|
History of the Catholic Church
|
The History of the Roman Catholic Church from apostolic times covers a period of nearly 2,000 years, [1] making it the world's oldest and largest institution. It dates its beginning to the confession of Peter, and the establishment of the church by Jesus Christ. [2] [3] [4] [5] Catholic doctrine states that Christ is the head of his Mystical Body, the Catholic Church.[6] [7] [8] [9] The history of the Roman Catholic Church is integral to the History of Christianity and the history of Western civilization.[10]
Roman Catholic Church history is based on the interpretation of Matthew 16:18 as delineating Christ's designation of Apostle Peter and his successors in Rome to be secular head of his Church. The authority of the Apostle Peter and his successors is thus viewed as a continuous history from Jesus Christ through the ecumenical councils, a view shared by many historians as well.[11][12][13] The institution of the papacy as it exists today developed through the centuries. Church tradition records that Peter became the first leader of Christians in the Imperial capital of Rome. The apostles and many Christians traveled to northern Africa, Asia Minor, Arabia, Greece, and Rome to found the first Christian communities. Christianity spread quickly through the Roman Empire, and by the second century there were many established bishoprics within the Empire including Northern Africa, France, Italy, Syria, and Asia Minor, and twenty bishoprics outside the empire, mainly in Armenia. [14] Irenaeus (d. 202) defended the apostolic tradition, which can only be safeguarded with the central primacy of Rome.[15]
In 313, the struggles of the early Church were lessened by the legalisation of Christianity by the Emperor Constantine I. In 383, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire by the decree of the Emperor, which would persist until the fall of the Western Empire, and later, with the Eastern Roman Empire, until the capture of Constantinople. At this time there were considered five primary sees according to Eusebius: Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria.
After the destruction of the western Roman Empire, the church in the West preserved classical civilization, establishing monasteries, and sending missionaries to convert the pagan peoples of northern Europe, as far as Ireland in the north. In the East, the Byzantine Empire preserved Catholicism, up until the massive invasions of Islam in the mid-seventh century. The invasions of Islam devastated three of the five sees, capturing Jerusalem first, then Alexandria, and then finally in the mid-eighth century, they captured Antioch.
The whole period of the next five centuries was dominated by the struggle between the Catholic Church and Islam throughout the Mediterranean. The battles of Poitiers, and Toulouse preserved the west, even as Rome itself was ravaged in 850, and Constantinople besieged.
In the 11th century, as the invasions of Islam strained relations between the primarily Greek church in the East, and the Latin church in the West, it split apart, partially due to the split over papal power, the fourth crusade, and the sacking of Constantinople by the Europeans proved the final breach.
In the 16th century, partly in response to the Protestant Reformation, the Church engaged in a process of substantial reform and renewal, known as the Counter-Reformation.[16] In subsequent centuries, Catholicism spread widely across the world, though seeing a reduction in its hold on European countries from the growth of religious scepticism after the Enlightenment. The Second Vatican Council in the 1960s introduced the most significant changes to Catholic practices since the Council of Trent three centuries before.
Church beginnings
Origins
- See also: History of early Christianity
The years following Ascension of Jesus until the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles is called the Apostolic Age [17] Jesus instructed his disciples to spread his teachings (Mk28,28, Mk16,15) “before his ascension but did not tell them how. [18] In the Roman Catholic view, all twelve apostles are part of divine revelation, [19] but during the Apostolic Age, the Apostle Paul who opened the religion to gentiles, was without leadership position the most important figure [20] In or around the year 50, the apostles convened the first Church council, the Council of Jerusalem, to reconcile doctrinal differences among the competing forms of Christianity.[21][22] At the Council of Jerusalem in 50 it was confirmed that gentiles could be accepted as Christians.
The Christian community in Jerusalem, where Jesus, many of the twelve Apostles and many eye-witnesses originally lived, had a special position among Christian communities. It experienced conflict and persecution especially in the years 32-33 and 62-63 highlighted by the stoning of Saint Stephen and the Apostle James. [23] The destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 ended the pre-eminence of Jerusalem and with the consequent dispersion of Jews and Christians from this city, Early Christianity grew apart from Judaism and established itself as a predominantly gentile religion. Antioch became the first Gentile Christian community with stature [24]
Roman Christians had travelled to Jerusalem during the Pentacost experience [25] The Church of Rome was already flourishing, when, from Corinth the Apostle Paul sent his letter to the Roman Community in the Winter of 57-58 [26] [27] The Roman Catholic Church does not claim, that Peter founded the Roman Community. The Church does claim that Peter lived and died in Rome [28] And, “His authority perpetuated within the Christian community in evidence in the New Testament writings attributed to Peter himself” [29] The Roman Catholic Church asserts that this authority was inherited by Peter's successors as Bishop of Rome and also that the Roman Church had a solid apostolic succession in Linus, Anacletus, Clement I, Evaristus, Alexander I, Sixtus I, Telesphorus and the others that followed according to Irenaeus and early succession lists from the year 160 [30]
Apostles but also numerous Christians, soldiers, merchants, preachers [31] traveled to northern Africa, Asia Minor, Arabia, Greece, and other places to found the first Christian communities,[32][33][34] and over 40 were established by the year 100.[33][34] established by the year 100.[33][35]
At first, Christians continued to worship alongside Jewish believers, but within twenty years of Jesus's death, Sunday was being regarded as the primary day of worship.[36] Growing tensions soon led to a starker separation that was virtually complete by the time Christians refused to join in the Bar Khokba Jewish revolt of 132,[37] however some groups of Christians retained elements of Jewish practice.[38] Church leadership by bishops priests and deacons originated in the New Testament period.[39] Christianity also differed from other Roman religions in that it set out its beliefs in a clearly defined way.[40] From as early as the first century, the Church of Rome was recognized as a doctrinal authority because it was believed that the Apostles Peter and Paul had led the Church there.[12][41][42]
The apostles convened the first Church council, the Council of Jerusalem, in or around the year 50 to reconcile differences concerning the Gentile mission.[21] Although competing forms of Christianity emerged early and persisted into the fifth century, there was broad doctrinal unity within the mainstream churches.[43] From the year 100 onward, teachers like Ignatius of Antioch and Irenaeus defined Catholic teaching in stark opposition to heresies such as Gnosticism.[44] The Roman Church retained the practice of meeting in ecumenical councils to ensure that any internal doctrinal differences were quickly resolved.[22] In the first few centuries of its existence, the Church formed its teachings and traditions into a systematic whole under the influence of theological apologists such as Pope Clement I, Justin Martyr and Augustine of Hippo.[45]
The Christian church was fragmented in its early days. [46] Partially as a response to the Gnostic teaching, in the 2nd century, Iranaeus created the first known document describing apostolic succession.[47]
Persecutions
In the first few centuries of its existence, the Church defined and formed its teachings and traditions into a systematic whole under the influence of theological apologists such as Pope Clement I, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr and Augustine of Hippo.[45] Because early Christians refused to offer sacrifices to the Roman gods or to defer to Roman rulers as gods, they were frequently subject to persecution.[48] The ferocity or absence of the persecution varied depending upon the policies of the emperor in question. Persecution began under Nero in the first century, and by the mid-third century it was extensive throughout the empire, culminating in the great persecution of Diocletian and Galerius at the beginning of the fourth century, which was seen as a final attempt to wipe out Christianity.[49] In spite of these persecutions evangelization efforts persisted, leading to the Edict of Milan which legalized Christianity in 313.[50] By 380, Christianity had become the official religion of the Empire.[51]
From Constantine to Gregory
Council of Nicaea
In 325, the First Council of Nicaea was convened in response to the Arian challenge concerning the trinitarian nature of God. The council formulated the Nicene Creed as a basic statement of Christian belief and divided the church into geographical and administrative areas called dioceses.[52] Although Rome was one of three dioceses whose primacy was officially sanctioned by this council, it had certain qualities that destined it for particular prominence. It was considered the see of Peter and Paul, it was located in the capital of the empire, church scholars were desirous of obtaining the Roman bishop's support in doctrinal disputes, and it was wealthy and known for supporting other churches around the world.[53] Most of following ecumenical councils sought the approval of the Bishop of Rome, whose delegates usually presided them or were headed by the Pope himself. [54]
Constantine
Emperor Constantine I established the rights of the Church in the year 315
During the reign of Pope Sylvester I, Emperor Constantine I commissioned the first Basilica of St. Peter, as well as the Lateran Palace, a papal residence, and several other sites of lasting importance to Christianity.[55] Many standard Christian practices had been established by the end of Constantine's life including the observation of Sunday as the official day of worship, the use of the altar as the focal point of each church, the sign of the cross, and the liturgical calendar.[56]
During the following decades a series of ecumenical christological councils codified critical elements of the Church's theology. The Council of Rome in 382 set the Biblical canon, listing the accepted books of the Old and New Testament, and in 391 the Vulgate Latin translation of the Bible was made.[57] The Council of Ephesus in 431 clarified the nature of Jesus' incarnation, declaring that he was both fully man and fully God.[58] Two decades later, the Council of Chalcedon solidified Roman papal primacy which added to continuing breakdown in relations between Rome and Constantinople, the see of the Eastern Church.[53] Also sparked were the Monophysite disagreements over the precise nature of the incarnation of Jesus which led to the first of the various Oriental Orthodox Churches breaking away from the Catholic Church.[22]
Middle Ages
Early Middle Ages
- Further information: Middle Ages and Christian monasticism
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, the Catholic faith competed with Arianism for the conversion of the barbarian tribes.[59] The 496 conversion of Clovis I, pagan king of the Franks, saw the beginning of a steady rise of the faith in the West.[60]
In 530, Saint Benedict wrote his Rule of St Benedict as a practical guide for monastic community life. Its message spread to monasteries throughout Europe.[61] Monasteries became major conduits of civilization, preserving craft and artistic skills while maintaining intellectual culture within their schools, scriptoria and libraries. They functioned as agricultural, economic and production centers as well as a focus for spiritual life.[62] During this period the Visigoths and Lombards moved away from Arianism for Catholicism.[60] Pope Gregory the Great played a notable role in these conversions and dramatically reformed the ecclesiastical structures and administration which then launched renewed missionary efforts.[63] Missionaries such as Augustine of Canterbury, who was sent from Rome to begin the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons, and, coming the other way in the Hiberno-Scottish mission, Saints Colombanus, Boniface, Willibrord, Ansgar and many others took Christianity into northern Europe and spread Catholicism among the Germanic, and Slavic peoples, and reached the Vikings and other Scandinavians in later centuries.[64] The Synod of Whitby of 664, though not as decisive as sometimes claimed, was an important moment in the reintegration of the Celtic Church of the British Isles, which had essentially lost contact with Rome because of the pagan invaders in between, into the Roman hierarchy.
In the early 700s, Byzantine iconoclasm became a major source of conflict between the Eastern and Western parts of the Church. Byzantine emperors forbade the creation and veneration of religious images, as violations of the Ten Commandments. Other major religions in the East such as Judaism and Islam had similar prohibitions. Pope Gregory III vehemently disagreed [65] A new Empress Irene siding with the pope, called for an Ecumenical Council In 787, the fathers of the Second Council of Nicaea "warmly received the papal delegates and his message" ,[66] At the conclusion, 300 bishops, who were led by the representatives of Pope Hadrian I. [67] "adopted the Pope's teaching" ,[66] in favor of icons.
With the coronation of Charlemagne by Pope Leo III in 800, his new title as Patricius Romanorum, and the handing over of the keys to the Tomb of Saint Peter, the papacy had acquired a new protector in the West. This freed the pontiffs to some degree from the power of the emperor in Constantinople but also led to a schism, because the emperors and patriarchs of Constantinople interpreted themselves as the true descendants of the Roman Empire dating back to the beginnings of the Church. [68] Pope Nicholas I had refused to recognize Patriarch Photios I of Constantinople ,who in turn had attacked the pope as a heretic, because he kept the filioque in the creed, which referred to the Holy Spirit emanating from God the Father and the Son. The papacy was strengthened through this new allicance, which in the long term created a new problem for the Popes, when in the Investiture Controversy succeeding emperors sought to appoint bishops and even future popes.[69][70] After the disintegration of the Charlemagne empire and repeated incursions of Islamic forces into Italy, the papacy, without any protection, entered a phase of major weakness. [71]
High Middle Ages
- Further information: High Middle Ages
The Cluniac reform of monasteries that began in 910 placed abbots under the direct control of the pope rather than the secular control of feudal lords, thus eliminating a major source of corruption. This sparked a great monastic renewal.[72] Monasteries, convents and cathedrals still operated virtually all schools and libraries, and often functioned as credit establishments promoting economic growth.[73][74] After 1100, some older cathedral schools split into lower grammar schools and higher schools for advanced learning. First in Bologna, then at Paris and Oxford, many of these higher schools developed into universities and became the direct ancestors of modern Western institutions of learning.[75] It was here where notable theologians worked to explain the connection between human experience and faith.[76] The most notable of these theologians, Thomas Aquinas, produced Summa Theologica, a key intellectual achievement in its synthesis of Aristotelian thought and the Gospel.[76] Monastic contributions to western society included the teaching of metallurgy, the introduction of new crops, the invention of musical notation and the creation and preservation of literature.[75]
During the 11th century, the East–West schism permanently divided Christianity.[77] It arose over a dispute on whether Constantinople or Rome held jurisdiction over the church in Sicily and led to mutual excommunications in 1054.[77] The Western (Latin) branch of Christianity has since become known as the Catholic Church, while the Eastern (Greek) branch became known as the Orthodox Church.[78][79] The Second Council of Lyon (1274) and the Council of Florence (1439) both failed to heal the schism.[80] Some Eastern churches have since reunited with the Catholic Church, and others claim never to have been out of communion with the pope.[79][81] Officially, the two churches remain in schism, although excommunications were mutually lifted in 1965.[82]
The 11th century saw the Investiture Controversy between Emperor and Pope over the right to make church appointments, the first major phase of the struggle between Church and state in medieval Europe. The Papacy were the initial victors, but as Italians divided between Guelphs and Ghibellines in factions that were often passed down through families or states until the end of the Middle Ages, the dispute gradually weakened the Papacy, not least by drawing it into politics. The Church also attempted to control, or exact a price for, most marriages among the great by prohibiting, in 1059, marriages involving consanguinity (blood kin) and affinity (kin by marriage) to the seventh degree of relationship. Under these rules, almost all great marriages required a dispensation. The rules were relaxed to the fourth degree in 1215 (now only the first degree is prohibited by the Church - a man cannot marry his stepdaughter, for example).
Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade in 1095 when he received an appeal from Byzantine emperor Alexius I to help ward off a Turkish invasion.[83] Urban further believed that a Crusade might help bring about reconciliation with Eastern Christianity.[84][85] Fueled by reports of Muslim atrocities against Christians,[86] the series of military campaigns known as the Crusades began in 1096. They were intended to return the Holy Land to Christian control. The goal was not permanently realized, and episodes of brutality committed by the armies of both sides left a legacy of mutual distrust between Muslims and Western and Eastern Christians.[87] The sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade left Eastern Christians embittered, despite the fact that Pope Innocent III had expressly forbidden any such attack.[88] In 2001, Pope John Paul II apologized to the Orthodox Christians for the sins of Catholics including the sacking of Constantinople in 1204.[89]
Two new orders of architecture emerged from the Church of this era. The earlier Romanesque style combined massive walls, rounded arches and ceilings of masonry. To compensate for the absence of large windows, interiors were brightly painted with scenes from the Bible and the lives of the saints. Later, the Basilique Saint-Denis marked a new trend in cathedral building when it utilized Gothic architecture.[90] This style, with its large windows and high, pointed arches, improved lighting and geometric harmony in a manner that was intended to direct the worshiper's mind to God who "orders all things".[90] In other developments, the 12th century saw the founding of eight new monastic orders, many of them functioning as Military Knights of the Crusades.[91] Cistercian monk Bernard of Clairvaux exerted great influence over the new orders and produced reforms to ensure purity of purpose.[91] His influence led Pope Alexander III to begin reforms that would lead to the establishment of canon law.[92] In the following century, new mendicant orders were founded by Francis of Assisi and Dominic de Guzmán which brought consecrated religious life into urban settings.[93]
12th century France witnessed the widespread growth of Catharism, a dualistic belief in extreme asceticism which taught that all matter was evil, accepted suicide and denied the value of Church sacraments. After a papal legate was murdered by the Cathars in 1208, Pope Innocent III declared the Albigensian Crusade.[94] Abuses committed during the crusade caused Innocent III to informally institute the first papal inquisition to prevent future aberrational practices and to root out the remaining Cathars.[95][96] Formalized under Gregory IX, this Medieval inquisition executed an average of three people per year for heresy at its height.[96][97] Over time, other inquisitions were launched by the Church or secular rulers to prosecute heretics, to respond to the threat of Moorish invasion or for political purposes.[98] The accused were encouraged to recant their heresy and those who did not could be punished by penance, fines, imprisonment, torture or execution by burning.[99][98] King Philip IV of France created an inquisition for his suppression of the Knights Templar during the 14th century.[97] King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella formed another in 1480, originally to deal with distrusted ex-Jewish and ex-Muslim converts.[100] Over a 350-year period, this Spanish Inquisition executed between 3,000 and 4,000 people,[101] representing around two percent of those accused.[102] The inquisition played a major role in the final expulsion of Islam from the kingdoms of Sicily and Spain.[103] In 1482, Pope Sixtus IV condemned its excesses but Ferdinand ignored his protests.[104] Historians note that for centuries Protestant propaganda and popular literature exaggerated the horrors of these inquisitions.[105][106][107][108] According to Edward Norman, this view "identified the entire Catholic Church ... with [the] occasional excesses" wrought by secular rulers.[106] While one percent of those tried in the inquisitions received death penalties, scholars agree that they were "more enlightened" and considered to be rather lenient when compared to secular courts.[97][101][105]
A growing sense of church-state conflicts marked the 14th century. To escape instability in Rome, Clement V in 1309 became the first of seven popes to reside in the fortified city of Avignon in southern France[109] during a period known as the Avignon Papacy. The papacy returned to Rome in 1378 at the urging of Catherine of Siena and others who felt the See of Peter should be in the Roman church.[110][111] With the death of Pope Gregory XI later that year, the papal election was disputed between supporters of Italian and French-backed candidates leading to the Western schism. For 38 years, separate claimants to the papal throne sat in Rome and Avignon. Efforts at resolution further complicated the issue when a third compromise pope was elected in 1409.[112] The matter was finally resolved in 1417 at the Council of Constance where the cardinals called upon all three claimants to the papal throne to resign, and held a new election naming Martin V pope.[112]
Renaissance and reforms
Discoveries and Missionaries
- See also: Reformation, English Reformation, and Counter-Reformation
- Further information: Roman Catholic Church and colonialism and Catholicism and the wars of religion
Through the late 15th and early 16th centuries, European missionaries and explorers spread Catholicism to the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania. Pope Alexander VI, in the papal bull Inter caetera, awarded colonial rights over most of the newly discovered lands to Spain and Portugal.[113] Under the patronato system, state authorities controlled clerical appointments and no direct contact was allowed with the Vatican.[114] On December 1511, the Dominican friar Antonio de Montesinos openly rebuked the Spanish authorities governing Hispaniola for their mistreatment of the American natives, telling them "... you are in mortal sin ... for the cruelty and tyranny you use in dealing with these innocent people".[115][116][117] King Ferdinand enacted the Laws of Burgos and Valladolid in response. Enforcement was lax, and while some blame the Church for not doing enough to liberate the Indians, others point to the Church as the only voice raised on behalf of indigenous peoples.[118] The issue resulted in a crisis of conscience in 16th-century Spain.[116][117] An outpouring of self-criticism and philosophical reflection among Catholic theologians, most notably Francisco de Vitoria, led to debate on the nature of human rights[117] and the birth of modern international law.[119][120]
In 1521, through the leadership and preaching of the Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the first Catholics were baptized in what became the first Christian nation in Southeast Asia, the Philippines.[121] The following year, Franciscan missionaries arrived in what is now Mexico, and sought to convert the Indians and to provide for their well-being by establishing schools and hospitals. They taught the Indians better farming methods, and easier ways of weaving and making pottery. Because some people questioned whether the Indians were truly human and deserved baptism, Pope Paul III in the papal bull Veritas Ipsa or Sublimis Deus (1537) confirmed that the Indians were deserving people.[122][123] Afterward, the conversion effort gained momentum.[124] Over the next 150 years, the missions expanded into southwestern North America.[125] The native people were legally defined as children, and priests took on a paternalistic role, often enforced with corporal punishment.[126] Elsewhere, in India, Portuguese missionaries and the Spanish Jesuit Francis Xavier evangelized among non-Christians and a Christian community which claimed to have been established by Thomas the Apostle.[127]
Whitby Abbey England, one of hundreds of European monasteries destroyed during the Reformation.
Renaissance Church
In Europe, the Renaissance marked a period of renewed interest in ancient and classical learning. It also brought a re-examination of accepted beliefs. Cathedrals and churches had long served as picture books and art galleries for millions of the uneducated. The stained glass windows, frescoes, statues, paintings and panels retold the stories of the saints and of biblical characters. The Church sponsored great Renaissance artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, who created some of the world's most famous artworks.[128] The acceptance of humanism had its effects on the Church, which embraced it as well. In 1509, a well known scholar of the age, Erasmus, wrote The Praise of Folly, a work which captured a widely held unease about corruption in the Church.[129] The Papacy itself was questioned by councilarism expressed in the councils of Constance and the Basel. Real reforms during these ecumenical councils and the Fifth Lateran Council were attempted several times but thwarted. They were seen as necessary but did not succeed in large measure because of internal feuds within the Church, [130] ongoing conflicts with the Ottoman Empire andSaracenes [131] and the simony and nepotism practiced in the Renaissance Church of the 15th and early 16th centuries.[132] As a result, rich, powerful and worldly men like Roderigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI) were able to win election to the papacy.[132][133]
Reformation wars
The Fifth Lateran Council issued some but only minor reforms in March of 1517. A few months later, October 17, 1517, Martin Luther issued his Ninety-Five Theses in a letter to several bishops, hoping to spark debate.[134][135] His theses protested key points of Catholic doctrine as well as the sale of indulgences.[134][135] Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin, and others further criticized Catholic teachings. These challenges, supported by powerful political forces in the region, developed into the Protestant Reformation.[136][53] In Germany, the reformation led to war between the Protestant Schmalkaldic League and the Catholic Emperor Charles V. The first nine-year war ended in 1555 but continued tensions produced a far graver conflict, the Thirty Years' War, which broke out in 1618.[137] In France, a series of conflicts termed the French Wars of Religion was fought from 1562 to 1598 between the Huguenots and the forces of the French Catholic League. A series of popes sided with and became financial supporters of the Catholic League.[138] This ended under Pope Clement VIII, who hesitantly accepted King Henry IV's 1598 Edict of Nantes, which granted civil and religious toleration to Protestants.[137][138]
England
The English Reformation was ostensibly based on Henry VIII's desire for annulment of his marriage with Catherine of Aragon, and was initially more of a political, and later a theological dispute.[139] The Acts of Supremacy made the English monarch head of the English church thereby establishing the Church of England. Then, beginning in 1536, some 825 monasteries throughout England, Wales and Ireland were dissolved and Catholic churches were confiscated.[140][141] When he died in 1547 all monasteries, friaries, convents of nuns and shrines were destroyed or desolved.[141][142] Mary I of England reunited the Church of England with Rome and, against the advice of the Spanish ambassador, persecuted Protestants during the Marian Persecutions.[143][144] After some provocation, the following monarch, Elizabeth I enforced the Act of Supremacy. This prevented Catholics from becoming members of professions, holding public office, voting or educating their children.[143][145] Executions of Catholics under Elizabeth I, who reigned much longer, then surpassed the Marian persecutions[143] and persisted under subsequent English monarchs.[146] Penal laws were also enacted in Ireland[147] but were less effective than in England.[143][148] In part because the Irish people associated Catholicism with nationhood and national identity, they resisted persistent English efforts to eliminate the Catholic Church.[143][148]
Council of Trent
Historian Diarmaid MacCulloch, in his book The Reformation, A History noted that through all the slaughter of the Reformation era emerged the valuable concept of religious toleration and an improved Catholic Church[149] which responded to doctrinal challenges and abuses highlighted by the Reformation at the Council of Trent (1545–1563). The council became the driving-force of the Counter-Reformation, and reaffirmed central Catholic doctrines such as transubstantiation, and the requirement for love and hope as well as faith to attain salvation.[150] It also reformed many other areas of importance to the Church, most importantly by improving the education of the clergy and consolidating the central jurisdiction of the Roman Curia.[16][150][151] The criticisms of the Reformation were among factors that sparked new religious orders including the Theatines, Barnabites and Jesuits, some of which became the great missionary orders of later years.[152] Spiritual renewal and reform were inspired by many new saints like Teresa of Avila, Francis de Sales and Philip Neri whose writings spawned distinct schools of spirituality within the Church (Oratorians, Carmelites, Salesian), etc.[153] Improvement to the education of the laity was another positive effect of the era, with a proliferation of secondary schools reinvigorating higher studies such as history, philosophy and theology.[154] To popularize Counter-Reformation teachings, the Church encouraged the Baroque style in art, music and architecture. Baroque religious expression was stirring and emotional, created to stimulate religious fervor.[155]
Elsewhere, Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier introduced Christianity to Japan, and by the end of the 16th century tens of thousands of Japanese followed Roman Catholicism. Church growth came to a halt in 1597 under the Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu who, in an effort to isolate the country from foreign influences, launched a severe persecution of Christians.[156] Japanese were forbidden to leave the country and Europeans were forbidden to enter. Despite this, a minority Christian population survived into the 19th century.[156][157]
Baroque, Enlightenment and revolutions
The Council of Trent generated a revival of religious life and Marian devotions in the Roman Catholic Church. During the Reformation, the Church had defended its Marian beliefs against Protestant views. At the same time, the Catholic world was engaged in ongoing Ottoman Wars in Europe against Turkey which were fought and won under the auspices of the Virgin Mary. The victory at Battle of Lepanto (1571) was accredited to her “and signified the beginning of a strong resurgence of Marian devotions, focusing especially on Mary, the Queen of Heaven and Earth and her powerful role as mediatrix of many graces”. [158] The Colloquium marianum, a elite group, and the Sodality of Our Lady based their activities on a virtuous life, free of cardinal sins.
Pope Paul V and Gregory XV ruled in 1617 and 1622 to be inadmissible to state, that he virgin was conceived non-immaculate. Alexander VII declared in 1661, that the soul of Mary was free from original sin. Pope Clement XI ordered the feast of the Immaculata for the whole Church in 1708. The feast of the Rosary was introduced in 1716, the feast of the Seven Sorrows in 1727. The Angelus prayer was strongly supported by Pope Benedict XIII in 1724 and by Pope Benedict XIV in 1742. [159] Popular Marian piety was even more colourful and varied than ever before: Numerous Marian pilgrimages, Marian Salve devotions, new Marian litanies, Marian theatre plays, Marian hymns, Marian processions. Marian fraternities, today mostly defunct, had millions of members. [160]
The Enlightenment constituted a new challenge of the Church. Unlike the Protestant Reformation, which questioned certain Christian doctrines, the enlightenment questioned Christianity as a whole. Generally, it elevated human reason above divine revelation and down-graded religious authorities such as the papacy based on it[161] Politically the Ottoman Empire continued as a major threat, advancing all the way to the city of Vienna. Parallel the Church attempted to fend of Gallicanism and Councilarism, ideologies which threatened the papacy and structure of the Church.[162]
Toward the latter part of the 17th century, Blessed Pope Innocent XI viewed the increasing Turkish attacks against Europe, which were supported by France, as the major threat for the Church. He built a Polish-Austrian coalition for the Turkish defeat at Vienna in 1683. Living like a saint, he reformed abuses by the Church, [163]. In France, the Church battled Jansenism and Gallicanism, which supported Councilarism , and rejected papal primacy, demanding special concessions for the Church in France. This weakened the Church's ability to respond to gallicanist thinkers such as Denis Diderot, who challenged fundamental doctrines of the Church.[164]
In 1685 gallicanist King Louis XIV of France issued the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, ending a century of religious toleration.. France forced Catholic theologians to support councilarism and deny Papal infallibility. The king threatened Pope Innocent XI with a general council and a military take-over of the Papal state. [165] The absolute French State used Gallicanism to gain control of virtually all major Church appointments as well as many of the Church's properties.[166][167] State authority over the Church became popular in other countries as well. In Belgium and Germany, Gallicanism appeared in the form of Febronianism, which rejected papal pregoratives in an equal fashion. [168] Emperor Joseph II of Austria (1780-1790) practiced Josephinism by regulating Church life, appointments and massive confiscation of Church properties. [169]
Church in America
In the Americas, the Church expanded its missions but, until the 19th century, had to work under the Spanish and Portuguese governments and military. [170] Junípero Serra, the Franciscan priest in charge of this effort, founded a series of missions which became important economic, political, and religious institutions.[171] These missions brought grain, cattle and a new way of living to the Indian tribes of California. Overland routes were established from New Mexico that resulted in the colonization of San Francisco in 1776 and Los Angeles in 1781. However, by bringing Western civilization to the area, these missions and the Spanish government have been held responsible for wiping out nearly a third of the native population, primarily through disease.[172] Only in the 19th century, after the breakdown of most Spanish and Portuguese colonies, was the Vatican able to take charge of Catholic missionary activities through its Propaganda Fide organization. [173]
During this period the Church faced colonial abuses from the Portuguese and Spanish governments. In South America, the Jesuits protected native peoples from enslavement by establishing semi-independent settlements called reductions. Pope Gregory XVI, challenging Spanish and Portuguese sovereignty, appointed his own candidates as bishops in the colonies, condemned slavery and the slave trade in 1839 (papal bull In Supremo Apostolatus), and approved the ordination of native clergy in spite of government racism.[174]
India and China
See also Chinese Rites controversy
Francis Xavier (1502-1552) had began to introduce Christianity to India. Roberto de Nobili (1577-1656), a Tuscan Jesuit missionary to Southern India followed in his path. He pioneered (inculturation), adopting many Brahmin customs which were not, in his opinion, contrary to Christianity. He lived like a Brahmin, learned Sanskrit, and presented Christianity as a part of Indian beliefs, not identical with the controversial Portuguese culture of the colonialists. He permitted the use of all customs, which in his view did not directly contradict Christian teachings. By 1640 there were 40 000 Christians in Madura alone. In 1632, Pope Gregory XV gave permission for this approach. But strong anti-Jesuit sentiments in Portugal, France even in Rome resulted in a reversal, which signalled the end of the successful Catholic missions in India. [175] On September 12, 1744, Benedict XIV forbade the so called Malabar rites in India, with the result, that leading Indian casts who wanted to adhere to their traditional cultures, turned away from the Catholic Church. [176]
The Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) Adam Schall von Bell and other Jesuits had successfully introduced Christianity to China via inculturation. Ricci and Schall were appointed by the Chinese Emperor in Peking to be court mathematicians court astronomer and even Mandarin. The first Catholic Church was built in Peking in 1650 [177] The emperor granted freedom of religion to Catholics. Ricci had adopted the Catholic faith to Chinese thinking, permitting among others the veneration of the dead. The Vatican disagreed and forbade any adaptation in the so-called Chinese Rites controversy in 1692 and 1742. The Bull Ex Quo Singulari of Pope Benedict XIV from July 11, 1742 repeated verbatim the bull of Clement XI and stressed the purity of Christian teachings and traditions, which must be uphold against all heresies. This bull virtually destroyed the Jesuit goal , to christianize the influential upper classes in China. [178] The Vatican policy was the death of the missions in China. [179] Afterwards The Church experienced missionary setbacks in 1721 when the Chinese Rites controversy led the Kangxi Emperor to outlaw Christian missions.[180] . The Chinese emperor felt duped and refused to permit any alteration of the existing Christian practices. He told the visiting papal delegate:
- You destroyed your religion. You put in misery all Europeans living here in China. You desecrated the honour of all those, who died long ago. [181]
In 1939 Pope Pius XII, within weeks of his coronation, radically reverted the 250 year old Vatican policy and permitted the veneration of dead family members. [182] The Church began to flourish again with twenty new arch-dioceses, seventy-nine dioceses and thirty-eight apostolic prefects, but only until 1949, when the Communist revolution took over the country. [183]
Jesuits
Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, Marquis of Pombal, "The Expulsion of the Jesuits" by Louis-Michel van Loo, 1766.
Thoughout the inculturation controversy, the very existence of Jesuits were under attack in Portugal, Spain, France, and the Kingdom of Sicily. The inculturation controversy and the Jesuit support for the native Indians in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina added fuel to growing criticism of the order, which seemed to to symbolize the strength and independence of the Church. Defending the rights of native peoples in South America, hindered the efforts of European powers, espcecially Spain and Portugal to maintain absolute rule over their domains.[184] Portugal's Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, Marquis of Pombal was the main enemy of the Jesuits. Pope Benedict XIV attempted to keep the Jesuits in existence without any changes: Sint ut sunt aut not sint, They must be the way they are or they will not be,. [185] He went far to mollify Portugese pride, even allowing the local Cardinal to wear a papal tiara and have his seminarians dressed like cardinals [186]In 1773, European rulers united to force Pope Clement XIV to dissolve the order.[184] Several decades later Pius VII restored the Jesuits in the 1814 papal bull Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum.[187]
French Revolution
Matters grew still worse with the violent anti-clericalism of the French Revolution.[188] Direct attacks on the wealth of the Church and associated grievances led to the wholesale nationalisation of church property and attempts to establish a state-run church.[189] Large numbers of priests refused to take an oath of compliance to the National Assembly, leading to the Church being outlawed and replaced by a new religion of the worship of "Reason".[189] In this period, all monasteries were destroyed, 30,000 priests were exiled and hundreds more were killed.[189] When Pope Pius VI sided against the revolution in the First Coalition, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Italy. The 82 year old pope was taken as a prisoner to France in February 1799 and died in Valence August 29 1799 after six months of captivity. To win popular support for his rule, Napoleon re-established the Catholic Church in France through the Concordat of 1801.[190] All over Europe, the end of the Napoleonic wars signaled by the Congress of Vienna, brought Catholic revival, renewed enthusiasm, and new respect for the papacy following the depredations of the previous era.[191]
Africa
By the close of the 19th century, new technologies and superior weaponry had allowed European powers to gain control of most of the African interior.[192] The new rulers introduced a cash economy which required African people to become literate, and so created a great demand for schools. At the time, the only possibility open to Africans for a western education was through Christian missionaries.[192] Catholic missionaries followed colonial governments into Africa, and built schools, monasteries and churches.[192]
Industrial age
First Vatican Council
Before the council, in 1854 Pope Pius IX with the support of the overwhelming majority of Roman Catholic Bishops, whom he had consulted between 1851–1853, proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.[193] Eight years earlier, in 1846, the Pope had granted the unanimous wish of the bishops from the United States, and declared the Immaculata the patron of the USA. [194]
During First Vatican Council, some 108 council fathers requested to add the words “Immaculate Virgin” to the Hail Mary.[195] Some fathers requested, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception to be included in the Creed of the Church, which was opposed by Pius IX [196] Many French Catholics wished the dogmatization of Papal infallibility and the assumption of Mary by the ecumenical council. [197] During Vatican One, nine mariological petitions favoured a possible assumption dogma, which however was strongly opposed by some council fathers, especially from Germany. In 1870, the First Vatican Council affirmed the doctrine of papal infallibility when exercised in specifically defined pronouncements.[198][199] Controversy over this and other issues resulted in a very small breakaway movement called the
|
