The 14th, 15th and 16th centuries saw a spiritual revival in Europe, in which the question of salvation

became central. This became known as the Catholic Reformation. Several theologians harked back
to the early days of Christianity and questioned their spirituality. Their debates expanded across the
whole of Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, whilst secular critics also examined religious
practice, clerical behavior and the Church's positions. Several varied currents of thought were active,
but the ideas of reform and renewal were led by the clergy.[citation needed] The reforms decreed at Lateran
V (1512-1517) had only a small effect.[citation needed] Some positions[clarification needed] got further and further from
the church's official positions,[citation needed] leading to the break with Rome and the formation of Protestant
churches. Even so, conservative and reforming parties still survived within the Catholic Church even
as the Protestant Reformation spread. The Protestant Church decisively broke from the Catholic
Church in the 1520s. The two distinct dogmatic positions within the Catholic Church solidified in the
1560s. The Catholic Reformation became known as the Counter-Reformation, defined as a reaction
to Protestantism rather than as a reform movement.
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 Hermits of Monte
Corona were recognized as a separate congregation of monks. In 1435, Saint Francis of
Paola founded the Poor Hermits of Saint Francis of Assisi, who became the Minim Friars. In
1526, Matteo de Bascio suggested reforming the Franciscan rule of life to its original purity, giving
birth to the Capuchins, recognized by the pope in 1619.[3]This order was well-known to the laity and
play an important role in public preaching. To respond to the new needs of evangelism, clergy
formed into religious congregations, taking special vows but with no obligation to assist in a
monastery's religious offices. Theseregular 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. [3] In
Italy, the first congregation of regular clergy was the Theatines founded in 1524
by Gaetano andCardinal 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 Adorno
Fathersin 1588, and finally the Piarists in 1621. In 1524, a number of priests in Rome began to live in
a community centred on Philip Neri. The Oratorians were given their institutions in 1564 and
recognized as an order by the pope in 1575. They used music and singing to attract the faithful. [4]

Council of Trent[edit]
Main article: Council of Trent

A session of the Council of Trent, from an engraving.

Pope Paul III (15341549) is considered to be the first pope of the Counter-Reformation, [2] and also
initiated the Council of Trent (15451563), a commission of cardinals tasked with institutional reform,
addressing contentious issues such as corrupt bishops and priests, indulgences, and other financial
abuses.
The Council upheld the basic structure of the Medieval Church, its sacramental system, religious
orders, and doctrine. It rejected all compromise with the Protestants, restating basic tenets of the
Roman Catholic faith. The Council upheld salvation appropriated by grace through faith and works of
that faith (not just by faith, as the Protestants insisted) because "faith without works is dead", as
the Epistle of St. James states (2:22-26). Transubstantiation, according to which the consecrated
bread and wine are held to have been transformed really and substantially into the body, blood, soul
and divinity of Christ, was also reaffirmed, as were the traditional seven Sacraments of the Catholic
Church. Other practices that drew the ire of Protestant reformers, such as pilgrimages,
the veneration of saints and relics, the use ofvenerable images and statuary, and the veneration of
the Virgin Mary were strongly reaffirmed as spiritually commendable practices. The Council officially
accepted the Vulgate listing of the Old Testament Bible which included the deuterocanonical works
(also called the Apocrypha by Protestants) on a par with the 39 books customarily found in
the Masoretic Text. This reaffirmed the previous Council of Romeand Synods of Carthage (both held
in the 4th century, A.D.) which had affirmed the Deuterocanon as Scripture.[5] The Council also
commissioned the Roman Catechism, which still serves as authoritative Church teaching.
While the traditional fundamentals of the Church were reaffirmed, there were noticeable changes to
answer complaints that the Counter-Reformers were, tacitly, willing to admit were legitimate. Among
the conditions to be corrected by Catholic reformers was the growing divide between the clerics and
the laity; many members of the clergy in the rural parishes, after all, had been poorly educated.
Often, these rural priests did not know Latin and lacked opportunities for proper theological training
(addressing the education of priests had been a fundamental focus of the humanist reformers in the
past). Parish priests were to be better educated in matters of theology and apologetics, while Papal

authorities sought to educate the faithful about the meaning, nature and value of art and liturgy,
particularly in monastic churches (Protestants had criticised them as "distracting"). Notebooks and
handbooks became more common, describing how to be good priests and confessors.
Thus, the Council of Trent attempted to improve the discipline and administration of the Church. The
worldly excesses of the secular Renaissance Church, epitomized by the era of Alexander VI (1492
1503), intensified during the Reformation under Pope Leo X(15131522), whose campaign to raise
funds for the construction of St. Peter's Basilica by