8/3/2019 How Did the Religious Experience of the Average European Catholic Change Over the Course of This Period

1/5

How did the religious experience of the average European catholic change overthe course of this period?

Wolfgang Reinhard argued that Early Modern Catholicism and theReformation were more similar than previously thought, as they both shared

their origin in the same two hundred years prior to the sixteenth century.1

. Bothwere responding to significant changes in Europe, the growth of the ModernState, colonialism, demographic and economic growth, the Scientific Revolutionand more specifically the invention of the printing. 2 This new impetus was notwholly driven by the Protestant threat however, a new awareness of popularreligious illiteracy was coupled with a rising sense that not merely a generalassent to the churchs teaching, but explicit knowledge of the faith, wasessential for salvation. 3 Borremeos revival of confessionalism with the creationof the confessional should was a revival of Catholic tradition, aimed to form theCatholic Identity. 4

The changes in Early Modern Catholicism were not implementeduniformly. The Church and European faced several issues, such as theremoteness of the rural Hinterlands as the Jesuits referred to them. 5 Thisdoesnt mean that the impetus for change and reform cannot be identified fromthe laity through to the papacy and up to pope himself during this period, ratherthan one group imposing their changes upon the other; as William Taylor definesit, reciprocity in inequality. 6 But Early Modern Catholicism didnt change acrossthe whole of Europe at the same tempo, divides such as gender did fall awaytowards the end of the period, but the issue of region remained. It is a difficulttask to assess the success of these reforms especially when knowledge andpractise are not indicative of belief, however Bireley suggests that we shouldapply realism and look at the overall picture concluding that 1700 is surelybrighter than it had been in 1500. 7

Regional differences can be foun in the veneration of saints. Religion aspeople practised it is best witnessed in the transactions of the faithful withsacred figures invoked for protection, healing and redemption. People soughtdivine aid and guidance in churches, chapels, and pilgrimage shrines; as sacredfountains or springs; through relics, images, festivals processions and holypeople. 8 Whilst discussing Gallonios accounts of Early Christian female1 Wolfgang Reinhard, Pressures towards Confessionalisation? Prolegomena to a theory of the confessional Age, in The German Reformation: The Essential Readings, ed. C ScottDixon, (Blackwell, 1999), 173-4.2 Robert Bireley, Redefining Catholicism: Trent and beyond in The Cambridge History of the Christian Church VI. Reform and expansion 1500-1660, ed R Po-ChiaHsia, (Cambridge University Press, 2007), 146.3 Ibid., 102.4 Ibid., 105.5 Ibid., 98.6 William Taylor, quoted in: Simon Ditchfield, Decentering the Catholic Reformation:Papacy and Peoples in the Early Modern World, Archiv fr Reformationsgeschichte/Archive for Reformation history , 101 (2010), 206.7

Bireley, The Refashioning of Catholicism, 96.8 Keith Luria, Popular Catholicism and Counter Reformation in Early Modern Catholicism:essays in honour of John W. OMalley , eds. Kathleen M. Comerford & Hilmar M. Pabel,

8/3/2019 How Did the Religious Experience of the Average European Catholic Change Over the Course of This Period

2/5

martyrs, Ditchfield touches upon the psychological attachment of localities andtheir local saints when he quotes Jacobilli, [they] were made of the same stuff asus. 9 This is a concept also picked up on my William Christian, whoscomprehensive study of shrines in the Nansa Valley lead him to conclude howcultural identities which signify a sense of belonging or community among agroup of persons. 10 The veneration of saints was a personal connection withreligion for the average Catholic, they could prayer through them, identify withlocal saints and worship them by pilgrimages to their shrines. For example, apamphleteer in 1604 wrote about Barcelona that Heaven nor has given to it, forits glory, six holy bodies... suggesting that saints instilled a sense of civic prideto a community. 11

Christians conclusion that the shrines they do go to are in herdingcountry, consistent with their one diffuse, regional identity herders suggeststhat the worship of shrines was a personal experience for the community and

the individual but also how people could relate to the saints.12

As Ditchfieldstates Saints were signs of, better signifiers, whose precise meanings wereinformed by context so that a single saint, so we have seen in the case of StGenevieve, could mean different things to different people, even in the sametime and place. 13 The veneration of saints, besides their celebration by theChurch on feast days, was also outside of the Church; it was a religious activitythat the laity performed without the relationship with the clergy.

The papacy also to tighten up regulations on the canonisation and by 1625decreed that lights or offers were not allowed to be placed in front of images of holy men or women who had not officially been recognised by the Pope, norcould they produce accounts of claiming for their sanctity. 14 This did not curbthe enthusiasm for saints however, as this period also sees a prominence of international saints. Joseph became to be a model of fatherhood, the Bohemianmartyr John of Nepomuk and Franciscan Anthony of Padua were venerated. 15

However, as Ditchfield has asserted the same saints would mean different thingsin different regions.

Parish life was also affected by regions, Bireley asserts that the greatestimprovement in the quality of parish priests took place in France, whereas in

Trier, modern-day western Germany, there were constant disputes between the

(2001), 117.9 Jacobilli quoted in: Simon Ditchfield, An Early Christian School of Sanctity in TridentineRome in Christianity and Community in the West: Essays for John Bossy , ed. SimonDitchfield (2001), 205.10 William Christian, Person and God in a Spanish Valley, Revision Edition , (Princeton,1989), 11.11 Henry Kamen, The Phoenix and the Flame: Catalonia and the Counter Reformation ,(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993),12 Christian, Person and God,51.13 Simon Ditchfield, Tridentine Worship and the Cult of Saints, Cambridge History of Christianity volume VI: Reform and Expansion, 1500-1600, ed. R. Po-Chia Hsia,

(Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007),222.14 Ibid. 211.15 Robert Bireley, The Refashioning of Catholicism, 113-4.

8/3/2019 How Did the Religious Experience of the Average European Catholic Change Over the Course of This Period

3/5

[Parish Committee and Pastor], which often ended in court. 16 Some dioceseswere too large whilst parishes were too small, Bireley provides the example of Vienna, there were only 257 resident pastors for 636 Moravian parishes, andmany of these were religious. 17

The explosion of confraternities were not been divided over regions asKamen argues Early Modern Catholicism saw the spread of confraternities intorural areas. 18 Black defined confraternities as organisations to promote theirreligious life, prepare for death and the after-life. 19 There were confraternities forwomen, although they a smaller membership and did not have the same socialstatus or wealth as male confraternities. 20 Although confraternities did spreadinto rural areas, Blacks comprehensive study of the regional differences of themwould indicate that localities did dictate the confraternities. 21

Early Modern Catholicism has often been seen as a period of developmentbut not for women. Their confraternities were smaller, less female saints werevenerated than males, Convents became cloistered and education was usuallyoffered for men. Although there was a gender divide regarding the impact of Early Modern Catholicism, it is not as big as the regional divide. In fact, France inthe seventeenth century one can speak of a feminization of religious life, inthat for the first time female religious outnumbered male. Cloistered,contemplative nuns still were in the clear majority especially after a considerableincrease in female monastic vocations in the first half of the century. 22

The Early Modern Period saw a greater initiative for religious education,however the education between girls and boys has been highlighted. Bireley

illustrates the point, in 1584 the Provincial Council of Bourges called for theinstruction of girls in catechism and reading, and entrusted it to widows andmatrons. Yet in 1673, of the 270 parishes in and around Paris, only 44 sponsoreda school (petite cole) for girls, as opposed to the 223 parish- sponsored schoolsfor boys. 23 Towards the end of the period, the Ursulines commitment toeducating girls did begin to close the gap, but this is not really until theeighteenth century. 24 Within in the issue of education, it is evident that ratherthan gender being the greatest divide, it is locations.

Many of the religious orders were established in urban areas, such as the

Jesuits and the Ursulines.25

26

It wasnt only the colleges that differed, even theexpansive catechetical campaign had greater success in urban than in rural

16 Ibid., 145-146.17 Ibid., 146.18 Kamen, The Phoenix and the Flame, 167-8.19 Ibid., 1.20 Kamen, The Phoenix and the Flame, 169.21 Black, The Confraternity Context, 11-22.22 Bireley, The Refashioning of Catholicism, 37.23 Ibid., 133.24

Ibid., 134.25 Ibid., 97.26 Ibid.,39-40.

8/3/2019 How Did the Religious Experience of the Average European Catholic Change Over the Course of This Period

4/5

areas. 27 This many not solely be due to the pastors or religious missions, asmany of the rural areas were not as literate as urban cities. The Jesuits evenreferred to the countryside as their Indies because of the religious illiteracyand uncouthness of the population. 28 The religious order did tour the ruralareas, but reviews of their success are varied, Johnson states why there wascontention, it is difficult to see how even the impact on the rural clergy, let alonethe laity, could be guaranteed to persist outside the changed atmosphere of themission. 29 Bireley supports this argument as he asserts that it would be a longtime before pastors, especially in rural areas, would be adequately equipped andwilling to regularly. 30 As religious missions only lasted roughly nine days in ruralareas the rest of the time the responsibility was laid at the pastors door,especially after Trent. 31

The council of Trent, especially the third session, did implement widesweeping changes for all dioceses. All the fundamental stages of a persons life

and rite of passage- birth, marriage and eventually death and burial took placewithin the shadow of the Church. 32 Carnivals were an integral part of Catholicism by this period, especially the festival of Corpus Christi, howeverKamen illustrates that the youths cannot be suspected of simple piety in theirbehaviour, and some of the Carnival customs, such as the pedrades (stoning),were far from religious, but reform proved difficult. 33 Although the religiousactivities outside of the Church, such as the festivals reflected dubious piety, theactivities within in the Church did become more structured. This period seeschanges to the interior of Churches, they would have wide naves to hear thespeaker at the altar, side chapels for the communities wealthy confraternities

and art work that was designed to control, stimulate, warn, to emphasiscorporate beliefs, common practises and a sense of community. 34 Black doesassert that these renovations did occur due to wealthy patrons, and so theimpact of this may be limited to more urban Europe. 35

John Bossy discussed Mass as a social institution, and illustrates howalthough the mass was not in their vernacular the naming of the dead in theservice would have meant the congregation related to the service. 36 This perioddid see a deepening of religious understanding, piety and a more individualisticcatholic identity, shown through confraternities, the veneration of saints, the re-emergence of confessionalism, the volksmissions of Europe and the

27 Ibid.,104.28 Ibid., 98.29 Trevor Johnson, , Blood, Tears and Xavier Water: Jesuit Missionaries and PopularReligion in the Eighteenth Century Upper Palatinate, in Popular Religion in Germany and Central Europe 1400-1800 eds. T. Johnson and R. Scribner, (Palgrave Macmillan, 1996),194.30 Bireley, The Refashioning of Catholicism, 101.31 Ibid., 99.32 Kamen, The Phoenix and the Flame, 157.33 Ibid., 170.34 Christopher Black, Church, Religion and Society in Early Modern Italy , (Palgrave

Macmillan, 2004), 198.35 Ibid., 198-200.36 John Bossy, The Mass as a social institution Past and Present (1983), 46-8.

8/3/2019 How Did the Religious Experience of the Average European Catholic Change Over the Course of This Period

5/5

proliferation of educational institutions for religious and spiritual guidance. 37

Early Modern Catholicism should be characterised for the founding the Catholicidentity, but it shouldnt be misconstrued as uniform, regional differences incountries and the differences between rural and urban areas should be stressed.

This divide in Early Modern Catholicism is greater than the traditionally seendivide of gender.

Word count: 1983

37 Bireley, The Refashioning of Catholicism, 98.