Counter Reformation

A reform movement within the Roman Catholic Church that arose in 16th-century Europe in response to the Protestant Reformation.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Coun′ter Reforma′tion

the movement for reform within the Roman Catholic Church that followed the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.

coun•ter•ref•or•ma•tion

(ˈkaʊn tərˌrɛf ərˈmeɪ ʃən)

n.

a reformation opposed to or counteracting a previous reformation.

[1830–40]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

Counter Reformation - the reaction of the Roman Catholic Church to the Reformation reaffirming the veneration of saints and the authority of the Pope (to which Protestants objected); many leaders were Jesuits

religious movement - a movement intended to bring about religious reforms

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References in periodicals archive

Jacob's Antwerp Art and Counter Reformation in Rubens's Parish Church

St. Jacob's Antwerp Art and Counter Reformation in Rubens's Parish Church

In their introduction, the editors question the traditional dichotomy between a failed Reformation assumed to have characterized the first half of the century and a repressive Counter Reformation marking the second half.

Forms of Faith in Sixteenth-Century Italy: Culture and Religion

In 1563, Protestant martyrologist John Foxe published his Acts and Monuments chronicling the suffering of the victims of persecution during the Marian Counter Reformation. This work provided "binding historical myths" that served to reinforce Protestant ideology.

The Oxford Martyrs and the English Protestant movement, 1553-58

He looks at the movement called the Counter Reformation, Calvinism and how it played out in the various countries that embraced it, persecutions (including the Inquisition, the burning of witches, and the martyrdom of dissidents from both the Catholic and Lutheran churches), the Enlightenment, the Church of England, Lutheranism in Scandinavia, Methodism, church design, sermon style, music, art, and architecture, the effect of the printing press, biblical translations, Anabaptism, pietism, and more.

The Reformation

Inspired by Counter Reformation zeal, the establishment of the Guarani Missions in the early 1600s was one of the most noteworthy efforts of the Jesuits in the New World.

The Guarani under Spanish Rule in the Rio de la Plata

The Burgweinting church, on the other hand, minimizes tectonic expression in favour of visual effect; its almost explicitly theatrical sensibility necessarily evokes the German Counter Reformation's often theatrical churches.

Symbolically suggestive

As with so much in the Reformation and the Catholic movement known as the Counter Reformation, this dogmatism led to a more moderate reaction.

Divided Christians, then and now

In the prehistory to the events of his chronicle, Christian astutely points out that miraculous events and images have occurred in particular in years of political crisis -- e.g., the Counter Reformation. Devotions to the Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Mount Carmel came to have standardized images and the Pope rewarded prayers to these devotions with indulgences that were universal.

Visionaries: The Spanish Republic and the Reign of Christ

THE REFASHIONING OF CATHOLICISM, 1450-1700: A REASSESSMENT OF THE COUNTER REFORMATION. By Robert Bireley.

THE REFASHIONING OF CATHOLICISM, 1450-1700: A REASSESSMENT OF THE COUNTER REFORMATION

Her reign came at the peak of the Counter Reformation, in which Rome battled to reclaim countries earlier lost to Protestantism.

Bloody Mary Church apology