LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Reformation: Counter Reformation
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Not surprisingly, a Counter-Reformation developed to combat the new reforms and bolster the doctrine and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The undisputed leader of this movement was Spain, then enjoying its “golden century.” With wealth looted from New World sources, Spain was the dominant world power and closest ally of the pope. For a time England, too, remained loyal to Rome. Henry VIII used his writing talents to launch an attack on Lutheranism and was awarded the title of Defender of the Faith by the pope. Henry’s loyalty, of course, later gave way to the more pressing need to preserve the Tudor dynasty.
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The basic structure of the Mass is largely unchanged since the 6th cent. In the Counter Reformation the forms were restricted and local variants eliminated. As a result of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Mass liturgy has undergone extensive reformation. The revisions include the use of the vernacular languages in the place of Latin, an emphasis on congregational singing, latitude for modifications that may be introduced by local bishops, additional eucharistic prayers, and communion in both bread and wine.
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The Counter-Reformation can hardly be said to have affected Scotland and Scandinavia, so complete had been the victory of Protestantism. Yet while Queen Mary reigned in Scotland there had been renewed signs of life. Fathers de Gouda, Edmund Hay, James Gordon, S.J., Bishop Leslie, and Ninian Winzet are the more notable names of this period. Mention must ... be made of John Ogilvie, S.J., martyred in 1615, and the heroic resistance made by many Catholic nobles to the tyranny of the Kirk. There was no local ecclesiastical superior or government, the mission depending directly on the Holy See till 1653; but there were some small Scottish colleges for the secular clergy at Rome, Douai, Paris, and Madrid. In Scandinavia the fall of Catholicism did not come about in a day or a generation -- Father Possevin, S.J., as also several papal nuncios strove hard to avert it -- but the Counter-Reformation as a movement did not reach any of its peoples.
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There were several other notable saints of the Counter-Reformation. Some responded to the "faith not works" challenge of the Protestants by finding a new vocation in social justice. Vincent de Paul and Francis de Sales were intensely devoted to caring for the poor, founding orders with that mission at a time when an emerging capitalist economy was adding to the social wreckage. It was a time of increasing poverty and homelessness in the face of growing wealth and power for the elite, and this brand of counter-reformation Catholic chose to stand on the side of the meek and humble. Henri IV strongly approved of St. Francis de Sales.
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In Italy and Spain religious national feeling, prosecution of rebels by the church (inquisition) and moderate reforms of the catholic church prevented a Reformation. For a long time, neither the pope nor the French king were interested in a general reform council, while the German king Charles V. (at the same time being king of Spain) insisted that a council, if at all, should meet on German territory. Finally the reform council (Tridentinum) met in Trent (Northern Italy, then formally part of the German empire) from 1545 to 1563. But the catholic clergy was not willing to discuss any basic issues - neither the problems of church organization nor the theological questions about scriptures vs. tradition and faith in grace vs. sacraments. To the contrary, the catholic doctrine was confirmed. The council of Trent gave sign to a spiritual counter-attack....
[I]t was during the Counter Reformation of the sixteenth century that the segregation of Jews became oppressive. Pope Paul IV issued a bull on July 12, 1555 setting forth requirements for Jews in their district of Rome. Gates of the area were bolted between sunrise and sunset. Jews were required to build the walls and gates of the ghetto, and Jewish families lived in crammed, unsanitary conditions that bred disease. Other Italian cities—Florence, Mantua, Padua—followed the Roman example, establishing crowded, unhealthy ghetto areas for their Jewish population.
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Counter Reformation