Victor R. Claveau, MJ
The Counter Reformation is the name given to the movement established within the Catholic Church for the purposes of bringing the people that had been lost in the Protestant upheaval back into the fold and preventing a recurrence of that catastrophe.
The Council of Trent.
The 19th Ecumenical[1] Council, [2] opened at Trento, Italy, on Dec. 13, 1545, and closed there on Dec. 4, 1563, having held 25 sessions. The Council’s objective was the order and clarification of Catholic doctrine, and legislation for a thorough reform of the Church.
The 25-year conflict over its convocation.
Recognizing at the beginning of this our pontificate, which the providence of Almighty God, not for any merits of our own, but by reason of its own great goodness, hath committed unto us, and to how many distresses in almost all affairs our pastoral solicitude and watchfulness were called, we desired indeed to remedy the that have long afflicted and well-nigh overwhelmed the Christian commonwealth; but we also, as men compassed with infirmity[3], felt our strength unequal to take upon us so heavy a burden. For, while we realized that peace was necessary to free and preserve the commonwealth from the many dangers that threatened it, we found all filled with hatreds and dissensions, and particularly those princes, to whom God has entrusted almost the entire direction of affairs, at enmity with one another. Whilst we deemed it necessary for the integrity of the Christian religion and for the confirmation within us of the hope of heavenly things, that there be one fold and one shepherd,[4] for the Lord’s flock, the unity of the Christian name was well-nigh rent and torn asunder by schisms, dissensions, heresies.
Wherefore, having been, as we have said, called upon to guide and govern the bark of Peter, in so great a tempest, and in the midst of so violent an agitation of the waves of heresies, dissensions, and wars; and, not relying sufficiently on our own strength, we, first of all, cast our cares upon the Lord, that He might sustain us, and furnish our soul with firmness and strength, our understanding with prudence and wisdom.
[1] In Christianity today the word ecumenical has two specific meanings: 1.When used in the context above it means the convocation or official assembly of all the bishops of the world, which when summoned by the Bishop of Rome, constitutes the highest teaching authority if the Church and represents and/or binds the entire Catholic Church; 2. Promoting the full unity, which Christ intended that his Church should have. The first meaning is Catholic in origin and is present in the phrase Ecumenical Council as used by Catholics. The second is present in the phrase ecumenical movement as used by Protestants and adopted by Catholics.
[2] There have been 21 Ecumenical Councils in the history of the Church. The first was the Council of Jerusalem, A. D. 49 or 50 (See Acts of the Apostles, Chap.15); the last was convened in Rome (Second Vatican Council) 1962-65.
[3] Heb. 5:12.
[4] John 10:16.