Category Archives: catholic reformation
Team 7, Question 3 4/12
A.
Mainly the problem that the church had with Henry VIII was that his marriage to Catherine in the eyes of the church with illegal due to him marrying his brother’s widow. “Since canon law prohibited a man’s marriage to his brother’s widow, the English representative in Rome obtained a pal dispensation” (Gonzalez, 88). The legality of his marriage would always be in question since it did not follow the canon law. Henry then would suggest that his bastard son who was the duck of Richmond become his true heir. This action too would be viewed as illegitimate according to Papal law. The pope refused to recognize his bastard son. He then tried to get his marriage with Catherine annulled to the fact that she would not bear him a suitable heir for the kingdom. Henry becoming very frustrated due to the apparent obstacles created by the church would turn to his trusted religious advisor, Thomas Cranmer. He suggested going to the religious schools for an appeal, this unfortunately would not work as well. Henry’s solution to his papal frustration was to call upon ancient laws and put the clergy under the direct authority of the king. He then strong-armed the pope into making Thomas Cranmer the archbishop of Canterbury. Henry, now that he has obtained the papal authority threatened anyone that would oppose his rightful place as the undisputable head of the church. He even would go as far as saying “any who dared call the king a schismatic or a heretic would be considered guilty of treason” (90). King Henry VIII more than anything wanted an heir to take over his kingdom. Unfortunately for him, he had to marry his brother’s widow which in the eyes of the church was illegal, and yet they married anyway. After that marriage Henry and his new wife Catherine tried to have a son, after this was unsuccessful he tried to divorce his wife. He suggested that since he couldn’t have a son then his bastard child should be able to take the throne. For this to happen he went to the church and asked if this was possible, it was not. He then simply wanted a divorce, and the church denied him. Eventually King Henry VIII would incant an ancient law enabling him to take over the church. All of these factors lead to the schism and hatred between the Catholic Church and Henry VIII. Henry VIII simply wanted to divorce his wife in order to remarry and then have a son. Pope Clement VII could not annul this marriage due to politic reasons. He had a relationship with Charles V and “Clement VII, could not invalidate Henry’s marriage to Catherine without alienating Charles V” (88). Clement didn’t want to alienate Charles because Charles essentially had the pope under his control, and since Catherine is Charles V’s aunt she didn’t want any dishonor so she pleaded not make the divorce go through. Both theologians and legislators concluded that Henry VIII should not be labeled the head of the church and to label him the head of the church what would unethical. He forced his way to his seat of power and he didn’t deserve to be the head of the church.
B.
This document fits the timeline of the previous reading however it does not address any of the events in detail. It doesn’t address the political shifts from all the parties involved in King Henry’s rise to power within the church, it does not explain in detail how much effort Henry put into divorcing his wife, it also does not mention that he was close friends with Thomas More before he decided to excommunicate him. The position that this reading puts Henry in is one of “he was right the entire time” and that “he could do no wrong”. Simply stated it says “Kings of this realm, shall have full power and authority from time to time to visit, repress, redress, reform, order, correct, restrain, and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offenses, contempts, and enormities”. King Henry affirmed that he had absolute divine power of everything within the church. He had the power to put any law he felt fit, he also had the power to repeal any law that he didn’t like because he is now the supreme ruler within the church and the state. This reading says that the king is given this power because he is the spokesperson to God and that everything the king does is for the unification of the Church and in the name of Christ Jesus.
C
This document deals with communion, transubstantiation, if priests can marry or not, if priests have to abide by the rules of chastity, if private masses are ok according to the laws of God, and if confessions are necessary for believers. I think that these rules are leaning more towards the Catholic Church. I think that these forms lean more to the Catholic side because they are still holding dear the practices of Catholicism. Masses are still being revered, priests are to remain unmarried, and laws regarding widowing and chastity are to be upheld. I think the consequences within this document is that these rules will cause a great schism between the Catholic Church and Protestant reformers. The Protestant Reformers will not see these changes as a step in what they believe is the right direction. They will believe that these rules and laws are just reaffirming what the Catholic church believes and practices on a daily basis.
Team 3, Question 2
Despite Luther and other reformer’s appeals for a universal council, during the early years of the 16th century the popes opposed the notion for fear of the reemergence of the conciliarist movement in the Roman Catholic Church. Finally, it was Pope Paul III who convoked an assembly, though it was not a universal council, ultimately only including Roman Catholic prelates. Once gathered, its end was “the uprooting of heresy, the restoring of peace and unity, and the reformation of ecclesiastical discipline and morals”, and so began the Counter Reformation.
The Roman Catholic doctrine of justification was not defined until after the beginning of the reformation at the Counter Reformation. The Roman Catholic Church’s response to Protestantism was three-pronged and included the Spanish Inquisition, the founding of the Jesuit Order, and the Council of Trent. It is interesting to note the proclamations of the Council of Trent were reaffirmed in toto in the Roman Catholic catechism in the 1990’s, so the Roman Catholic Church officially still affirms the canons of Trent.
The council, in Canons on the Sacraments in General, asserts the assembly is “lawfully assembled in the 
Holy Spirit”, and is “adhering to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, to the apostolic traditions, and to the unanimous teaching of other councils and of the Fathers”. Being in unity with the Holy Spirit and adhering to the teaching of Scripture, apostolic traditions, past councils, and the teachings of early church Fathers are all cited as justification for the authority of the Council of Trent.
Ultimate importance is given to what is dubbed the “most holy sacraments of the church”. If anyone changes the quantity or quality of the seven sacraments (Canon 1), says they are not necessary for salvation (Canon 4), says they are merely outward signs of grace conferred and do not in themselves confer grace (Canon 6 & 7), or says all Christians have the power to administer them (Canon 10), then those people are to be anathema (accursed).
With regard to origin, the sacraments were all instituted by Jesus Christ himself (Canon 1). They are significant because they are necessary for salvation (Canon 4) and directly contain the grace which they also outwardly signify (Canon 6 & 7). Many of the canons are in direct contrast with Protestant reforms, including the canons decreeing there are seven specific sacraments instead of two sacraments (Canon 1), justification is not obtained by grace through faith alone (contrasting sola fide, sola gratia) but requires the administration of the sacraments (Canon 4), the sacraments literally contain the grace they signify to confer (Canon 6 & 7), grace is not conferred by faith alone (contrasting sola fide, sola gratia) in the divine promise but ex opere operato (the sacraments derive their power from Christ’s work and are independent of the recipient’s faith) (Canon 8), and (Sacerdotalism instead of Universal Priesthood) not all Christians can administer the Word and sacraments (Canon 10).
In the Index of Prohibited Books, any books written by or New Testaments translated by Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Balthasar Friedberg, Schwenkfeld, and others like them were condemned as heretical and forbidden. Books are condemned either by the Pontiff or by ecumenical councils, and inspections can be done by bishops, inquisitors, and Roman Catholic theologians. Different translations of the Old Testament may be read by pious men only, at the discretion of the local bishop. The Vulgate edition is the preferred and official version of the Roman Catholic Church. Book dealers selling or supplying Bibles written in vernacular languages will be fined and punished. Bishops, inquisitors, and theologians are the ones primarily in charge of controlling what books are available to people, and it makes sense to focus so much on books since they are storehouses of information (and increasingly widespread with the printing press).
Team 1, Question 1
The Pope at the current time, Leo X, believed that the responsibility to consider, in the worlds eye, what is right and what is wrong lied in the hands of the Church. He takes to the saints Peter, Paul etc. to cleanse the church of its heretical concepts. The establishment of the decree was, as a purpose, a form of eradicating heresy, throughout the minds of the Catholic church. A one-to-one interaction with God was more prevalent in Pope Leo X’s principles, therefore creating the hierarchy of a personal relationship with God. This circumvents the original ideals of the Catholic church, neglecting the Pope as a mediator. The act of communion is essential to the Christian practice, but the Protestant idea of such practice was in contrast with Pope Leo’s notion of the unification of the church. Based in the traditional church view, eucharist should be taken as a physical act for the individuals in the church in order to feel connected with Christ. Although the Protasents saw that the authority figure, the Pope, was in the way of a authentic relationship with Christ. The papal authority was a road block for individuals. This caused a lack of intimacy with the Lord Jesus.
Team 2 Question 1
Pope Leo X begins the decree by calling upon the Lord to judge the Protestants and he then calls upon Peter, Paul, and every other saint to purge the catholic “sheep” of their heretical ideas. The rest of his introduction goes on to imply that it is the Catholic church’s job to to deem what is right and what is heretical and he says that his justification for that is the acts of his predecessors, (which seems circular to me but I guess if precedent is something we are to follow as christians i shouldn’t question the pope’s ideas). The idea that the introduction gives the reader is that every idea the church has deemed heretical and every action they have taken to weed out heresy has been to ensure the security and the sanctity of the church as a whole. the Teachings that the pope lists as heretical all seem to follow a similar idealogical vein, namely that christianity is not a prescribed religion and is not dependent on the works of priests and bishops and even popes, but instead that it is one that is developed by one’s one experiences and one’s one relationship with God. The protestant ideas of the eucharist and of penance disturb Pope Leo’s “peace and unity of the holy church” by saying that the things that the church is currently doing are being done wrong or are completely inconsequential and shouldn’t be regarded as essential. The eucharist for example the protestants believed that the fact that transubstantiation was taught by the church was just a power grab to keep people coming back to them for their magical powers and not what it really should have been, a remembrance of the community that christ had built around him before his death. The protestants also spoke out about papal authority namely, excommunication and the powers of the pope over the people. The protestant teachings about excommunication, that is does not really separate someone from the church’s prayers and thoughts and it is merely a physical punishment. They also said that the pope is not the ambassador for Christ on earth and that the bible verses that the pope uses to assure that his power is legitimate are taken out of context and were never meant to apply in the circumstances that the popes are applying them to. they also spoke out against the crusades and said that to fight the turks was to “resist God.” All of the teachings that the Pope goes over in this decree are aimed at undermining the legitimacy of the Papal See and they argue that it is our job as individuals to express our opinions as freely as we can and we shouldn’t be persecuted for it.
Team 6, Question 3 (4/14)
The Spiritual Exercises proposed by Ignatius of Loyola were seen as ways to condition and prepare a person’s spirit for the transition into the Kingdom of Heaven. The ability to prepare one’s soul for the transition is possible because Ignatius differentiates between the material and spiritual worlds. His philosophy is somewhat similar to Luther’s in the way that all worldly possessions, motivations, and corporeal beings are moving through this life to the next and are in need of spiritual cleansing before passing to the Kingdom of Heaven. In order to cleanse a person they need to condition their spirituality with spiritual exercises.
In his “Rules for Thinking with the Church” Ignatius is refuting protestant arguments by siding with a more tradition over scripture approach. This is seen in his praise of the Holy Sacraments, confession, and other well-known church traditions such as Lent. While praising tradition, Ignatius also proposes that followers of the church should follow the leaders blindly without question or refutation for it would be more likely to cause a stir than be beneficial. This is shown in rules ten and eleven. His teachings show a Catholic perspective on religious devotion in many ways. One is the praising of church art and what the art represents, which would be considered idolatry to the Protestants. In general his teachings embody how the people should place their faith in the officials of the church in order to have faith in God. Truly this devotion to the church itself allows Ignatius to feel true devotion to god, which is essentially the problem the Protestants had with the church in the first place.
Ignatius’s popular teachings influenced the church and led many to follow, and in turn became more connected with the church. During this time the protestant reformation was in full swing with many different and liberal protestant sects forming. These sects could have had many common folk confused on how to worship and who to follow. Ignatius’s monastic upbringing and similar philosophy to Luther probably allowed for a less demanding way of life compared to that of the church. Following Ignatius’s teachings may have been seen as a middle ground. People would of course like to go back to the church that they already know, but a bunch of protestant sects possibly gave better lifestyle choices that seemed foreign or extreme. Ignatius’s teaching probably allowed for people to return to the church with a different viewpoint and way to worship that was less extreme.
Team 7, Question 3 (4/14)
Ignatius of Loyola was the founder of the concept of “spiritual exercises” these were practices that were meant to prepare ones soul for the transition into heaven. These exercises consisted of prayer, meditation, and other spiritual activities that aimed to “[be] preparing and disposing the soul to rid itself of all inordinate attachments… seeking and finding the will of god.” Ignatius differentiates the “material” and “spiritual” spheres, thus allowing the possibility of “saving ones soul” by the act of using the things created on this earth to achieve his end for which he is created and remove and cleanse himself in practices such as spiritual exercises of the things that are a hindrance to him. This belief of Loyola leads him to the conclusion that ones desire and choices should be what will let them achieve the end for which one is created.
In Loyola’s “Rules for Thinking with the Church” He is discrediting protestant ideals by siding with catholic tradition. This is seen is his support for confession, mass, relics, and Lent. Loyola writes, “what seems to men white I will believe black if the hierarchical church so defines.” It is this belief that lead many protestants to have a problem with the church in the first place. This belief shows that unity in church thinking is held very highly in Loyola’s eyes, and is even higher than the right to question how one is interpreting what they are preaching. This belief coincides with the religious unity the catholic church has always desired. The overarching theme in this passage was that the faith and obedience in church officials would lead you to greater religious devotion.
Ignatius of Loyola’s attitudes of the church had become very popular as he seemed to neutralize the ideas of Luther and the reformation church. While Luther and Loyola had both come to realize the justness of god Loyola had gone about it in a way of reaffirming many of the Churches practices such as indulgences, relics, and so on. I think that his beliefs were so popular because his emphasis was on all the ways that you can deepen your relationship with god and cleanse your soul through spiritual exercises. This practice may have become so popular because of all the missionaries that we’re focused on teaching people about it and because of the reformation they’re may have been many catholic people looking for a new way to worship god but still be practicing the same beliefs.