to join him, and then go to the Holy Land and imitate the Saviour's life as literally and exactly as possible. This was a humble but sublime ideal, capable of appealing to and satis- fying the most earnest souls, and sure to lead to great efforts. There was no preoccupation here about the reform of abuses, nor indeed any temporal concern whatever, even the most praiseworthy. For twelve years Ignatius, now a middle-aged man, laboured at the education and the sanctification of himself and of the few followers who threw in their lot with him, and the plan would have been completed as it had been conceived, had not war with the Turks kept him and his companions waiting for several months at Venice, imable to proceed to Palestine. Then he turned to Rome, which he reached in November, 1537, and never left again. The services of his small band of com- panions were soon in great request; they were the " handy men " of the hour, with heads and hearts ready for any work. In a short time they had been heard of and seen everywhere. Though few in number they had carried the Gospel to Abyssinia, India, and China, the ends of the known world. They had faced and fought the most redoubted heretics; they had preached to the poor and tended the sick m the darkest purlieus of the manufacturing cities. They had not indeed as yet the great colleges which after- wards made them famous, nor did people feel their force as a corporate body, but this only made their position as the pioneers, or advance guard of the Church, the more noteworthy. If so few preachers could do so much, their calls on others to join in the struggle roused multitudes to confidence, energy, and fresh efforts. (See Society of Jesus.)
IV. The Council op Trent. — The Council had been originally summoned in the year 1537, and six- teen sessions were held during the next fourteen years. In 1552 it was prorogued for the third or fourth time, and so serious were the cjuarrels throughout Europe that its conclusion was almost despaired of. '"The only remetly", said Mocenigo, "is a council summoned by the common consent of all princes." Yet there was small chance that the factious, overbearing jirinces of those ilays would give up their own views and interests. Still, for the common good, it hud to
be attempted, and when the bishops met again in 1561
they came with hearts resolved to do their utmost.
But "the consent of all the princes" was not easy to
obtain. If they had known of Elizabeth's secret deal-
ings with the French Court (Foreign Calendars, 1561,
nn. 6S2, 684), they might have put a very sinister
interpretation on the proposals with which the Cardi-
nal of Lorraine and other Galileans were constantly
interrupting the progress of business. At last Cardi-
nal Morone and the Cardinal of Lorraine paid personal
visits to the emperor and the pope. A better under-
standing between the clerical and the state parties
ensued, and so the council was concluded, with much
more expedition and satisfaction than had seemed
possible. While the politicians had been squabbling,
the theologians had been doing their work well, and
when the decrees came to be promulgated, there was
general admiration at the amount of definition that
had been accomplished. Though there had been so
many rumours of quarrels and divisions, the points
on which all were agreed were surprisingly numerous
and formed a striking contrast to the contradictions
and feuds among the Protestant sects, which were
becoming ever more conspicuous and bitter. No
council that had ever been held had pronounced so
clearly nor on so many useful points. Moreover, the
Catholic bishops and representatives of various coun-
tries had come to know one another as never before,
and when they separated they returned to their
flocks with a new perception of the unity of the
Church, and edified by the sincere holiness of her
hierarchy. From this time we find that a cer-
tain readiness for compromise, and apprehension of
change, which was once widespread, has passed
away. Though, for instance, many had wished the
laity to receive the Chalice, in order to stay further
defections, and though the council and the Holy See
had allowed it for certain countries, it was now found
that the concession was unnecessary, and it was not
made use of. The decrees, at least those which regarded
doctrine, were everywhere received with approval.
The disciplinary decrees, on the other hand, were not
accepted without serious qualifications by the Catholic
sovereigns. Spain withheld "the privileges of the
Spanish Crown"; France at first refused them alto-
gether as inconsistent with the Gallican Liberties, a
refusal significant of the danger of Regalism which
was to beset the Church of France for generations to
come. [Cf. besides the decrees of the council (Rome,
1564, et s(vp.), the valuable publication of the Gorres
Society, "Concilium Tridentinum, Diariorimi, acto-
rum, epistularum, Tractatuum nova collectio", I,
"Diariorum pars prima", ed. S. Merkle (Freiburg,
1901), and "Actorum pars prima", ed. S. Ehses
(Freibm-g, 1904).]
V. Three Great Reforming Popes. — The popes are as a rule, and from the nature of their position, extremely conservative, but it was characteristic of the Counter-Reformation that after the Council of Trent three popes of great reforming energy should be elected in close succession.
(1) St. Pius V. — The great achievement of this pope was the example which lie gave of heroic virtue. In the language of the day, "he made his palace into a monastery, and was himself a model of penance, asceticism, and prayer". He inspired all about him with his own high views, and new life and strength were soon .seen in all parts of the papal administra- tion. Many and notorious had been the corruptions which had crept in during the reigns of the easy-going humanistic popes who had preceded him. They had indeed passeil severe laws, after the fashion of the time, hoping to maintain good order by occasional severities and the constant dread of heavy penalties, but with lax ailministration such a method of govern- ment produci'd deplorable results. Pius V applied the laws with an unflinching regularity to rich and
