Editing Counter-Reformation (section)

==Precursor Catholic Reformation==
The [[Gregorian reforms]] of the late 11th century —to e.g. reduce kingly and dynastic control of religious life and use of assets and to prevent parishes from becoming "family businesses"— flowed out from Rome, for example reaching Ireland around 35 years later with the Irish [[Synod of Ráth Breasail]] (1111): this established the [[episcopy|episcopal system]] over the aristocracy-dominated monasteries in Ireland, resulting in the eventual dissolution of many monasteries in the 12th century, such as the [[Abbey of Kells]]. The reforms lead to the rise of the [[Canons Regular]] as alternatives to monks or friars: priests living, like monks, in perhaps-avowed communities but focused outward (e.g., serving parish or cathedral pastoral duties) rather than inward (e.g., [[Enclosed_religious_orders|cloister]]ed or necessarily observing the full [[Liturgy of the Hours]].)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mac Mahon |first1=Michael |title=Clare History: The Charter of Clare Abbey and the Augustinian ‘Province’ in Co. Clare |publisher=Clare County Library |url=https://clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/history/charter_of_clare_abbey/charter_reforms.htm}}</ref> The reforms reached Germany in 1122 with the [[Concordat of Worms]].

The 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries saw a spiritual revival in Europe, incubated<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Finke |first1=Roger |last2=Wittberg |first2=Patricia |title=Organizational Revival from within: Explaining Revivalism and Reform in the Roman Catholic Church |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |date=2000 |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=154–170 |doi=10.1111/0021-8294.00013 |jstor=1387500 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1387500 |issn=0021-8294}}</ref> by the rise of preaching [[friars]],  the standardization of the [[Paris Bible]], lay spiritual movements (such as the ''[[devotio moderna]]''), the examples of nascent saints such as [[Catherine of Bologna]], [[Antoninus of Florence]], [[Rita of Cascia]] and [[Catherine of Genoa]],  printing, [[Christian humanism]], an urbanized laity who could not flee the towns for monasteries,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sibson |first1=Carol |title=Lay spirituality in the high Middle Ages: how the layman became a match for the saint |journal=Reading Medieval Studies |date=2017 |volume=XLIII |url=http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/72648 |language=en |issn=0950-3129}}</ref>{{rp|130}} and other reasons.

A series of [[ecumenical councils]] were held with [[Medieval Restorationism|reformist]] agendas:

* [[Council of Constance]] (1415)
* [[Council of Basel|Council of Basel (1431)-Ferrara(1438)-Florence(1449)]]
* [[Fifth Council of the Lateran]] (1512–1517)

The kinds of positive reforms considered were not necessarily the ones that pre-occupied the [[Hussites]] (e.g., [[Utraquism|communion under both kinds]], married priests) and later [[Protestants]] (e.g., [[Indulgence#Protestant Reformation|indulgences]], justification). Ending schism and war (especially papal war) was regarded by some prelates as the pre-condition for reformation.<ref name=minnich>{{cite journal |last1=Minnich |first1=Nelson H. |title=Concepts of Reform Proposed at the Fifth Lateran Council |journal=Archivum Historiae Pontificiae |date=1969 |volume=7 |pages=163–251 |jstor=23563707 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23563707 |issn=0066-6785}}</ref>{{rp|174}}

At times, the reform talk in the councils tended to lack enough specificity to result in an effective program—except for a tendency to follow the ''Observantist''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Roest |first1=Bert |title=Observant reform in religious orders |journal=The Cambridge History of Christianity |date=2 July 2009 |pages=446–457 |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521811064.031|isbn=978-1-139-05602-1 }}</ref> faction of the monastic orders (that less slackness regarding external observances would aid fervour in internal piety) or to promote a top-down ("head and body") institution-centric focus<ref name=mullett>{{cite book |last1=Mullett |first1=Michael A. |title=The Catholic Reformation |date=2023 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=9781032506647}}</ref>{{rp|ii}} that reform needed to start at and from the Pope, or bishops, or councils, or princes, or canon law.<ref name=minnich />  There was considerable support for the [[evangelical counsel]]s' ideal of poverty as a way to short-circuit careerism, though [[John Wycliffe#Attack on monasticism|John Wycliffe]]'s doctrine of mandatory apostolic poverty was decisively rejected at the Council of Constance.

Issues such as [[List of cardinal-nephews|papal nepotism]] and the wealth, dioscese-absenteeism, and pre-occupation with secular power of important bishops were recognized as perennial and scandalous problems. These resisted serious reform (by successive popes and councils with those bishops, unable to compromise their own interests) for centuries, causing friction as radical reformers periodically arose in response, such as [[Savonarola]].<ref name=mullett />{{rp|ch.1}}

In the half-century before the reformation, the phenomenon of Bishops closing down decadent monasteries or convents had become more common, as had programs to educate parish priests.<ref name=mullett />{{rp|ch.1}}  In the half-century before the Council of Trent, various evangelical Catholic leaders had experimented with reforms that came to be associated with Protestants: for example, [[Guillaume Briçonnet (bishop of Meaux)]] in Paris, with his former teacher [[Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples]],<ref>Ch.1 ''Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples''. 
Guy Bedouelle, OP. in Lindberg, Carter (ed.) {{cite book |title=The Reformation theologians: an introduction to theology in the early modern period |date=2002 |publisher=Blackwell |location=Oxford |isbn=9780631218395}}, Part 1</ref> had statues other than Christ removed from his churches (though not [[iconoclasm|destroyed]]), replaced the Hail Mary with the Pater Noster prayer, and made available vernacular French versions of the Gospels and Epistles.<ref name=mullett/>{{rp|ch.1}}

Conservative and reforming parties still survived within the Catholic Church even as the Protestant Reformations spread. [[Protestants]] decisively broke from the Catholic Church in the 1520s. The two distinct dogmatic positions within the Catholic Church solidified in the 1560s.

=== Priests and religious orders ===

The regular orders made their first attempts at reform in the 14th century. The 'Benedictine Bull' of 1336 reformed the [[Benedictines]] and [[Cistercians]]. In 1523, the [[Camaldolese|Camaldolese Hermits of Monte Corona]] were recognized as a separate congregation of monks.

In 1435, [[Francis of Paola]] founded the Poor Hermits of Saint Francis of Assisi, who became the [[Minim (religious order)|Minim]] Friars. In 1526, [[Matteo Bassi|Matteo de Bascio]] suggested reforming the [[Franciscan]] rule of life to its original purity, giving birth to the [[Order of Friars Minor Capuchin|Capuchins]], recognized by the pope in 1619.<ref name=Péronnet213>Péronnet, Michel (1981). ''Le XVe siècle'' (in French), Hachette U, p. 213.</ref> This order was well known to the laity and played an important role in public preaching.

To respond to the new needs of evangelism, clergy formed into [[religious congregation]]s, taking special vows but with no obligation to assist in a monastery's religious offices. These [[Clerics Regular|regular clergy]] taught, preached and took confession but were under a bishop's direct authority and not linked to a specific parish or area like a vicar or canon.<ref name=Péronnet213/> In Italy, the first congregation of regular clergy was the [[Theatines]] founded in 1524 by [[Saint Cajetan|Gaetano]] and Cardinal [[Pope Paul IV|Gian Caraffa]]. This was followed by the [[Somaschi Fathers]] in 1528, the [[Barnabites]] in 1530, the [[Ursulines]] in 1535, the [[Jesuits]], canonically recognised in 1540, the [[Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca]] in 1583, the [[Camillians]] in 1584, the [[Clerics Regular Minor|Adorno Fathers]] in 1588, and finally the [[Piarists]] in 1621.

At the end of the 1400s, a reform movement inspired by St [[Catherine of Genoa]]'s hospital ministry started spreading: in Rome, starting 1514, the [[Oratory of Divine Love]] attracted an aristocratic membership of priests and laymen to perform anonymous acts of charity and to discuss reform;<ref>Acton, ''The Cambridge Modern History Atlas'', (1907)</ref> the members subsequently became the key players in the church handling the Reformation. 
In 1548, then-layman [[Philip Neri]] founded a ''Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity of Pilgrims and Convalescents'':{{sfn|Walsh|1991|p=157}} this developed into the relatively-free religious community the [[Oratory of Saint Philip Neri|Oratorians]], who were given their constitutions in 1564 and recognized as a religious  order by the pope in 1575. They used music and singing to attract the faithful.<ref name=Péronnet214>Péronnet (1981). p. 214.</ref>