The Catholic Reformation

Catholicism in the Reformation Era

Long before Martin Luther published his 95 Theses, others were already addressing problems they discerned with the church of their day. Queen Isabella of Spain (1451-1504) appointed Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros (1436-1517), as Archbishop of Toledo. Cardinal Jiménez founded the University of Alcala for the education of clergy, and published the Complutensian Polyglot, an edition of the Bible with parallel texts in three languages: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. When Luther's writings began to flood the European bookmarkets, numerous theologians, among them Thomas More and Desiderius Erasmus published books and tracts refuting them, and encouraging Christians to remain loyal to the Church of Rome.

In 1545, Pope Paul III (1468-1549) summoned what came to be known as the Council of Trent, which convened several times over the next twenty years. At the doctrinal level, against Luther, the council affirmed the teaching that human reconciliation with God involves both God's gift of grace and the cooperation of the believer in doing good works. At the pastoral level, the council ordered seminaries to be founded to educate the clergy, and exhorted clergy to instruct parishioners in the basics of the faith with the help a booklet called a Catechism.

Arrival of Catholics in the Ozarks

In the 1700s, French Catholicism established a presence in Southeast Missouri. In the late 1850s, Father John Joseph Hogan began pastoring an immigrant flock in an area of Oregon County that became known as the Irish Wilderness. The colony did not last. The first Roman Catholic parish in Springfield, Immaculate Conception Church, was founded in 1868. The arrival of Irish, German, and Polish Catholic immigrants led to the founding of St. John the Baptist (later St. Patrick's Parish) and St. Mary's in Pierce City (mid-1860s), St. Agnes Parish in Sarcoxie (1871) and St. Joseph Church in Billings (1883).

 

Bernini, Saint Thersa

The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa of Avila by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) in the Carmelite Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome

Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) was a Spanish religious reformer. Dissatisfied with the lax life of the nuns at the monastery which she entered as a young woman, she founded the new, more strict, monastic order of the Discalced Carmelites. She was also a Christian mystic, a woman of prayer and contemplation, and wrote several books, including her spiritual autobiography, Life of Teresa of Avila. In the absence of a portrait of Theresa made during her lifetime, Bernini's The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa of Avila, which emphasizes her as a proponent of Christian mysticism, has become the most well-known depiction of the saint.

Credit: Photo by Napoleon Vier (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ATeresabernini.JPG)

 

Spiritual Exercises

A Page From the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola

Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) was a leader of the Spanish Reformation. He founded the Society of Jesus, a religious order better known as the Jesuits, and wrote the Spiritual Exercises to guide the prayer life and spiritual formation of monks who entered the order. The Jesuits emphasized education, and became advisers to members of the nobility across Europe, as well as tutors to their children. They also conducted mission work around the world, including North and South America.

Credit: Photo by Doug Coldwell (Flickr: St Ignatius Spiritual Exercises c 1600) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASt_Ignatius_Spiritual_Exercises_c_1600.jpg)

 

T-shirt

St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church T-Shirt

Nixa, Missouri

Lent by Mark Boyer

 

Spiritual Exercises

Ignatius of Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises

Transl. by E. M. Tetlow (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1987)

Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) was a contemporary of Martin Luther who is best known for having founded the Jesuit Order. The Jesuits served the Pope as missionaries; they often sought to re-convert Protestants back to Catholicism. Ignatius’s book, The Spiritual Exercises, was used for training novices in the Jesuit Order.

Property of Meyer Library

 

stereoscope cards

Stereoscope Cards of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City in Rome, Italy

[Montgomery and Ward; Underwood and Underwood]

During and after the Reformation era, centers of the Catholic Church such as the city of Rome were renovated and revitalized, and remained important as both devotional and touristic destinations.

St. Peter’s Basilica, rebuilt with money from the very indulgence trade to which Martin Luther objected, is one of the most important churches in Christendom and a pilgrimage destination. The Pope as the leader of Catholic Christians conducts important worship services there which are sometimes attended by tens of thousands of worshipers.

Lent by Dr. Mitzi Kirkland-Ives

 

Interior Castle

Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle

Transl. by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1979)

Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) was a Spanish nun, monastic reformer, and writer of mystical devotional literature. She founded the Order of the Discalced Carmelites.

Property of Meyer Library

 

viewmaster reels

Souvenir Viewmaster reel series depicting views of Lourdes Grotto, and Viewmaster stereoscope viewer

Roman Catholic pilgrimages maintained their popularity alongside advances in transportation technology and photography. The French town of Lourdes became France’s most popular pilgrimage site after Marie-Bernadette Soubirous ( 1807-1871) witnessed eighteen apparitions of the Virgin Mary. The outdoor mass held on February 11, 2008 on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the first apparition drew approximately 45,000 pilgrims.

Lent by Dr. Mitzi Kirkland-Ives

 

St Agnes

St. Agnes Cathedral in Springfield, Missouri

St. Agnes Cathedral was founded in 1908. The current church building dates from 1910.

Courtesy of Springfield Greene County Library

 

Daily Missal

Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, O.S.B. (Saint Paul: E. M. Lohmann Co., 1956)

English language editions of Catholic liturgical books appeared for the use of the laity, such as this daily missal, which presents the contents of the Mass for year day over the course of the year.