Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/503

 COUNTER-REFORMATION

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COUNTER-REFORMATION

Henry IV, was educated by Pere Colon (q. v.), and it was through him that most of the good traditions of the French kings in exercising their ecclesiastical patronage took shape. He was also remarkable, per- haps almost singular, among the old French kings for the purity of his domestic relations. Thus, though he died comparatively young, and though he was com- pletely eclipsed by his omnipotent prime minister Richelieu (q. v.), he was no unfit person to preside over and to protect a movement of religious reform. (2) That reform reached its highest development in the multiplication of religious congregations and orders. In his " M^moires" Richelieu says of the reign of Louis XIII, "Le vrai siecle de Saint Louis ^tait revenu, qui commen^a k peuplcr ce royaume de maisons religi- euses". The most distinguished founder and director of such congregations was St. Vincent de Paul, whose religious organizations, beginning in 1617, reached such astonishing extension in the period immetiiately following. Besides these, there were the foimdations or reforms of Saint-Maur (Benedictine) ; Port-Royal ; Brothers of Charity; Congregation of Notre Dame (1607); of the Visitation (1610); the Ursulines (1612); the French Oratory by ( 'ardinal de BeruUe. Moreover the Barnabites, Capuchins, and Carmelites developed new provinces, and established many new houses. St. Peter Fourier founded the Canons Regular of St. Saviour. The Jesuits, who had previously had only thirteen colleges, now increased greatly both in num- bers and influence, but amid many contradictions and acrimonious controversies with the University and the Parlement of Paris. The Society, however, was effectively supported by the Crown, and at Paris the College de Clermont, afterwards Louis-le-Grand, be- came one of the chief centres of the Counter-Refor- mation. (.3) The re-establishment of Catholicism in the districts left under the power of the Huguenots through the Edict of Nantes ( 1 .598) proceeded slowly and was attended with difficulty. But the French monarchs had many reasons for exacting obedience from their often insubordinate Protestant subjects. Eventually La Roehelle, after a celebrated siege, was reduced by force (1628). Though their qnasi-inde- pendence was now gone, and with it their political im- portance, the Counter- Reformation did not lead to the abolition of religious liberty for the Huguenots, which was fully confirmed by the Edict of Nimes in 1629. (4) There was much reluctance to admit the Council of Trent, and an obstinate insistence on the Galilean Liberties which proved eventually a calamity for the French Church.

On the one hand we find great names among the bishops of this period, such as St. Francis of Sales, Cardinals de Berulle and de la Rochefoucauld, Hon- or6 de Laurens, Archbishop of Embrun, Philippe de Cosp(5an, Bishop of Nantes. Synods were fre- quent, the education of the priests was much im- proved. In 1642 St. Vincent of Paul opened the Col- lege des Bons Enfants, which served as a model for seminaries in many other dioceses; while M. Olicr be- tween 1642 and Kit.") carried itito exceutinn his iilea of the Grand Semiiiaire of Saint Sulpice. The clergy in general reached so high a level that the period may be regarded as one of the brightest in the history of the Galilean Church. On the other hand the great influence of the State and of the nobility in the selec- tion of abbots and bishops, especially for the highest and most wealthy .sees, could not but be injurious. We sometimes hear of prelates, like the Cardinal de Retz, who were a shame to their order, and .still more of worldly prelates, like the Cardinal Richelieu, who though not provecl lo be immoral, lowered the ideals of ecclesiastical devotion to the Church, which had given the Coimter-Kcfomiation .so much of its first vigour. Othi-r weak |iniiits in the progress of the C*unter-Reforination in France may be studied in the careers of Edmond Richer and of the Abb6 of Saint

Cyran, Du Verger de la Hauranne, and in the rise of the Jansenists. (See Jansenlsm.)

Spain and Portugal. — Turning now to Spain and Portugal, we see the Counter-Reformation winning here its most signal spiritual victories. There can be no question that the saints of Spain who flourished at this period, the theologians, canonists, and spiritual writers whom it educated, were more remarkable than those produced by any other country, e. g. St. Igna- tius, St. Teresa, St. Francis Borgia, St. John of God, St. Peter of Alcantara, St. John of the Cross, St. Fran- cis of Solano, John of Avila, Maldonado, Navarro, Salmeron, Toleto, Gregory of Valencia, Sanchez, Suarez, Juan a Santo Tomaso, Ripalda, Barbosa. These form a galaxy of brilliant names, which in their sphere have never been surpassed. The Spanish and Portuguese colonies in South America and the East Indies were also ennobled by missionaries, whose heroism, self-devotion, and energy were beyond com- pare. Starting from Las Casas, whose chief achieve- ments, however, belong to an earlier period, mention must be made of the reductions of Paraguay and the first missions to the Philippines, while the majority of the spiritual labourers in India, China, and Japan were also furnished by the Spanish Peninsula. But here again, as in France, it was in great measure the absolutism of the Crown which prevented the tri- umph of the new movement from being as complete and permanent as it might have been. A series of second-rate sovereigns, an indifferent bureaucratic government, slavery, and a very bad colonial system, brought on the premature decay not only of the temporal, but also of the spiritual, greatness of these countries. Though the Inquisition was established in several European countries, it was more active in Spain than elsewhere.

Italy. — This country had from the first been ready for the Counter-Reformation, and in the papacy and the Council of Trent had, as it were, opened the field to reform. Nowhere did the course of the movement progress more uniformly, or last longer. This is best seen in the papal Curia, where the College of Cardinals continued to be thoroughly representative of the best talent and virtue in the Church and where the Sacred Congregations worked with an efficiency and steadfast- ness never known before. But in truth, wherever it is possible to look into the religious life of the nation, a remarkably high level of fervour will be recognized. St. Charles Borromeo did not lack followers among the bishops, as the great names of Sirleto, Paleotto, Ar- rigoni, Rusticucci, and many others testify. The de- tailed accounts that have come down to us of the Jubi- lees of l.WS and 1600, give us a glimpse of a whole community sensible to, and familiar with, works of piety and charity on a very large scale. Among the new congregations of this period mention should be made of the Scolopii, founded in 1600 by St. Joseph of Calasanza (Calasanctius). The most serious set-back was the quarrel of Paul V with Venice, 1606 to 1607, and the constant friction with unsympathetic Span- ish rulers of Milan, and of the Two Sicilies, about the immvmities of the clergy and the administration of ecclesiastical jiroperty. In the former case the pope may have precipitated the quarrel by the vigour with which he took extreme measures. But when the hos- tilities had conuncneed the Venetians .showed an om- inous tendency to ally themselves with the (iallicans and even with English heretics. The quarrel, how- ever, only lasted one year. Such men as Paolo Sarpi and Antonio de Dominis were found but seldom. The "Index Librorum Prohibitonnn" of 1.564 may appro- priately be mentioned here, though it ai)plies to and illu.strates all countries.

England. — Turning now to England we find the spirit of the Coiuit<T-Reformation suddenly bursting into most vigorous life at the jireaching of Blessed Edmund Campion in 1580. The organization of the