Editing Counter-Reformation (section)

== Outcomes ==
Scholars have made a distinction between the political issue of a state's [[established religion]] remaining Catholic and the advance of religious reforms within Catholicism: Anglican historian G.E. Duffield notes "RC reform[...]does not easily fit into geographical patterns as Protestant reform does."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Duffield |first1=G.E. |title=Bibliography of the Engish eformatio (Review) |journal=Churchman |volume=72 |issue=2 |url=https://www.churchsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Cman_087_2_Reviews.pdf |access-date=25 January 2025}}</ref>{{rp|149}}

===Areas affected===
The Counter-Reformation succeeded in drastically diminishing [[Protestantism]] in [[Lithuania]], [[Poland]], [[France]], [[Italy]], and the vast lands controlled by the [[Habsburgs]] including [[Austria]], southern [[Germany]], [[Bohemia]] (now in the [[Czech Republic]]), the [[Spanish Netherlands]] (now [[Belgium]] and surrounds), [[Croatia]], and [[Slovenia]]. It did not succeed as completely in [[Hungary]], where a sizeable Protestant minority remains to this day, although Catholics still are the largest Christian denomination.

[[File:The Protestant Reformation.svg|500 px|left|Peak of the Reformation & beginning of the Counter-Reformation (1545–1620)]]
[[File:The Counterreformation.svg|500 px|right|End of the Reformation & Counter-Reformation (1648)]]
{{clear}}

===Religious orders===
{{Further|Second scholasticism|Society of Jesus}}
New religious orders were a fundamental part of the reforms. Orders such as the [[Order of Friars Minor Capuchin|Capuchins]], [[Discalced Carmelites]], [[Discalced Augustinians]] and [[Augustinian Recollects]], Cistercian [[Congregation of the Feuillants|Feuillants]], [[Angelines]] and [[Ursulines]], [[Theatines]], [[Barnabites]], and the [[Congregation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri]] attempted either to be less decadent or to engage in charitable service, and set examples of Catholic renewal particularly in Southern Europe. The [[Society of Jesus|Jesuits]] especially worked in rural parishes. Most of these had been founded earlier in the 15th Century, as part of Catholic reforms before the Council of Trent.

The Theatines undertook checking the spread of heresy and contributed to a regeneration of the clergy. The Capuchins, an offshoot of the [[Franciscan]] order notable for their preaching and for their care for the poor and the sick, grew rapidly. Capuchin-founded confraternities took special interest in the poor and lived austerely. Members of orders active in overseas missionary expansion expressed the view that the rural parishes often needed Christianizing as much as the heathens of Asia and the Americas.

The Ursulines focused on the special task of [[educating girls]],<ref>{{cite web |title= The Ursulines |publisher= [[Catholic Encyclopedia]] |quote= A religious order founded by St. Angela de Merici for the sole purpose of educating young girls |url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15228b.htm |access-date= 8 March 2015 |archive-date= 18 June 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150618195152/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15228b.htm |url-status= live }}</ref> the first order of women to be dedicated to that goal.<ref>[[Philip Hughes (historian)|Hughes, Philip]] (1960) [1957]. ''A Popular History of the Reformation'', Garden City, New York: Image Books, Ch. 3, "Revival and Reformation, 1495–1530", Sec. iii, "The Italian Saints", p. 86.</ref> Devotion to the traditional works of mercy exemplified the Catholic Reformation's reaffirmation of the importance of both faith and works and salvation through God's grace and repudiation of the maxim ''[[sola fide]]'' emphasized by Protestants sects. Not only did they make the Church more effective, but they also reaffirmed fundamental premises of the medieval Church.{{Citation needed|date=August 2018}}

The Jesuits were the most effective of the new Catholic orders. An heir to the [[Catholic devotions|devotional]], [[observantine]], and [[legalism (theology)|legalist]] traditions, the Jesuits organized along military lines. The worldliness of the Renaissance Church had no part in their new order. Loyola's masterwork [[Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola|''Spiritual Exercises'']] showed the emphasis of handbooks characteristic of Catholic reformers before the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]]s, reminiscent of [[Roman Catholic devotions|devotionalism]].

Jesuits participated in the expansion of the Church in the Americas and Asia, by their missionary activity. Loyola's biography contributed to an emphasis on popular piety that had waned under political popes such as [[Pope Alexander VI|Alexander VI]] and [[Pope Leo X|Leo X]]. After recovering from a serious wound, he took a vow to "serve only God and the Roman pontiff, His vicar on Earth." The emphasis on the Pope is a reaffirmation of the medieval papalism, while the Council of Trent defeated [[conciliarism]], the belief that general councils of the Church collectively were God's representative on Earth rather than the Pope. Taking the Pope as an absolute leader, the Jesuits contributed to the Counter-Reformation Church along a line harmonized with Rome.

===Devotion and mysticism===
{{Main|Ignatius of Loyola|Philip Neri|Teresa of Ávila|John of the Cross|Francis de Sales}}
{{Infobox artwork
| image_file=(Venice) Allegoria della battaglia di Lepanto - Gallerie Accademia.jpg
| backcolor=#FBF5DF 
| image_upright=1.2
| title=The Battle of Lepanto
| artist=[[Paolo Veronese]]
| year=1571
| medium=[[Oil on canvas]]
| height_metric=169
| width_metric=137
| metric_unit=cm
| imperial_unit=in
| city=[[Venice]], Italy
| museum=[[Gallerie dell'Accademia]]
| italic title=no
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The Catholic Reformation was not only a political and Church policy oriented movement, but it also included major figures such as [[Catherine of Genoa]], [[Ignatius of Loyola]], [[Teresa of Ávila]], [[John of the Cross]], [[Francis de Sales]], and [[Philip Neri]], who added to the [[spirituality]] of the Catholic Church. Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross were Spanish mystics and reformers of the [[Carmelite Order]], whose ministry focused on [[Interior life (Catholic theology)|interior conversion]] to Christ, the deepening of prayer, and commitment to God's will. Teresa was given the task of developing and writing about the way to perfection in her love and unity with Christ. [[Thomas Merton]] called John of the Cross the greatest of all mystical theologians.<ref>{{cite book |title= John of the Cross |chapter=[[Ascent of Mount Carmel]] |publisher= Image Books |year=1958}}</ref>

The spirituality of Filippo Neri, who lived in Rome at the same time as Ignatius, was practically oriented, too, but totally opposed to the [[Jesuit]] approach. Said Filippo, "If I have a real problem, I contemplate what Ignatius would do ... and then I do the exact opposite".{{Citation needed|date=September 2019}} As a recognition of their joint contribution to the spiritual renewal within the Catholic reformation, [[Ignatius of Loyola]], [[Filippo Neri]], and [[Teresa of Ávila]] were [[canonization|canonized]] on the same day, March 12, 1622.

The Virgin Mary played an increasingly central role in Catholic devotions. The victory at the [[Battle of Lepanto (1571)|Battle of Lepanto]] in 1571 was accredited to the Virgin Mary and signified the beginning of a strong resurgence of Marian devotions.<ref>Stegmüller, Otto (1967). "Barock" (in German). ''Lexikon der Marienkunde''. Regensburg, p. 566.</ref> During and after the Catholic Reformation, Marian piety experienced unforeseen growth with over 500 pages of mariological writings during the 17th century alone.<ref>A Roskovany, conceptu immacolata ex monumentis omnium seculorum demonstrate III, Budapest 1873</ref> The Jesuit [[Francisco Suárez]] was the first theologian to use the [[Thomist]] method on Marian theology. Other well-known contributors to Marian spirituality are Saints [[Lawrence of Brindisi]], [[Robert Bellarmine]], and [[Francis de Sales]].

The [[Sacrament of Penance (Catholic Church)|sacrament of penance]] was transformed from a social to a personal experience; that is, from a public community act to a private confession. It now took place in private in a confessional. It was a change in its emphasis from reconciliation with the Church to reconciliation directly with God and from emphasis on social sins of hostility to private sins (called "the secret sins of the heart").<ref>{{Cite journal |author=[[John Bossy|Bossy, John]] |title= The Social History of Confession in the Age of the Reformation |journal= Transactions of the Royal Historical Society |volume= 25 |pages= 21–38 |year= 1975 |jstor = 3679084 |doi= 10.2307/3679084|s2cid= 144537144 }}</ref>

===Baroque art===
{{Main|Art in the Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation}}
The Catholic Church was a leading arts patron across much of Europe. The goal of much art in the Counter-Reformation, especially in the Rome of [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini|Bernini]] and the Flanders of [[Peter Paul Rubens]], was to restore Catholicism's predominance and centrality. This was one of the drivers of the [[Baroque]] style that emerged across Europe in the late sixteenth century. In areas where Catholicism predominated, architecture<ref>{{cite book |author= Kruft, Hanno-Walter |title= The Counter-Reformation, Baroque and Neo-classicism |year= 1994 |publisher= Princeton Architectural Press |pages= 93–107 |isbn= 9781568980102 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=OPTfVyHyVW4C&pg=PA93}}</ref> and painting,<ref>{{cite book |author1= Gardner, Helen |author2= Kleiner, Fred S. |title= Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective |year= 2010 |publisher= Cengage Learning |page=192 |isbn= 9780495573647 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UK_jTggtYl8C&pg=PT192}}</ref> and to a lesser extent music, reflected Counter-Reformation goals.<ref>{{cite book |author= Hauser, Arnold |title= Social History of Art, Volume 2: Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque |year= 1999 |publisher= Psychology Press |page= 192 |isbn= 9780203981320 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YYy0WgUXlKEC}}</ref>

The Council of Trent proclaimed that architecture, painting and sculpture had a role in conveying Catholic [[theology]]. Any work that might arouse "carnal desire" was inadmissible in churches, while any depiction of Christ's suffering and explicit agony was desirable and proper. In an era when some Protestant reformers were destroying images of saints and whitewashing walls, Catholic reformers reaffirmed the importance of art, with special encouragement given to images of the Virgin Mary.<ref>Earls, Irene (1996). ''Baroque Art: A Topical Dictionary''. pp. 76–77.</ref>

====Decrees on art====
{{Infobox artwork
| image_file=Last Judgement (Michelangelo).jpg
| backcolor=#FBF5DF
| image_upright=1.2
| title=''The Last Judgment''
| artist=[[Michelangelo]]
| year=1537–1541
| type=[[Fresco]]
| height_metric=1370
| width_metric=1200
| height_imperial=539.3
| width_imperial=472.4
| metric_unit=cm
| imperial_unit=in
| city=[[Vatican City]]
| museum=[[Sistine Chapel]]
| italic title=no
}}
[[The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)|''The Last Judgment'']], a fresco in the [[Sistine Chapel]] by [[Michelangelo]] (1534–1541), came under persistent attack in the Counter-Reformation for, among other things, nudity (later painted over for several centuries), not showing Christ seated or bearded, and including the pagan figure of [[Charon (mythology)|Charon]].
Italian painting after 1520, with the notable exception of the art of [[Venice]], developed into [[Mannerism]], a highly sophisticated style striving for effect, that concerned many Churchmen as lacking appeal for the mass of the population. Church pressure to restrain religious imagery affected art from the 1530s and resulted in the decrees of the final session of the Council of Trent in 1563 including short and rather inexplicit passages concerning religious images, which were to have great impact on the development of Catholic art. Previous Catholic councils had rarely felt the need to pronounce on these matters, unlike [[Eastern Orthodox|Orthodox]] ones which have often ruled on specific types of images.

The decree confirmed the traditional doctrine that images only represented the person depicted, and that veneration to them was paid to the person, not the image, and further instructed that:
{{blockquote|...&nbsp;every superstition shall be removed&nbsp;... all lasciviousness be avoided; in such wise that figures shall not be painted or adorned with a beauty exciting to lust&nbsp;... there be nothing seen that is disorderly, or that is unbecomingly or confusedly arranged, nothing that is profane, nothing indecorous, seeing that holiness becometh the house of God.

And that these things may be the more faithfully observed, the holy Synod ordains, that no one be allowed to place, or cause to be placed, any unusual image, in any place, or church, howsoever exempted, except that image have been approved of by the bishop&nbsp;...<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct25.html |title=Text of the 25th decree of the Council of Trent |access-date=2008-07-08 |archive-date=2011-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629071158/http://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct25.html |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

Ten years after the decree [[Paolo Veronese]] was summoned by the [[Holy Office]] to explain why his ''Last Supper'', a huge canvas for the refectory of a monastery, contained, in the words of the Holy Office: "buffoons, drunken Germans, dwarfs and other such scurrilities" as well as extravagant costumes and settings, in what is indeed a fantasy version of a Venetian patrician feast.<ref>{{Cite web |title= Transcript of Veronese's testimony |url= http://www.efn.org/~acd/Veronese.html|access-date=2008-07-08 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090929022528/http://www.efn.org/~acd/Veronese.html |archive-date=2009-09-29 |url-status= dead}}</ref> Veronese was told that he must change his painting within a three-month period. He just changed the title to ''[[The Feast in the House of Levi]]'', still an episode from the Gospels, but a less doctrinally central one, and no more was said.<ref>Rostand, David (1997). ''Painting in Sixteenth-Century Venice: Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto'', 2nd ed., Cambridge UP {{ISBN|0-521-56568-5}}</ref>

The number of such decorative treatments of religious subjects declined sharply, as did "unbecomingly or confusedly arranged" Mannerist pieces, as a number of books, notably by the Flemish theologian [[Molanus]], [[Charles Borromeo]] and Cardinal [[Gabriele Paleotti]], and instructions by local bishops, amplified the decrees, often going into minute detail on what was acceptable. Much traditional [[iconography]] considered without adequate scriptural foundation was in effect prohibited, as was any inclusion of classical pagan elements in religious art, and almost all nudity, including that of the infant Jesus.<ref>[[Anthony Blunt|Blunt, Anthony]], (1940; refs to 1985 edn). ''Artistic Theory in Italy, 1450–1660'', chapter VIII, especially pp. 107–128, [[OUP]], {{ISBN|0-19-881050-4}}</ref>

According to the great medievalist [[Émile Mâle]], this was "the death of medieval art",<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080403052437/http://danielmitsui.tripod.com/aaaaa/deathart.html The death of Medieval Art]. Extract from book by [[Émile Mâle]]</ref> but it paled in contrast to the Iconclasm present in some Protestant circles and did not apply to secular paintings. Some Counter Reformation painters and sculptors include [[Titian]], [[Tintoretto]], [[Federico Barocci]], [[Scipione Pulzone]], [[El Greco]], [[Peter Paul Rubens]], [[Guido Reni]], [[Anthony van Dyck]], [[Bernini]], [[Zurbarán]], [[Rembrandt]] and [[Bartolomé Esteban Murillo]].

===Church music=== 
[[The Council of Trent]] is believed to be the apex of the Counter-Reformation's influence on Church music in the 16th century. However, the council's pronouncements on music were not the first attempt at reform. The Catholic Church had spoken out against a perceived abuse of music used in the Mass before the Council of Trent ever convened to discuss music in 1562. The manipulation of the [[Credo|Creed]] and using non-liturgical songs was addressed in 1503, and secular singing and the intelligibility of the text in the delivery of psalmody in 1492.<ref name=fellerer-haddas>{{cite journal |last1=Fellerer |first1=K. G. |last2=Hadas |first2=Moses |title=Church Music and the Council of Trent |journal=The Musical Quarterly |date=1953 |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=576–594 |doi=10.1093/mq/XXXIX.4.576 |jstor=739857 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/739857 |issn=0027-4631}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611173341/http://www.jstor.org/stable/739857 |date=2016-06-11 }} </ref>{{rp|576}} The delegates at the council were just a link in the long chain of Church clergy who had pushed for a reform of the musical liturgy reaching back as far as 1322.<ref name=Manzetti330>Manzetti (1928). p. 330.</ref>

Fueling the cry for reform from many ecclesial figures was the compositional technique popular in the 15th and 16th centuries of using musical material and even the accompanying texts from other compositions such as [[motets]], [[madrigal (music)|madrigals]], and [[chansons]]. Several voices singing different texts in different languages made any of the text difficult to distinguish from the mixture of words and notes. The [[parody mass]] would then contain melodies (usually the tenor line) and words from songs that could have been, and often were, on sensual subjects.<ref name=Manzetti330/> The musical liturgy of the Church was being more and more influenced by secular tunes and styles. The Council of Paris, which met in 1528, as well as the Council of Trent were making attempts to restore the sense of sacredness to the Church setting and what was appropriate for the Mass. The councils were responding to issues of their day.<ref name=fellerer-haddas/>{{rp|580–581}}

One of the most austere moves at reform came late in 1562 when, perhaps instructed by some legates, [[Egidio Foscarari]] (bishop of Modena) and [[Gabriele Paleotti]] (archbishop of Bologna) began work on reforming religious orders and their practices involving the liturgy in their dioceses.<ref>Monson (2002). p. 20.</ref> Paleotti's reforms for convents of nuns allowed only the use of an organ,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Monson |first1=Craig A. |title=Nuns Behaving Badly: Tales of Music, Magic, Art, and Arson in the Convents of Italy |date=15 November 2010 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-53462-6 |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|32-33}} prohibited professional musicians, and banished [[polyphony|polyphonic singing]]; this was much more strict than the Trent council's eventual edicts or even those devised for the [[Missa_Papae_Marcelli#History|Palestrina legend]].<ref>Monson (2002). p. 21.</ref>

====Reforms during the 22nd session====
The Council of Trent met sporadically from December 13, 1545, to December 4, 1563, to reform many parts of the Catholic Church. 

The 22nd session required that secular elements be kept out of Mass music, keeping [[polyphony]] implicitly allowed.<ref>Monson (2002). p. 12.</ref> 

{{quote|[Bishops] shall also banish from the churches all such music which, whether by the organ or in the singing, contains things that are lascivious or impure;|source="''Decree Concerning The Things To Be Observed And Avoided In The Celebration Of Mass''", Chapter IX, Session 22, Council of Trent, 1562<ref>{{cite web |title=Twenty-Second Session of the Council of Trentw|url=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/twentysecond-session-of-the-council-of-trent-1489 |website=EWTN Global Catholic Television Network |language=en}}</ref> }}

====Proposed removal of polyphony====
The issue of textual intelligibility did not make its way into the final edicts of the 22nd session but were only featured in preliminary debates.<ref>Monson (2002). p. 22.</ref> However Archbishop Paleotti, in his Acts (the minutes of the Council), attempted to bring to equal importance the issues of intelligibility.<ref>Monson (2002). p. 24.</ref> 

The idea that the council called to remove all polyphony from the Church is widespread, but there is no documentary evidence to support that claim. It is possible, however, that some of the Fathers had proposed such a measure.<ref>Manzetti (1928). p. 331.</ref>  The Council of Trent did not focus on the style of music but on attitudes of worship and reverence during the Mass.<ref name=fellerer-haddas/>{{rp|576}}

More severe measures had been submitted for consideration, as proposed Canon 8 of "Abuses in the Sacrifice of the Mass" during a meeting of the council on September 10, 1562.<ref name=fellerer-haddas/>{{rp|576}} The proposed Canon 8 states that "Since the sacred mysteries should be celebrated with utmost reverence, with both deepest feeling toward God alone, and with external worship that is truly suitable and becoming, so that others may be filled with devotion and called to religion: ... Everything should be regulated so that the Masses, whether they be celebrated with the plain voice or in song, with everything clearly and quickly executed, may reach the ears of the hearers and quietly penetrate their hearts. In those Masses where measured music and organ are customary, nothing profane should be intermingled, but only hymns and divine praises. If something from the divine service is sung with the organ while the service proceeds, let if first be recited in a simple, clear voice, lest the reading of the sacred words be imperceptible. But the entire manner of singing in musical modes should be calculated not to afford vain delight to the ear, but so that the words may be comprehensible to all; and thus may the hearts of the listeners be caught up into the desire for celestial harmonies and contemplation of the joys of the blessed."<ref>Monson (2002). p.9.</ref>

The emperor [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor]] has been attributed to be the "saviour of Church music" because he said polyphony ought not to be driven out of the Church. But Ferdinand was most likely an alarmist and read into the council the possibility of a total ban on polyphony.<ref>Monson (2002). p. 16.</ref>

The Canon 8 text is often quoted as the Council of Trent's decree on Church music, but that is a glaring misunderstanding of the canon; it was only a proposed decree. In fact, the delegates at the council never officially accepted canon 8 in its popular form but bishops of Granada, Coimbra, and Segovia pushed for the long statement about music to be attenuated and many other prelates of the council joined enthusiastically.<ref>Monson (2002). pp. 10–11.</ref>

=====Saviour-Legend=====
The crises regarding [[polyphony]] and intelligibility of the text and the threat that polyphony was to be removed completely, which was assumed to be coming from the council, has a very dramatic legend of resolution. The legend goes that [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina]] (c. 1525/26–1594), a Church musician and choirmaster in Rome, wrote a Mass for the council delegates in order to demonstrate that a polyphonic composition could set the text in such a way that the words could be clearly understood and that was still pleasing to the ear. Palestrina's [[Pope Marcellus Mass|Missa Papae Marcelli]] (Mass for Pope Marcellus) was performed before the council and received such a welcoming reception among the delegates that they completely changed their minds and allowed polyphony to stay in use in the musical liturgy. Therefore, Palestrina came to be named the "saviour of Church polyphony". This legend, though unfounded, has long been a mainstay of histories of music.<ref>Davey, Henry. "Giovanni Pierluigi, da Palestrina", ''Proceedings of the Musical Association'', 25th Sess. (1898–1899), p. 53. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/765152 in JSTOR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818152524/http://www.jstor.org/stable/765152 |date=2016-08-18 }}.</ref> The saviour-myth was first spread by an account by Aggazzari and Banchieri in 1609 who said that [[Pope Marcellus II|Pope Marcellus]] was trying to replace all polyphony with plainsong.<ref name="Davey. p. 52">Davey. p. 52.</ref> Palestrina's "Missa Papae Marcelli" was indeed performed for the Pope in 1564 , after the 22nd session, while reforms were being considered for the [[Sistine Choir]].

The Pope Marcellus Mass, in short, was not important in its own day and did not help save Church polyphony.<ref>[[Carleton Sprague Smith|Smith, Carleton Sprague]] and Dinneen, William (1944). "Recent Work on Music in the Renaissance", ''Modern Philology'', Vol. 42, No. 1, p. 45. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/434466 in JSTOR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131230242/http://www.jstor.org/stable/434466 |date=2016-01-31 }}.</ref> What is undeniable is that despite any solid evidence of his influence during or after the Council of Trent, no figure is more qualified to represent the cause of polyphony in the Mass than Palestrina.<ref>Manzetti (1928). p. 332.</ref> [[Pope Pius IV]] upon hearing Palestrina's music would make Palestrina, by Papal Brief, the model for future generations of Catholic composers of sacred music.<ref name="Davey. p. 52"/>

====Reforms following the Council of Trent====
[[File:Catholic faith defeating heresies (Karlskirche Vienna).jpg|200px|right|thumb|[[Johann Michael Rottmayr]] (1729): ''The Catholic faith defeats Protestant heresies''; part of a fresco inside [[Karlskirche]] in [[Vienna]]]]

Like his contemporary Palestrina, the Flemish composer [[Jacobus de Kerle]] (1531/32–1591) was also credited with giving a model of composition for the Council of Trent. His composition in four parts, [[Preces]], marks the "official turning point of the Counter Reformation's a cappella ideal."<ref>Smith and Dinneen (1944). p. 45.</ref> Kerle was the only ranking composer of the Netherlands to have acted in conformity with the council.<ref name=Leicht326>Leichtentritt (1944). p. 326.</ref> Another musical giant on equal standing with Palestrina, [[Orlande de Lassus|Orlando di Lasso]] (1530/32–1594) was an important figure in music history though less of a purist than Palestrina.<ref>Davey. p. 56.</ref> He expressed sympathy for the council's concerns but still showed favor for the "Parady chanson Masses."<ref name=Leicht326/>

Despite the dearth of edicts from the council regarding polyphony and textual clarity, the reforms that followed from the 22nd session filled in the gaps left by the council in stylistic areas. In the 24th session the council gave authority to "Provincial Synods" to discern provisions for Church music.<ref name=fellerer-haddas/>{{rp|576–577}} The decision to leave practical application and stylistic matters to local ecclesiastical leaders was important in shaping the future of Catholic church music.<ref>Monson (2002). p. 27.</ref> It was left then up to the local Church leaders and Church musicians to find proper application for the council's decrees.<ref name=LHL346>Lockwood (1957). p. 346.</ref>

Though originally theological and directed towards the attitudes of the musicians, the Council's decrees came to be thought of by Church musicians as a pronouncement on proper musical styles.<ref name=fellerer-haddas/>{{rp|592–593}} This understanding was most likely spread through musicians who sought to implement the council's declarations but did not read the official Tridentine pronouncements. Church musicians were probably influenced by order from their ecclesiastical patrons.<ref>Monson (2002). p. 26.</ref> Composers who reference the council's reforms in prefaces to their compositions do not adequately claim a musical basis from the council but a spiritual and religious basis of their art.<ref name=fellerer-haddas/>{{rp|576–594}}

The Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, [[Carlo Borromeo|Charles Borromeo]], was a very important figure in reforming Church music after the Council of Trent. Though Borromeo was an aide to the pope in Rome and was unable to be in Milan, he eagerly pushed for the decrees of the council to be quickly put into practice in Milan.<ref name=LHL346/> Borromeo kept in contact with his church in Milian through letters and eagerly encouraged the leaders there to implement the reforms coming from the Council of Trent. In one of his letters to his vicar in the Milan diocese, Nicolo Ormaneto of Verona, Borromeo commissioned the master of the chapel, [[Vincenzo Ruffo]] (1508–1587), to write a Mass that would make the words as easy to understand as possible. Borromeo also suggested that if Don Nicola, a composer of a more chromatic style, was in Milan he too could compose a Mass and the two be compared for textural clarity.<ref>Lockwood (1957). p. 348.</ref> Borromeo was likely involved or heard of the questions regarding textual clarity because of his request to Ruffo.

Ruffo took Borromeo's commission seriously and set out to compose in a style that presented the text so that all words would be intelligible and the textual meaning be the most important part of the composition. His approach was to move all the voices in a [[homorhythmic]] manner with no complicated rhythms, and to use dissonance very conservatively. Ruffo's approach was certainly a success for textual clarity and simplicity, but if his music was very theoretically pure it was not an artistic success despite Ruffo's attempts to bring interest to the monotonous four-part texture.<ref>Lockwood (1957). p. 362.</ref> Ruffo's compositional style which favored the text was well in line with the council's perceived concern with intelligibility. Thus the belief in the council's strong edicts regarding textual intelligibility became to characterize the development of sacred Church music.

The Council of Trent brought about other changes in music: most notably developing the [[Missa brevis]], [[Lauda (song)|Lauda]] and "Spiritual [[Madrigal (Trecento)|Madrigal]]" (Madrigali Spirituali). Additionally, the numerous [[Sequence (musical form)|sequences]] were mostly prohibited in the 1570 [[Tridentine Mass|Missal of Pius V]]. The remaining sequences were ''[[Victimae paschali laudes]]'' for [[Easter]], ''[[Veni Sancte Spiritus]]'' for [[Pentecost]], ''[[Lauda Sion Salvatorem]]'' for [[Corpus Christi (feast)|Corpus Christi]], and ''[[Dies Irae]]'' for [[All Souls' Day|All Souls]] and for [[Requiem Mass|Masses for the Dead]].

Another reform following the Council of Trent was the publication of the 1568 ''[[Roman Breviary]]''.

===Calendrical studies===
{{See also|Geocentric model#Historical positions of the Catholic hierarchy}}
More celebrations of holidays and similar events raised a need to have these events followed closely throughout the dioceses. But there was a problem with the accuracy of the [[calendar]]: by the sixteenth century the [[Julian calendar]] was almost ten days out of step with the seasons and the heavenly bodies. Among the astronomers who were asked to work on the problem of how the calendar could be reformed was [[Nicolaus Copernicus]], a canon at [[Frombork]] (Frauenburg). In the dedication to ''[[De revolutionibus orbium coelestium]]'' (1543), Copernicus mentioned the reform of the calendar proposed by the [[Fifth Council of the Lateran]] (1512–1517). As he explains, a proper measurement of the length of the year was a necessary foundation to calendar reform. By implication, his work replacing the [[Ptolemaic system]] with a [[heliocentric model]] was prompted in part by the need for calendar reform.

An actual new calendar had to wait until the [[Gregorian calendar]] in 1582. At the time of its publication, ''De revolutionibus'' passed with relatively little comment: little more than a mathematical convenience that simplified astronomical references for a more accurate calendar.<ref>{{cite book|last=Burke|first=James|title=[[The Day the Universe Changed]]|publisher=London Writers Ltd.|year=1985|page=136}}</ref> Physical evidence suggesting Copernicus's theory regarding the earth's motion was literally true promoted the apparent heresy against the religious thought of the time. As a result, during the [[Galileo affair]], [[Galileo Galilei]] was placed under house arrest, served in Rome, [[Siena]], [[Arcetri]], and [[Florence]], for publishing writings said to be "vehemently suspected of being heretical." His opponents condemned heliocentric theory and temporarily banned its teaching in 1633.<ref>{{harvnb|Burke|1985|p=149}}.</ref> Similarly, the [[Academia Secretorum Naturae]] in Naples had been shut down in 1578. As a result of clerical opposition, heliocentricists emigrated from Catholic to Protestant areas, some forming the [[Melanchthon Circle]].