A Brief Analysis of The Catholic Counter Reformation

The Protestant Reformation marked many firsts during the early sixteenth century; it was the first time people outwardly expressed their discontent against the Catholic clergy and selling indulgences. In order to defend the name of the Catholic Church, reforms were established in the shape of the Catholic Counter Reformation. This began an intense revolution in the way laypeople viewed church doctrine, clergymen, and tradition. Many clergymen and laypeople alike demanded the restructuring of the church, none so much as Ignatius Loyola. Loyola sought to intertwine the conservative ideals of his own founding religion, the Society of Jesus (or the Jesuits) with the conventional methods the Catholic Church refused to stray from.

Loyola best exemplifies humble attitude of mind in his book The Spiritual Exercises; it is an in depth collection of guidelines that promote selflessness, self-mastery, and obedience when living an active Christian life. Unlike Luther and Calvin, Loyola states that active Christians should "put aside all private judgments" regarding Christ and the hierarchical church. At the time of the Counter Reformation, the Catholic Church was trying to defend criticism from both the outside and the inside of the church. Loyola stood out as a great pioneer for the Catholic faith and a foot soldier for the Counter Reformation; in some respect, he alleviated the pain that the protestant reformation was causing the Catholic Church by providing his own cure, the Jesuit ideals.

Often fanatical in his writing, Loyola never ceased to entertain new ways to discipline the self; self-mastery, the denial of self feeling was the only way one could fully obey the dictates of the church hierarchy. Loyola declared that even though it had already been determined which beings would be saved and lost, "we should not make predestination a habitual subject of conversation." Without ever really knowing which people were God's chosen, many people found it hard to act in a manner that resembled a chosen person. This was another dilemma the Catholic Church faced due to people acting in a fashion that was detrimental to their salvation; even before the Council of Trent ever convened, Loyola seemed to confront the qualms about the Catholic Church in a less ruthless but evident approach.

Obedience was a tough and brutal lesson to learn in the Catholic Church; Loyola shockingly stated, "I will believe that the white I see is black, if the hierarchical Church so defines it." Loyola displayed severe illustrations of absolute sacrifice in The Spiritual Exercises; these guidelines were extremely crucial to understanding the reasoning behind church standards and "thinking with the church." Living like Christ was the most important benchmark that entwined both the Catholic Church and the church militia who fought for it, the Jesuits. While the Catholic Church was losing momentum and legitimacy, it finally summoned the Council of Trent in 1545 to ensure that the reputation of Catholicism would remain truthful, spiritual, and perpetual. Fortunately under the Counter Reformation and the Jesuits, many people were brought back into the church due to the educational principles of the Jesuits, the energetic preaching, the persecution of Protestants, and censorship.

While the Protestant Reformation brought forth many new faiths due to the downfall of Catholicism, the Counter Reformation improved on those issues while securing the permanence of the Catholic faith. The lesser battles fought by Ignatius Loyola and his brethren in the Jesuits were great milestones in the history of the Catholic Church. Not only did Loyola influence critical resolutions made during the Counter Reformation and the Council of Trent, it served as a framework for future concerns within the church and modern Christian-based values. Perhaps without such zealous radicals as Luther and Calvin that spoke out against the duplicity of the church, such a conservative Catholic activist as Ignatius Loyola would not have had the chance to defend the faith that shaped his life.