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Glite Dictionary
Counter-Reformation

Counter-Reformation

1 8.7
A movement in the Catholic Church in the 1500s to strengthen Catholic belief and practice after the Protestant Reformation
  • noun
  • /ˈkaʊntərˌrɛfərˈmeɪʃən/
: Contrarreforma
  • Many artists produced stunning works during the Counter-Reformation, which aimed to convey the power and beauty of Catholic doctrine.

Plus Martin Luther led to the Reformation, led to the counter Reformation, led to the religious wars.

Examples

  • Such an assumption seems predicated on conditions more characteristic of the Counter-Reformation than of pre-Renaissance Italy.

    Academic text (2007)

  • Nonetheless, the finished product fell short of the Counter-Reformation ideal of thematically coordinated altarpieces.

    Academic text (2000)

  • The Counter-Reformation revitalized the cult of Saint Joseph and held him up as a model for married men and fathers.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Posed in voluptuous grief, Dolorosa is the very ideal of Counter-Reformation art.

    Academic text (1996)

  • During the Counter Reformation, Catholics drew up several lists of ecumenical councils.

    Academic text (2010)

  • One of the most potent weapons in the arsenal of the Counter-Reformation bishop was the pastoral visitation.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Strangely enough, neither Paleotti nor any other art theorist of the Counter-Reformation seems to have adopted John's point of view.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The result in Rome was a compromise between tradition and the new programmatic impulse of the Counter-Reformation, but one weighted toward the preservation of old titles.

    Academic text (2000)

  • The memory of Borromeo's work during the Counter Reformation provides an occasion to contrast the traits of a true reformer with those of a false one.

    Academic text (2010)

  • The Counter-Reformation was a significant period when the Catholic Church sought to reform and strengthen its practices in response to Protestant criticism.

Surface Forms

Counter-Reformation singular
Counter-Reformations plural

Morphology

Counter-Reformation = Reformation (semi-transparent) = counter + re + form + ation

The word is built transparently from 'Reformation' with the opposition prefix 'counter-', but it names a specific historical church movement rather than a fully general compositional meaning.

Etymology

Counter-Reformation comes from counter meaning 'against' and reformation meaning 'a change to make things better', so the phrase literally means a movement 'against' a reform. This helps explain why the term refers to the Catholic Church's response in the 1500s–1600s that acted 'against' the Protestant Reformation while trying to renew Catholic belief and practice.