History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French Revolution: Volume 1 — The Counter-Reformation, Part 3

The Council of Trent had accomplished the work for which it was called.

Though it failed to extinguish the rising flames of heresy or to restore peace to the Christian world, it had swept away most of the glaring abuses that had proved the main source of Luther's success, and rendered impossible for the future any misunderstanding about the doctrines that had been called in question.

The Catholic Church, purified by the severe trials through which she had passed, stood forth once again active and united under the leadership of the Successor of St. Peter, still face to face it is true with a powerful opposition, but an opposition on which the disintegrating influence of private judgment was already making itself felt.

Thus the foundations of the great Catholic Counter-Reformation were laid securely, and a movement was begun which stayed the further advance of Protestantism, secured the allegiance of individuals and nations that were wavering, and won back many who had been seduced from the faith during the early days of the religious upheaval.

But if the labours of the Fathers of Trent were to be productive of the good results that might be anticipated, earnest, religious, energetic Popes were required to give a lead to their spiritual children, whose courage had been damped by over thirty years of almost uninterrupted defeats, to put into force the valuable reforms that had been planned with such minute care, and above all to make the court and city of Rome an example for the princes and people of the world.

Here, again, the providence of God watching over His Church was manifested in a striking manner.

Pius IV.

deserves to be remembered with gratitude by all future generations for the part that he took in bringing to a successful conclusion the Council of Trent in face of almost insuperable difficulties, for having taken such energetic and withal such prudent action to secure the acceptance of its decrees and their reduction into practice, and for having given to Rome and to the Catholic Church so gifted, so saintly, and so disinterested an ecclesiastic as his nephew, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Milan, St. Charles Borromeo.

On the death of Pius IV.

the conclave, mainly through the exertions of Cardinal Borromeo, elected Cardinal Ghisleri, who took the title of Pius V. [1] (1566-72) in memory of his predecessor.

In his youth the future Pope joined the Order of St. Dominic, and for years had acted as professor of theology, master of novices, and prior.

He was noted specially for his simplicity and holiness of life, a holiness which it may be remarked had nothing in common with the morose rigour of Paul IV.

, for his humility, his love of silence and meditation, and for his kindness towards the poor and the suffering.

As a man of good education and of conservative tendencies he was summoned to assist Cardinal Caraffa, then president of the Holy Office, and when the latter became Pope he was created cardinal and appointed Grand Inquisitor.

After his election Pius V. followed still the strict life of fasting and prayer to which he had been accustomed as a Dominican friar.

He did not seek to create positions, or to carve out estates from the papal territories for his relatives.

Anxious to promote the temporal as well as the spiritual welfare of the people in his temporal dominions he took steps to see that justice was meted out to poor and rich, banished women of loose character from the streets, put an end to degrading amusements, enforced the observance of the Sunday, and, backed by St. Charles Borromeo and the princes of Italy, he changed the whole face of the capital and the country.

Rome was no longer the half-pagan city of the days of Leo X. , nor yet did it partake of the savage rigour of Geneva.

Pius V. was most anxious to enforce the decrees of Trent, and it was for the accomplishment of this object that he had prepared for the instruction of pastors the Catechism of the Council of Trent.

In compliance with the wishes of the bishops he published also a revised edition of the Roman Breviary and of the Missal.

With the Catholic princes of Europe he maintained very friendly relations.

He furnished supplies to Charles IX.

of France in his struggle with the Huguenots, and to Philip II.

of Spain in his wars against the Calvinists of the Netherlands.

He encouraged the Emperor, Ferdinand I. , and Maximilian of Bavaria to stand firm against the further encroachments of the Lutherans, and sympathised actively with the unfortunate Queen of Scotland.

Having realised that Queen Elizabeth was lost hopelessly to the Church and that she was making every effort to involve the whole English nation in heresy, he directed against her a Bull of excommunication and deposition.

But though he endeavoured to cultivate friendly relations with the Catholic rulers he had no intention of abandoning the rights of the Church or of yielding in the slightest to the increasing demands of the civil power.

Against the wishes of some of his advisers and to the no small annoyance of the Catholic princes he republished the Bull, known as the /In Coena Domini/, because he commanded that it should be read in all churches on Holy Thursday.

Like his great namesake Pius II.

he had especially at heart the defence of Europe against invasion by the Turk.

Owing to the religious controversies and the eagerness of some of the princes to ally themselves with the Sultan the followers of Islam had grown bolder, and had shown that they dreamed still of overcoming Western Europe and of planting the crescent even in the very city of the Popes.

Pius V. appealed to the rulers of Europe to close up their ranks against their common enemy.

He granted generous subsidies to the Knights of Malta and the rulers of Venice and Hungary upon whom the brunt of the struggle must inevitably fall.

When on the accession of Selim II.

in 1570 the danger was pressing, the Pope succeeded in bringing about a Christian confederacy composed of Spain, Venice, and the Papal States with Don Juan of Austria in command of the Christian forces.

For the success of the enterprise the Pope ordered that public prayers and particularly the Rosary should be recited in the churches throughout the world.

The decisive struggle between the two forces, as a result of which the Turkish fleet was almost completely annihilated, was fought in the Bay of Lepanto on Sunday, 7th October 1571. [2] In memory of this great victory the Pope instituted the Feast of the Holy Rosary to be celebrated for ever on the first Sunday of October.

While he was engaged in making arrangements to follow up his success by driving the Turks beyond the Bosphorus he was called to his reward.

Even by his contemporaries Pius V. was regarded as a saint.

It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that one hundred years after his death he was beatified, and forty years later, in 1712, he was canonised formally by Clement XI.

When the cardinals met in conclave, mainly by the intervention of Cardinal Granvelle, viceroy of Philip II.

in Naples, Cardinal Buoncompagni was elected almost immediately, and proclaimed under the title of Gregory XIII.

(1572-85).

He had been a distinguished student and professor of law at the University of Bologna, where he had the honour of having as his pupils many of the ablest ecclesiastics of the age.

Later on he was sent as confidential secretary to the Council of Trent.

On his return from this assembly he was created cardinal, and appointed papal legate in Spain.

At the time of his election to the Papacy he had reached his seventieth year.

As a young man his life was not blameless from the point of view of morality, but after he became a priest nothing could be urged against his conduct even by his worst enemies.

Though it must be admitted that he was not of such an ascetic and spiritual temperament as his predecessor, he was a man of irreproachable character, not over anxious to promote his own relatives, and determined to strengthen the Catholic Church by raising the standard of education and by appointing to the episcopate none but the most worthy ecclesiastics.

Hence he drew lavishly upon the funds of the Holy See to erect Catholic Colleges in Rome and in several countries of Europe.

He founded the magnificent /Collegium Romanum/ for the education of students from all parts of the world, and placed it under the administration of the Jesuits, in whom he reposed the most signal confidence.

As the circumstances that led to the establishment of the /Collegium Germanicum/ had not improved, he conferred on it more generous endowments, and united it later on with the college which he had founded for the Hungarians.

Owing to the persecutions in England and Ireland and the suppression of institutions for the education of the clergy, Gregory XIII.

founded an English College (1579) and provided funds for the erection of an Irish College.

The money intended for this latter institution was spent in assisting the Irish in their wars against Elizabeth.

In addition to this, more than twenty colleges situated in various parts of Europe, amongst them being the Scotch College at Pont-a-Mousson, owe their origin in whole or in part to his munificence.

He was, also, very determined that none but the most worthy men should be appointed to episcopal sees, and with this object in view he took pains to inquire personally about the merits of distinguished ecclesiastics in each country, and to prepare lists of them for use as vacancies might arise.

He was equally careful in the appointments which he made to the college of cardinals.

In order to keep touch with the progress of affairs in Germany he established a nunciature at Vienna in 1581, and another at Cologne in the following year.

The results of this experiment were so successful that in a short time nunciatures were established in nearly all the Catholic countries.

[3] Like his predecessor he was determined to continue the war against the Turks, but the circumstances were unfavourable in France and in the Empire, while Venice and Spain, the former allies of the Holy See, concluded peace with the Sultan.

In England and Ireland neither by peaceful measures nor by the expeditions fitted out by him in connexion with the Desmond Rebellion was he able to achieve any lasting results.

His legates succeeded in inducing John III.

of Sweden to abjure heresy and to return to the bosom of the Catholic Church, but, unfortunately, the conversion lasted only until political circumstances demanded another change.

In Russia his representatives arranged a peace with Poland, and put an end for the time to any active persecution of Catholicism within the Russian dominions.

[4] In all parts of Europe, where Catholic rulers found themselves in difficulties, subsidies were sent by Gregory XIII.

to their assistance.

Charles IX.

in France, Philip II.

of Spain, Austria, the Knights of Malta, and the Catholics of England and Ireland shared largely in his munificence.

He issued a new edition of the Roman Martyrology in 1584, and directed that it should be used to the exclusion of all others.

His predecessor had appointed a committee of jurists to prepare a revised edition of the Decrees of Gratian.

He had been a member of that commission, and as Pope he brought the work to a successful conclusion.

But the achievement for which he will be best remembered is undoubtedly the Gregorian Calendar.

The errors of the calendar had been noticed by many, but how to correct them and prevent them for the future was the problem that was still unsolved.

Gregory XIII.

appointed a body of experts to examine the subject, the most prominent of whom were the Jesuit Father Clavius and Cardinal Sirleto.

The committee had the advantage of having before them the papers of the Italian scientist, Lilius, and the suggestions of the Catholic universities.

In 1582 the Gregorian Calendar was published, and was accepted generally in all the Catholic countries of Europe.

But for a long time the Protestant countries, believing that nothing good could come from Rome, remained attached to the old style.

It was only in 1700 that the Gregorian Calendar was accepted in Germany and Holland, and at a still later period (1752) England consented to the change.

The following year Sweden followed suit, and by 1775 the use of the new calendar had become general outside Russia and the other countries involved in the Eastern schism, in which the old style is followed till the present day.

The immense sums expended by Gregory XIII.

in endowing colleges and subsidising Catholic sovereigns proved too great a strain on the resources of the papal treasury.

To raise funds the Pope was obliged to increase the taxes, to impose tariffs on imports and exports, to curtail the privileges of certain sections of his subjects, and to recall many of the fiefs granted to feudal proprietors.

These measures led to grave discontent among all classes.

Secret societies were formed, in which the dispossessed nobles encouraged their poorer followers to acts of violence.

Robber bands led by some of the younger barons made their appearance in all parts of the Papal States, so that even in the very streets of Rome the lives of the papal officials were not secure.

Gregory XIII.

was too old to cope with such a serious situation.

Before order could be restored he passed away leaving his successor a very difficult task.

After a conclave lasting only four days Cardinal Felice Peretti, better known as the Cardinal di Montalto, secured the required majority of votes, and ascended the papal throne under the name of Sixtus V. [5] (1585-90).

He belonged to a very poor family in Italy, had joined the Franciscans as a boy, and had risen from office to office till at last in 1570 he was created cardinal.

At the time of his election he was practically unknown, partly because he was not a scion of one of the leading families of Italy, partly, also, because during the reign of Gregory XIII.

with whom he was in disagreement he lived a retired life, devoting himself almost completely to the preparation of an edition of the works of St. Ambrose.

Throughout the Catholic world the news of his elevation was received with joy.

He was a man of strict life and tireless activity, more inclined to act than to speak, unwilling to burthen his spiritual or temporal subjects with new laws, but fully determined to enforce those already made, and almost unchangeable in his views once his decision had been given.

The restoration of order in the Papal States and the suppression of the robbers who terrorised peaceful citizens were the first work to which he directed his attention.

Nor was it long till the severe and almost extreme measures he adopted, and in which he was supported by the Italian princes, produced their effect.

The bankrupt condition of the papal treasury necessitated a close revision of the papal finances, and so well did Sixtus V. succeed in this respect that he was able to bequeath to his successor immense reserves.

Though very careful about expenditure for his own uses or on the papal court he spent money freely on the erection and decoration of churches, and on the improvement of the city of Rome.

He extended the Vatican Library, in connexion with which he established a new printing-press, provided a good water supply (/Acqua Felice/), built the Lateran Palace, completed the Quirinal, restored the columns of Trajan and Antoninus, erected the obelisks of the Vatican, St. Mary Major, the Lateran and Santa Maria del Popolo, and built several new streets to beautify the city and to prevent congestion.

His administrative ability manifested itself in the establishment of various congregations, to each of which was committed some particular department of work in the administration of the Church and of the Papal States.

Hitherto most of this work had been done by the /auditores/ or the /penitentiarii/ according as it belonged to the external or internal forum, or else in consistories of the cardinals.

The idea of Sixtus V. was not entirely a novel one.

The Congregation of the Index (1571) and the Holy Office (1588) had been established already, as also a commission to watch over the execution of the decrees of the Council of Trent (1564).

By the Bull, /Immensa Aeterni Dei/[6] (11th Feb.

1588) Sixtus V. established fifteen different congregations, the most important of which were the Congregation of the Index, of the Inquisition, of the Signatura, of the Council of Trent, of Rites and Ceremonies, and of Bishops and Regulars.

By means of these various bodies the work was done better and more expeditiously without impairing in the slightest the authority of the Pope.

In 1586 he issued the Bull, /Postquam verus/ by which he fixed the number of cardinals at seventy, namely, six cardinal-bishops, fifty cardinal-priests and fourteen cardinal-deacons.

He had prepared and published a new edition of the Septuagint (1588) as a preparation for the revised edition of the Vulgate, which was brought out later, and was of so faulty a character that it was necessary to withdraw it from circulation.

Sixtus V. had great hopes of inducing the princes of Europe to form an alliance against the Turks, and, indeed, it was with a view to some such struggle that he laid aside such immense reserves, but his hopes were doomed to disappointment.

In England no progress could be made, more especially as the defeat of the Spanish Armada served only to strengthen the throne of Elizabeth.

The condition of affairs in France was calculated to cause the Pope great anxiety.

The murder of the Catholic leaders and the alliance of Henry III.

with the Calvinist King of Navarre compelled the Pope to espouse warmly the cause of Spain and the League.

But towards the end of his reign Sixtus V. began to realise that Spain's intervention in favour of the League was not nearly so disinterested as it might seem, and that the aim of Spanish statesmen was the union of the two countries in one great empire, an event which, were it to come to pass, might be as dangerous for the Holy See as for the succession of Henry of Navarre.

He was, therefore, more inclined to compromise than to fight.

After the death of Urban VII.

, Gregory XIV.

, and Innocent X. , who followed one another in rapid succession, a large number of the cardinals, determined to put an end to the dominating influence of Spain, put forward as the candidate of their choice Cardinal Aldobrandini, whose election had been vetoed twice before by the Spanish representatives.

Notwithstanding the opposition of Spain they succeeded in their effort, and Cardinal Aldobrandini was proclaimed under the title of Clement VIII.

[7] (1592-1605).

The character of the new Pope both as a man and an ecclesiastic was beyond the shadow of reproach.

He was the special disciple and friend of St. Philip Neri who acted as his confessor for thirty years.

As Pope his choice of a confessor fell upon the learned and saintly Baronius whom he insisted upon creating cardinal.

His activity and zeal were manifested soon in the visitation which he undertook of the churches and institutions of Rome, and during the course of which he suppressed many abuses.

The situation in France was sufficiently delicate.

Henry IV.

was beginning to recognise that notwithstanding his victories he could never reign as a Calvinist over a united France.

Clement VIII.

was very decidedly in favour of a solution that would put an end to the war and would prevent France from degenerating into a Spanish province.

Hence as soon as the conversion of Henry IV.

was proved to be genuine the Pope acknowledged his title as king of France, and exhorted French Catholics to receive him as their ruler.

Such a course of action was of necessity displeasing to Spain, but a few years later the Pope had the happiness of putting an end to the struggle between these two countries.

During his term of office Clement VIII.

founded at Rome a national college for providing priests for the mission in Scotland, issued a revised edition of the Vulgate (1598), of the Breviary, the Missal, the Caerimonial and the Pontifical, and instituted the /Congregatio de Auxilis/ to investigate the matters in dispute between the Thomists and the Molinists.

He presided personally at many of its sessions though he never issued a definite sentence.

It was also during his reign that the infamous ex-monk Giordano Bruno was condemned by the Inquisition, handed over to the secular power, and burned at the stake (17th Feb.

1600).

In his youth Giordano joined the Dominicans, from which order he fled because definite charges of heresy, the truth of which he could not deny, were brought against him.

Later on he was excommunicated by the Calvinists of Geneva and the Lutherans of Germany, and refused permission to lecture by the professors of Oxford when he visited that seat of learning.

Many of his writings are strongly anti-Christian, and some of them thoroughly indecent.

He was condemned to die solely on account of his denial of the Divinity of Christ and other heretical views and not, as is said by some, because he defended the Copernican system.

[8] Leo XI.

succeeded, but survived his election less than a month.

The choice of the conclave then fell upon Cardinal Borghese who took as his title Paul V. [9] (1605-21).

He had been a distinguished law student of Bologna and Padua, a papal legate in Spain, and under Clement VIII.

cardinal-vicar of Rome.

He was a man of great energy and zealous for the promotion of religion.

During his reign he canonised St. Charles Borromeo and issued a decree of beatification in favour of Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, and Philip Neri, provided generous subsidies for the advancement of the missions, endeavoured to bring about a re-union with some of the separated religious bodies of the East, and spent money freely on the decoration of the Roman churches, notably St. Peter's, which he had the honour of completing.

Like his predecessors he was desirous of continuing the war against the Turks, but the state of affairs in western Europe rendered such a scheme impossible of realisation.

With France and Spain he preserved friendly relations, tried to put an end to the rivalries that weakened the House of Habsburg and the Catholic cause in the Empire, and despatched supplies of both men and money to the assistance of Ferdinand II.

in his struggle with the Protestants.

He wrote to James I. of England (1606) congratulating him on his accession and his escape from death and asking for toleration of the Catholic religion, in return for which he promised to induce the Catholics to submit to all things not opposed to the law of God.

The reply of the king to this overture was the well-known Oath of Allegiance, that led to such ugly controversies among the Catholic body.